Text © World of Showjumping

Spending the last twelve years establishing AS Sport Horses as one of Europe’s leading international showjumping stables, operating out of his yard in Herentals, Belgium, Abdel Said has decided to expand – adding two American bases to the portfolio, in addition to a second Belgian base in Zandhoven. While Said will remain based out of Belgium, Sam Hutton will be leading the U.S. operation on behalf of AS Sport Horses.

“We have decided to expand to the U.S., where we will offer the same services as we have been doing here in Europe over the last 12 years – coaching, management and sales,” Said tells World of Showjumping. “Until now, we have had our American clients based with us in Europe, but now we would like to take this a step further and provide the same services to them within the U.S., also combining this with our sales service that's already well established there.”

“Under my guidance and with my support, it will be Sam Hutton leading and managing our U.S. operation as a partner of AS Sport Horses,” Said explains. “We have been working together for over ten years, and with Sam’s extensive experience both from Stal Tops and AS Sport Horses, he is very capable. Between November to April, AS Sport Horses will base out of Wellington and then for the rest of the year out of New York.”

“We don't want to make it too big though; our aim is to provide high-end services to our clients. To begin with, we will be taking two-maximum three students and Sam will have a string of approximately six horses to compete,” Said tells about the American adventure.

“While Sam will be in charge of our U.S. operation, Antonia Pettersson Häggström and I will continue to be based out of our stable in Herentals, Belgium. We will both continue to split our time, also competing in the Middle East and U.S. so it will be a nice mix. Spreading our wings like this, we can provide our clients with a lot of possibilities as we will be spanning across different continents. Simultaneously, clients stay in the same system without having to go through changes in their training programs,” Said details.

“We had a great experience when competing in the Major League in August and September, and look forward to a more permanent presence in the U.S. It was a great way for us to compete, develop our horses and at the same time focus on our main business which is buying and selling,” Said continues. “It was a win-win for the whole team, and all three of us – Antonia, Sam and I – had great results with the horses developing really well. It was also a great opportunity to follow up the horses that we have with our partners in the U.S.”

“Additionally, we will be expanding in Belgium as we have acquired the equestrian property De Kraal in Zandhoven, Belgium. We plan to develop this into a new base for our young horses who we until now have been spreading out. Over the last 3-4 years, we have been breeding ourselves and purchasing a lot of younger horses, so it has become quite a big number in total. We really wanted to have everything a little bit more in-house, and De Kraal provides us with that opportunity. We think the property has a lot of possibilities, and the location is fantastic as it’s close to Antwerp,” Said says.

“We will now be focusing on restructuring; our stable in Herentals will be the home of our clients and our sport horses, while De Kraal will house the young horses. Arnaud Gaublomme, Dries Van Dyck and Frida Larsson are an important part of the team working with the younger generation of horses all the way up to 2* level, and we will also be expanding with Rebecca Golasch and Christopher Frazer joining the team to assist with the training of our clients and in-house riders. The goal is to be able to create a structure where we start by either breeding the horses ourselves, or buying them really young, with the aim of developing them towards a career in the top sport – creating a full-circle that we hope will make us better, stronger and more sustainable.”