Halla (16 May 1945 – 19 May 1979) was a horse ridden by

Hans Günter Winkler Hans Günter Winkler (; 24 July 1926 – 9 July 2018) was a German show jumper. He is the only show jumper to have won five Olympic gold medals and a total of seven Olympic medals, and to compete and win medals in six different Olympic Games. In ...

. She is the only horse ever to win three

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Gold medals in the sport of

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...

. She stood . Halla (also listed as "Sonnenglanz") was born in the yard of Gustav Vierling in Darmstadt.Stonebridge ''Great Horses of Our Time'' p. 414-431 Her parents were Helene, a French trotter horse of unknown breeding, and the Standardbred Oberst. Halla was first trained as a steeplechaser before she was discovered by the

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Olympic committee. She was to be used in

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

competitions, but was considered very difficult and changed riders several times. Despite her great talent, she remained unsuccessful. In 1951 she was taken over by the then rising star

. Halla had already won back-to-back World Championships in show jumping when she and Winkler competed at the 1956 Olympics in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. During the first round, Halla took off early for the penultimate fence. Winkler was thrown into the air, landed heavily back in the saddle and tore a groin muscle. He knew that if he withdrew from the final round, the German team would be eliminated. In great pain, he rode anyway, only being able to give the slightest direction to his mount. Halla completed the course without a fault, and they earned gold in both the individual and team events. Four years later, at the 1960 Olympics in

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, Halla and Winkler led the German team to another victory. Together they won a total of 125 jumping competitions. Thus Halla stands as the horse with most gold medals from the Olympic Games in The Guinness Book of the Records. Halla retired from the sport on 25 October 1960 to begin her career as a broodmare. She had eight foals but none was a champion like herself. Halla died on 19 May 1979 at the advanced age of 34 years.

Pedigree

Major achievements

*Winner Individual Gold Medal 1956 Olympics in Stockholm *Winner Team Gold Medal 1956 Olympics in Stockholm *Winner Team Gold Medal 1960 Olympics in Rome *Winner 1954

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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*Winner 1955 World Championships in

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*Individual Bronze Medal 1958 European Championships in Aachen International

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Wins include: *1957 Aachen (CHIO) Grand Prix *1958

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Grand Prix *1959 Rome (CSIO) Grand Prix *Winner 1955

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Derby

References

1956 Olympics in Stockholm
* Stoneridge, M. A. ''Great Horses of Our Time'' New York: Doubleday 1972 * Bryant, Jennifer O. ''Olympic Equestrian, A Century of International Horse Sport''. Lexington, KY: Blood-Horse Publications, 2008

External links

Photo of Halla at 1956 Olympic GamesPhoto of Halla at the 1959 Hamburg Derby
__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Halla (Horse) Show jumping horses Individual mares Horses in the Olympics 1945 animal births 1979 animal deaths