About Me
„Riding does not mean rushing for success in front of an audience! Riding is the everyday dialogue with the horse in solitude and means the common striving for perfection!“ (Nuno Oliveira, 1925-1989)
The equestrian sport has accompanied me since my early youth. After I won my first medals and placings at regional and national youth championships during my pony and then junior / young rider time, I became more and more involved in the training of sport horses. During my time in the sport group of the German Armed Forces a long lasting cooperation with Manfred "Manni" Kötter began. Manni Kötter was already known to me before my time at the army in Warendorf as a trainer of equestrian legends such as Ludger Beerbaum, Franke Sloothaak or the current national coach Otto Becker. As a trainer, he taught me to understand that show jumping means much more than just getting to the jump in the right way. His way of working with horses shows how you can steer the interaction with your partner horse into the right direction through intelligent training. It was important to him to train with brains, to get to the root of problems and to be patient and fair to the horse. An enormously important aspect of his training has always been to understand and respond to the nature of horses. His personality, his extraordinary feeling for horses, his great experience in all parts of equestrian sport, but also his theoretical knowledge and his dedication and passion for horses made him my most important contact person in sport until a very old age.
After high school and military service I worked as a rider in the stable of Christian Ahlmann. During this time I was able to benefit from the training of the Nations Cup rider and European Champion, presented many different horses at competitions up to the advanced level and learned much about the management of sport horses and the show stable.
During and after my business studies in Münster, I successfully trained young horses up to the advanced level, which found their way to the Global Champions Tour and the CHIO Aachen (Former Horses). A special highlight was the successful participation in the Hamburg Jumping Derby 2008 with a horse educated by myself. Another great experience was the participation in the World Cup jumping of the Chinese World Cup League in Beijing (2011) on a rental horse. I was also able to achieve several victories and placings in international youngster tours, at the World Championships for young horses in Zangersheide and several final placings at the Bundeschampionat.
It is always important to me to look beyond my own nose. This includes not only a look at other equestrian sports such as dressage and eventing, but also at other sports. Because especially in the field of mental and athletic training our sport has developed a lot in the last years.
One thing is clear to me: the motto „you never stop learning“ is especially true in our complex sport!