DONNEUSE (NN–NN)

Olympic Games Amsterdam 1928, bronze team medal in eventing, under Lieutenant Colonel Karol Rómmel from the 1st Józef Piłsudski Light Cavalry Regiment.
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Leon Kon wrote about Donneuse's (Donese) performance during the 1928 Olympic Games Amsterdam (the original language has been retained in the text):

“Out of several horses selected and worked for the championship during the winter in the Olympic group, only two horses turned out to be the most suitable: “Donese”, a thoroughbred class of the Italian Regiment Rómmel, born in England. with a good racing and obstacle course career in France and a government-owned shaft, imported from France, also with a considerable steeplechase history. thoroughbred “Tukase”, worked by Maj. Dobrzański.

Each of these two horses had its advantages and disadvantages.

"Donese", a class of exceptional strength, with jumping ability, in which she passed an excellent exam under Lt. Col. Rómmel in the spring in Nice. However, she was hysterical in temperament, which was complicated by crazy nerves, oversensitive sensitivity and an extremely sharp temper. She came from the racing stable to Grudziądz in November 1927, completely undressed - on the contrary, with numerous very unpleasant defects.

She worked hard until the day of the performance, refusing forced breaks, and within 6 and a half months she made great progress, and although you sat on her very gently so as not to arouse her barely disguised temperament, she walked while working not only effectively, but also well, often performing tasks on the quad. no error. But it was, or perhaps always will be, far from certainty and the guarantee of unpleasant surprises.

Assuming that something might happen to her during the dressage test, we were very sure that she would make it to the end sooner than our other horses in the remaining tests. (…)

"Donese" under Lt. Col. Rómmlem decided to perform in the afternoon, during the last series, when there were the largest number of spectators in the square. When she was warming up before the performance, she walked very well and calmly. as she had done constantly over the past few weeks.

To enter the arena, you had to pass through the ring, seated and walking spectators; As soon as "Donese" was inside the ring, she immediately showed a state of extreme nervousness, without any apparent reason for it.

And yet. the reason is easy to explain. While walking through the crowd, “Donese” had to remind her of leaving the paddock for the start. The green turf and a large free space inside the spectator ring completed the impression of the beginning of the races. “Donese” broke out in sweat almost immediately and the first half of the task was very unfortunate, only later the mare realized that she was not ready for the start, calmed down and the quality of her dressage could be shown.

Interestingly, after leaving the field, Lieutenant Colonel Rómmel tried to repeat the task.

And again "Donese" worked like an automaton.

It should be noted that "Donese" was ridden three times in Grudziądz on the local football field, very similar to the Hilversum track; there it behaved perfectly, because it was neither possible to make a similar human decoration of the crowd, nor could it be predicted that in Hilversum the public would be allowed inside the track.

All this shows how careful you need to be with racetrack horses and that not all of them will be suitable for championships. (…)

Only two horses achieved the maximum time: "Donese" under Lt. Col. Rómmlem and "Flucht" gray class, German Lt. Zipperf. Therefore, individually in the steepleu ex-aequo, first place belonged to these two riders. (…)

Lt. Col. Rómrnel arrived on "Donese" in 14'26". For making up the time, "Donese" gained 30 bonus points without the use of the multiplier. But she had 6 points in the parcours, which with the use of the multiplier equals 210 points. She was charged for a fall - she stumbled badly while crossing a flat ditch. dividing the road from the forest. Taking into account the time lost and the 3'20′ still made up, “Donese” showed extraordinary speed. For cross country she received 520 bonus points. (…)

If it wasn't for "Donese's" loss of time, she stumbled and made no other mistakes, she would have been the first in the cross-country, but also in the overall test of endurance. (…)

Author: Leon Kon
“Amsterdam – Hilversum” (1928) – Leon Kon


Below you will find links to related materials in the Polish Digital Equestrian Library.