Text © World of Showjumping

Just Be Gentle (Tyson x Ticallux Verte) – that at the beginning of March won the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Doha with Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt in the saddle – will in the future be seen with Weishaupt’s Team Beerbaum-colleague Christian Kukuk, whose sponsor has acquired the 9-year-old mare.

“For sure I would have liked to keep her, but this way we will have a great horse for the future for our stable – so this is the second-best scenario,” Weishaupt told World of Showjumping. “It is better that she stays in our stable rather than going somewhere else. Obviously, in some cases this might fire up competition between riders in the same barn, but this is how we work here. As an example, I got Zineday – who also is a superstar – from Christian a year ago.” 

Weishaupt has been working with the talented mare Just Be Gentle for the past three years. “I have had her since she was six,” he said. “She is a superstar. She is just green, and that is why I never rode her in a class as big as a five-star Grand Prix before Doha. However, she has already won ranking classes as an eight-year-old. I jumped her in a 1.50m class in Amsterdam, and she was in Doha for two weeks. The plan was never to jump her in the Grand Prix there, but after Ludger’s accident we had to re-arrange for the team competition and I did not want to over-jump Coby. I knew she felt confident in the arena in Doha, so I wanted to give it a shot – and I knew she is more than capable.”

"I am really happy to now have Just Be Gentle under my saddle," Christian Kukuk commented to World of Showjumping. "Like we all could see in Doha, she has all the ability to be a special horse in the future. Winning one of the biggest Grand Prix classes of the year at only nine years of age shows how strong she is in her mind. However, like Philipp said, she is still green, so I will take my time with her. I got to know her a bit already over the last weeks and I am really looking forward to the future with her!“