Rubels
Born 1996 1.63 metres

Rubels is only a youngster and time will tell if he is to become a great breeding stallion, but he has already proven he is a star in the competition arena. Rubels won the World Five Year old young dressage horse championship in 2001, and came back in 2002 to win the World six year old young dressage horse championship! According to his rider/trainer, Hans Peter Mindenhout: "The owners bought him when he was two and a half, and I started riding him when he was three, I always really liked him, he was better every time you rode him. He was really talented and always tried for you. His walk and canter was really good when he was a young horse and with his trot it is so easy because he always wants to work. All the Rubinstein horses I’ve ridden are lovely and they want to try for you. I like the type; they are not too big. His movement is great but his character is even better."
Many were surprised that Rubels even made the trip back to Verden in 2002.. According to Hans Peter: "There were a lot of people who couldn’t understand why we were coming here, he had already won one world championship, and you are making it difficult for yourself trying to win another. The way I look at it, even if he doesn’t win he is still a good horse and he is still the champion of the five year olds even if he doesn’t win the six year old class."
He looks so calm and rideable?
"He is really working for you all the time. In prizegivings he can be difficult like he was yesterday when they played the German anthem, but today they played the Dutch and he was very good, when he is standing first and not second, he is sweet."
It doesn’t affect him that he is a breeding stallion?
"No, today it was a bit difficult when I started to warm him up, there were a lot of kids and ponies over there so his attention was a bit with them, but in the arena he was with me."
And the best news for the rider…
"The owners don’t want to sell him, so he can stay with me – and I am sure he will go Grand Prix. We have started the pirouettes and they are very good, his passage is great and he has lots of talent for piaffe, and he has nice changes. Everything is going to be very nice…"

Rubels is the cross that is increasingly being looked at for dressage breeding - dressage blood with some jumping blood (see the interview with Hanoverian assistant breeding director, Dr Ludwig Christmann). His Dutch based sire, Rafurstinels is a successful Prix St Georges competitor with Anne van Olst. Rafurstinels sire, Rubinstein, has well and truly established himself as one of the great dressage sires - and he comes from one of the great dressage 'families'. Rafurstinels' dam, Efurstinels is'Keur' mare in Holland with IBOP 92, in Germany she is a states premium mare. The dam of Rubels, is the 'Ster' mare, Klarinettels (by Amethist) who competed at Z2 dressage and represents family 121. Her sire, Amethist is also sire of stallions, Hitchcock (out of a mare by Le Faquin xx) and Magellan (dam sire, Legaat).
Klarinettels is out of Dasanette who showjumped to national level - Dasanette is also the dam of the BWP approved, Magic Darco and ZZ-L level dressage horse, Indigo (by Ladalco).

Rubels has only been beaten once so far in his career - when in the first go round on this year's six year old championship he was bested by Weltissimo (Welt Hit II /Barsoi xx) but he emerged the victor in the final to keep his record intact. He won the PAVO Cup in 2001. He won the Future Stallion title at the Zwolle Stallion Show in 2001. He was the champion of the NRPS Performance Test 1999/2000 and is also registered with the KWPN.