Shutterfly goes out on a high note at CHIO Aachen

By Staff Report July 17, 2011

After winning the Warsteiner Prize on July 13 – beating top international competition including her brother-in-law Ludger Beerbaum on Chaman and Laura Kraut on Teirra – Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum announced the retirement of the incomparable Shutterfly, now 18 and notching his 10^th competition at the World Equestrian Festival CHIO at Aachen, Germany.

“The victory in the Warsteiner Prize on Wednesday, was simply sensational, I was overwhelmed,” Michaels-Beerbaum said during an emotional trophy ceremony, explaining that she deliberated for a long time with her husband, Markus, and finally decided that morning not to compete in the concluding Rolex Grand Prix with the Hanoverian gelding, who goes by the barn name “Petey” and is owned by Wellington’s Jane Clark.

“This is my thank you to Shutterfly. He is the best horse in the world and he simply deserves a farewell ceremony in front of the best crowd in the world,” Michaels-Beerbaum said by way of explaining the somewhat spontaneous decision.

Of her victory on Wednesday, Michaels-Beerbaum said she risked everything on the way to the liverpool. “I lost a bit of time between obstacles 2 and 3, so I had to risk it. Shutterfly trusts me completely and he did exactly what I asked of him,” the 42-year-old rider said. “We are a well-rehearsed team, like an old married couple. He is still top fit and is still fighting for me.”

The nearly 40,000 spectators in the traditional stadium were all extremely emotional over the announcement of the

retirement of a stellar athlete that has provided fans of equestrian sport with countless hours of breathtaking excitement and achievement. “There is no better platform anywhere in the world for the occasion than here in Aachen,” said Michaels-Beerbaum, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and became a German citizen after marrying Markus Beerbaum in 1998. She now rides for Germany and is based on a farm in Thedinghausen, near Bremen.

The farewell ceremony took place today, July 17, in conjunction with the Rolex Grand Prix, by Janne-Friederike Meyer on Cellagon Lambrasco was the only rider who had jumped double clear after the second round of the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen.

Shutterfly joined Markus and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum’s yard as a seve-year-old – at the time he was still called Struwelpeter. Because his American owner, Nancy Clark, couldn’t pronounce the complicated German name, she renamed him “Shutterfly, after her then-husband Jim Clark’s online photo endeavor.

Shutterfly was in Aachen for the World Championships in 2006, where he won the bronze medal. In 2005 the pair won the event that marked his retirement ceremony, the Grand Prix of Aachen, now the Rolex Grand Prix. They have celebrated four Nations Cup team victories in Aachen and this year the crowd in Aachen experienced an unforgettable moment when they won the Warsteiner Prize.

 

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