Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour posted yesterday at Instagram her newest addition 5 year old Danish Warmblood bronze medal mare Alibi´s Isya by Iron / De Niro / Rotspon, bred by Rikke and Jesper Filipsen Dahl.
Family Filipsen Dahl and Alibi´s Isya - photo credit: Hestefotografen Melissa
Breeder and rider
The young breeder couple started breeding twelve years ago for fun, and quickly they found out that they wanted to bred horses with qualities for the sport, as Rikke always been passionated dressage rider at amateur level. An oppertunity came up for Rikke and Jesper to purchase five mares from success breeder Vicki Nedergaard, Nedergaard Dressage and additionally two more mares on loan for breeding. This part both started and kicked off a more serious breeding plan.
Rikke normally has about three-four horses under saddle every day at home soil, Isya has been her daily partner from the very beginning. As Rikke tells Isya has always had a very special place in her heart, as she from very first has been super easy in every ways from breaking in, to all handling and also at competition, “she was really my dream horse,” tells Rikke.
Last August they participated at 4 year old national young horses championchip qualifier at Bogø, but unfortunately this (hopefully ones in a life time) experience totally changed her eyes of this 4 yr old qualifier, as she went home without any confidence that she could do it well enough, like many of the other riders from exactly same event. Therefore Rikke contacted Søren Wind (Wind Equestrian) by whom she already has been taking lessons 1-2 times a week, to ask if he would show Isya. Søren Wind already asked at that time if Isya was for sale,“no she IS a keeper”, Rikke said.
Rikke Filipsen Dahl & Alibi´s Isya - photo credit: Hestefotografen Melissa
The plan was made and Søren Wind qualified Isya for the final (mid September), and where she finished as no 6 in the final with Caroline Hansen in the saddle (mid October), and last but not least end of October Søren Wind qualified her for Danish Warmblood Young Horse Championship in Herning 2026. For the sport WCYH was a clear target for the 2026 season, like also embryo transfer was at the list for the future with Isya.
Breeder dreams do come true
When Rikke was riding Isya at home she just got that special feeling “this must definitely be a Cathrine horse”, but Isya was clearly not for sale, until she was discovered by Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour back in September. From there it has been a pure breeder dream for Rikke and Jesper.
“When you get the chance to show your horse for a World Class rider like Cathrine, it is of course an oppertunity we would never ever let go. Cathrine was in the saddle maximum 10 minutes, and from her expression and what she was telling when getting of again, it truely felt like a perfect match,” says Rikke.
“In many ways, it sounded a bit like “gambling” when telling Cathrine that our breeder dream was to secure the future legacy of Isya for our breeding program, but luckily Cathrine fully agreed. Together with Vetembryo we have now secured four ICSI-embryos in the freezer by Dynamic Dream. Therefore, the deal has only just been finalized and Isya has now moved to Cathrine´s place,” tells Rikke.
“It has been a few very exciting month whether our ICSI project would succeed, having Isya a home continueing her daily routines, me riding her as normal, letting her have her usual field time etc., but breeder dream do come true,” says a smiling Rikke.
Exactly this feeling
When asking Cathrine about her new black diamond she says:
“It´s now a couple of month ago since I tried Isya for the first time. Already after a few rounds she gave me exactly the feeling I´m searching for when trying out a potential future star. It is of course also very special to me that Isya is by Iron. When making transition to canter I really got the feeling of the same self carriage as from riding daddy.
Her character impressed me, even though she is pretty green, she seems to have the best temperament. You already get the feeling of switch on and off bottons, combined with three really nice paces being able to adjust and develop in a good way, I think.
It´s very exciting that she is Danish bred, as Louise (Zinglersen) and I are travelling all over the world, looking for the next stars, and I must say, nine out of ten times we find the best horses in Denmark, bred by Danish breeders. It’s really exciting to have another Danish Warmblood in our stable.
Now we’re just looking forward to getting to know her. Even though she’s qualified for Herning, she will not be going there. My goal is big sport, and we’ll take our time to get to know each other, and hopefully develop her into a true Black Diamond.”
Statement from H2R back in end October last year:
Among Iron’s offspring, of which a few now have been presented at the championship finals and Danish Warmblood ability tests, Alibi’s Isya, stands out as one of the most interesting, showing both power and quality for the future.