Last week, Nicola Philippaerts’ top horse H&M Chilli Willi (Casall x Lord – bred by Peter Diedrichsen) sadly passed away – at the age of 13.
Nicola and H&M Chilli Willi were competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, when the stallion stumbled and broke his left foreleg after the last jump of the class. Unfortunately, examinations revealed a complicated fracture, which forced Nicola, his father Ludo and co-owner Frans Lens to take the tough decision to euthanize the stallion.
H&M Chilli Willi came to the Philippaerts-family in 2015, and went on to have great success with Nicola. The pair got their breakthrough in 2017, when they finished third in the CSI5* Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Miami. In 2018, H&M Chilli Willi and Nicola won the Longines Global Champions Tour of Chantilly and followed up with a third place at the same venue in 2019 as well both a second and a third place in the CSI5* Grand Prix classes in Doha earlier that year. For Team Belgium they jumped double clears in the Nations Cups in Samorin, Sopot and Rotterdam – and they also represented their country at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon in 2018.
With this photo special, we pay tribute to H&M Chilli Willi.
All photos © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping.