Anky van Grunsven with horse Salinero Photo: Rias Immink
The three-time Olympic dressage champion is intensely sad. The legendary four-legged friend Salinero, who she had in her stable for 22 years and with which she won the Olympic Games in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), among other things, suddenly showed age-related ailments this week that she had not seen before. That is possible at the respectable horse age of 28 years. Van Grunsven (54): “I didn’t know him like that. Salinero is a cheerful horse by nature, he always showed a good sense. That was also the case on the meadow with his ponies.”