Equine Canada regretfully reports that 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Orion, beloved partner of Canadian dressage rider Pia Fortmuller, passed away on January 19th.
Orion and Fortmuller were the sole Canadian dressage athletes competing at the elite level (CDI4* and 5*) in Europe over the last year. Most recently the pair attended the CDI3* Zakrzow competition, held in Poland from Nov. 8-10, where they won the Grand Prix before moving on to take second in the Grand Prix Freestyle.
Additionally, Fortmuller and Orion travelled to the prestigious Vienna Masters in Austria, where they earned a top 10 placing against an elite group of international competitors in the CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle and FEI4* Grand Prix classes. They were also invited to compete at the CDIO5* level during the World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen in Germany this past July, where once again, Orion demonstrated his incredible talent and heart, taking the pair to ninth place in the CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle against some of the best equine dressage athletes in the world. Fortmuller called competing at Aachen “…a dream come true,” and commented that, “It was an honour to be able to dance down the centerline with Orion in Aachen.”