Ingrid Klimke on opting for younger horses: the place to compromise

Ingrid Klimke says “personality is an important factor” when opting for younger horses.

“I really like to sit down on a horse and really feel if he has the nature to mention, ‘What are we doing these days?’” stated the German dressage and eventing championship medallist in a chat at Wellington Driving previous this month (1 March).

She endured: “If he’s somewhat lazy and desires to think carefully about issues, you will have to know coaching him will take longer.

“I agree with my feeling – it doesn’t topic if it’s a mare or gelding or stallion or bred through any individual well-known or a complete brother to a most sensible horse, you will have to really feel the pony. I love to have the pony in my barn, experience him a couple of occasions and get to grasp him. In the event you simply see on video or hop on him as soon as, it’d exhausting to grasp what’s in the back of them.

“I all the time say for a excellent horse I all the time have an empty stall and by chance the nice ones stay coming.”

Ingrid says she additionally prioritises bodily well being and power at the present time, having been stuck out in her previous years through hoping for the most productive with horses with small well being problems.

“Issues can occur anyway, however now if my relied on vet says there’s a drawback which someday may just pop out previous than 14 or 16, I don’t compromise,” she stated, explaining it takes six years to provide a horse to the highest stage at 10 and also you don’t need that profession to be over at 12. “It’s heart-breaking to have a celebrity who isn’t robust sufficient, isn’t wholesome sufficient.”

For dressage horses, Ingrid recommends taking a look carefully on the hindlegs and the power a horse has in the back of, as horses want an excellent hindleg for piaffe, passage and pirouettes.

“I might say 3 excellent gaits and also you all the time want to have the entirety, however I learnt from my father that we make the pony over a few years and we need to make compromises,” she stated, giving the instance of a horse she had who didn’t have a large stroll, so would by no means ranking greater than seven in that tempo, however excelled in trot.

Ingrid Klimke’s younger horses have an all-round training till the top in their six-year-old yr, after they begin to focus on both eventing or dressage. After that time, the dressage horses nonetheless hack and do small jumps and cavaletti, however they don’t do devoted conditioning paintings on hills or cross-country fences.

“You want them to focal point – it takes any other 3 years so that you hope that after they’re 9, they’ve the entire grand prix actions,” she stated.

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H&H mag editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a real eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand revel in of competing as much as British Eventing intermediate and global CCI2*-L stage, and has labored within the business on a most sensible tournament backyard. Pippa enjoys not anything greater than immersing herself within the game on the best possible stage, reporting from the five-stars and global championships, together with the Olympics.