Segantini FRH is now a gelding

Heiner Kanowski, the managing director of Gestüt Famos, confirmed a report first published by Eurodressage: Segantini FRH, the former Bundeschampion and finalist at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses, is now a gelding. Kanowski says the Secret son was gelded “toward the fall.” “The focus is on competition. After all, he’s meant for the top level of the sport.”

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two-time National Champion

. Master rider Dorothee Schneider, the training director at Gestüt Famos, is set to ride the now eight-year-old Hanoverian—bred by Dr. Christine Feichtinger—to the competition.

Segantini began his career as a premium stallion at the Hanoverian licensing and won his performance test. In competition, he was initially trained by Jessica Lynn Thomas, who rode him to the title—or rather, to the silver medal—at the Bundeschampionat when he was four years old. The (then still) stallion was declared the winner after the horse with the highest overall score, his paternal half-brother San to Alati, was disqualified for a banned substance.

The following year, Segantini, with Thomas in the saddle, made it back to the National Championships, where he placed eighth in the small final. Afterward, Segantini was purchased by Maik Kanitzky, the current owner of Gestüt Famos, and began training under Dorothee Schneider.

Two-time World Champion

In early 2024, Olympic team champion Dorothee Schneider made her first public appearance with Segantini at the Halle Münsterland. After two victories in Class M dressage horse competitions at regional events, the pair qualified to compete at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in Ermelo, where Segantini finished a strong fifth in the final.

At the age of seven, Schneider began competing the Brown horse in his first S-level classes—and won four times in a row right at the start of the season. Once again, the pair qualified for the World Championships, which were held in Verden that year. With a seventh-place finish in the final qualifier, they secured a direct spot in the final, where Segantini, however, was very distracted and could not finish higher than tenth.

He also competed in two qualifying rounds for the Nuremberg Burg Cup during the 2025 season and most recently placed third in Görlitz. That was his last public appearance to date. But on Instagram, Dorothee Schneider regularly posts training videos featuring Segantini—including ones in which the Secret son can be seen showing promising signs of piaffe and passage.

Breeding

Due to the aforementioned prioritization of his sporting career, Segantini was no longer used for fresh semen this year, according to Heiner Kanowski. However, they were able to collect a sufficient amount of frozen semen from him. As for demand, Kanowski says, “Business was pretty good.”

At the German Foal Championship in Lienen, Segantini produced a foal that made it to the final ring in the fillies’ division, as well as two top-selling foals at foal auctions. With Sarottini (breeder: Julia Voigtländer), he produced a licensed stallion from his first crop in 2022, who competed twice at the National Championship. A total of 54 of Segantini’s offspring are registered with the FN.