The human being behind GHC - Kareen Heineking-Schütte - is a vet born in 1974 and grew up on her parents farm called ´Riehemar's´.
It was always silently agreed upon that Kareen should one day overtake the operation as the two older brothers didn't take an interest in neither farming nor the horse breeding. As a breeder's daughter she began to ride at the age of 8 and did a lot of team vaulting as most girls in Germany do at a certain age. Being around animals and humans has always been her main focus in life. After nosing into classical ballet from the age of 8 to 12 as well as playing volleyball and the violin for several years aside of the horses, lack of time forced her to reduce sparetime activities at some point. Needless to say the equines stayed and the rest went down the drain. Horses she made a team with include Shetland pony mix Gretchen who took her to first victories and pony club winnings in equitation classes, German riding pony Looping who was Kareen's first homebred and homebroke pony and got her a first start in competition over fences and Hungarian warmblood Marco Polo who taught her how to ride forward and to watch your fingers while a horse is eating.
In 1986 Kareen began riding her beloved Domino who was 4 years old at the time. The 17.1/2 hh black gelding by Direktor and she ended up competing together over a period of 10 years in dressage and jumping up to German M level (translates to US 4th level respectively 4'3''). They also had fun eventing.
During her last year of school Kareen achieved her FN Reitwart license with Horses Domino and Gambit and thus became semi-professional.
Domino
(Kreismeisterschaft '95)
After school she bridged 4 years of vet school application by showing and training horses for other owners, teaching kids and adults at the riding clubs of Petershagen-Eldagsen and Porta Westfalica, wrote for the local paper and did a variety of office jobs to make a living. Influencing teachers of that time include horse show judge and dedicated horse person Rudolf Niedringhaus (sadly deceased in 2002) who owes to Kareens horseshow life, Werner Schönwald of Aachen as well as Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen from Hoya States Riding School.
Finally in 1997 a spot at hanover vet school became available by someone else giving up her studies and suddenly life changed dramatically. No more horse shows for 5 ½ years.
What followed was a long and occasionally dreadful study time with significant lack of horses in Kareen's life although she preliminary had Campino, Hannelore and Wabash boarded in Hanover to ride. She lived within walking distance to vet school in order to get the max out of her studies in a hilarious fivesome shared house situation that was set up as a 2 years arrangement. Then she moved in to a flat with Frank who she had met in 1996 and married in 2004.
After graduating from vet school in November 2002 she has set up her own veterinary business and now works and lives with her husband Frank Schütte a welding expert and long proven supporter of exam-paranoied Hanoverian vet students.
Since the end of March 2005 Frank and Kareen are the proud parents of their first child Elisa. Sophia was born in October 2006.
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Frank guckt Elisa beim Reiten zu
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Elisa im September 2007
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Sophia im September 2007
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