Time to say goodbye to Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof

At 18 years old, Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof, the mount of Belgian Domien Michiels, will soon bid farewell to the sport.

Bred by Kristine Hias and Marc Steeno, the Belgian Warmblood spent his entire competitive career with Domien Michiels. This son of Gribaldi began his international career in 2016 in Small Tour level and then moved up to Grand Prix level in Belgium in 2017, at Heist-Op-Den-Berg.

Selected for the national team for the first time in 2019 for the Nations Cup in Geesterenn, Domien Michiels and the gelding made a particularly strong impression in 2021: called up to the team for the Nations Cups in Compiègne and Rotterdam, they also went on to the Tokyo Olympic Games where they finished 28th after a Grand Prix score of 70.202%, before competing in the European Championships in Hagen, where they finished 64th with a Grand Prix score of 64.115%.

Pillars of Belgian dressage, Domien Michiels & Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof rejoined the Belgian team for the European Championships in Riesenbeck in 2023 (43rd thanks to a Grand Prix of 69.068%), the Olympic Games in Paris (22nd in the Grand Prix at 72.531%) in 2024 and the European Championships in Crozet in 2025 (34th in the Grand Prix at 68.649%); a career also marked by the first Belgian victory in a World Cup stage in Gothenburg in 2024.

Regulars at the Belgian Championship, they finished 4th in 2018, 2020, and 2022, 3rd in 2019, and 8th in 2023. Intermezzo van het Meerdaalhof will be honored in Lier on Sunday, May 31st, at the National Championship.

While the 18-year-old gelding has now retired from competition, the 42-year-old rider debuted another horse in Grand Prix competition last autumn: Panthero van de Vogelzang. This 11-year-old son of Belantis and Quaterback won a National Grand Prix in early March with a score of 67.391%.

crédit photo : FEI/Kim Lundin