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Baron von Blixen-Finecke
February 16, 2005

Baron von Blixen-Finecke, died peacefully today. He was visiting his wife Anne in England, felt ill early in the day, then felt worse and they called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. By the time he arrived at the
hospital he was in a coma, and he died without regaining consciousness. He will be sorely missed by all of us who have had the privilege of learning from him over the years. We always knew that "this clinic might be the last" but somehow never expected it to *really* be the last one.

The Baron was the author of two books, The Art of Riding and The Art of Training. He was originally from Sweden, where he was the head of Stromsholm when it was the Swedish Cavalry school, for many years. He retired and lived in England. In 1952, he won the Olympic 3-day gold medal, and a horse he had trained, ridden by St. Cyr, won the dressage gold (Sweden wouldn't let the Baron ride in both disciplines).

FEI 3/15/05

Hans von Blixen-Finecke (SWE), individual and team Olympic Champion at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, passed away on 16 February 2005 at the venerable age of 98. His father, a Swedish cavalry officer, an aviator and a famous horseman, had won the bronze medal in Dressage at the 1912 Olympic Games.

Von Blixen-Finecke joined the cavalry in 1934 and left it 30 years
later when the decision not to use horses in the Swedish army was taken. In the 1940s, he competed successfully in steeplechase and amateur flat-racing becoming the 1945-46 Swedish amateur jockey champion. He was also national Eventing champion from for five consecutive years from 1946 to 1951. In the following years, he won Scandinavian Eventing championships and competed at international level in Eventing, Jumping and Dressage.

In 1964, he moved to England where he started a career as a coach. He kept teaching and giving clinics for over 40 years until his very last days. Von Blixen-Finecke’s most famous horses were Master Rufus and Jubal, Swedish warm-blood geldings, astride which he won his Olympic medals.

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