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From school horse to Olympic arena – dressage history from Hagen a.T.W.
Born on March 25, 1987 in Kehl, Baden-Württemberg, I was infected with the horse bug as a young boy. A friend took me to the riding stable and I was hooked: Soon afterwards, I had my first lunge lessons. When I was 14, Calypso came into my life. My first own horse. I then trained the three-year-old gelding myself and showed him in show jumping and dressage competitions.
As my parents attached great importance to a solid education, I stopped riding for the time being after leaving school and completed an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk. To my parents’ delight, I achieved a very good degree, so they were no longer opposed to my passion for horses. On the contrary!
The year 2007 was the start of a career path that led me to winning the team gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. I started my three-year apprenticeship as a horse farmer at Hof Kasselmann. The training with Ulli and Bianca Kasselmann, what I learned from them both, shaped me and made my riding career possible in the first place. My first professional highlight was completing my training with the Stensbeck badge.
After a 2-year intermezzo at Gestüt Bonhomme, I returned to Hof Kasselmann in 2014. I received the Golden Riding Badge in 2015.
My international career started with Duke of Britain FRH: we won the World Cup Freestyle in London in 2018 – ahead of the then British Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin.
After that, things went from strength to strength:
In 2019, I became World Champion of six-year-old dressage horses with Zuccero OLD and won the Professional Riders’ Championships and the German Dressage Derby. What a year!
I was called up to the Olympic squad for the first time in 2020.
Duke of Britain FRH and I won our first DM medal in 2022 at the German Championships in Balve. In Herning, at the World Championships, we were also part of the German team that won the bronze medal in 2022.
2023 was the year when Bluetooth slowly stepped out of Duke’s shadow: at the German Championships, Duke and I won bronze in the Grand Prix Special and with Bluetooth we won silver in the freestyle test. Bluetooth and I repeated this success at the 2023 European Championships in Riesenbeck: we won team silver.
2024 was the year of success for me:
At the German Championships, we were successful in the Grand Prix Special with Bluetooth and in the freestyle with Duke. We won silver in both competitions.
And then came Paris. The Olympics. The ultimate highlight of my life so far.
Bluetooth and I won gold in the team competition together with Jessica von Bredow-Werndl on TSF Dalera BB and Isabell Werth with Wendy.
After that, a new era began for me. I can’t wait to see what other highlights life has in store for me.
YOU CAN ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL TOGETHER
Passion & teamwork –
The key to success
My sport, dressage riding, is not just a competition for me – it is my passion. This passion drives me to get up every day, train with my four-legged partners and give my all together. It’s the small advances in training, the intense moments in competition and the feeling of surpassing myself that motivate me time and time again. None of this would be possible without genuine enthusiasm.
But as passionate as I am about my sport, you don’t get far on your own. Teamwork is what holds everything together. Whether in the tournament, in training or behind the scenes: My success is always also the success of my team. Above all, my partner Lars and Ulrich and Bianca Kasselmann, as well as my helpers and sponsors, always give me the strength to push my limits and grow beyond them.
Every victory, every defeat, every challenge – I don’t experience all of this alone. It’s the trust in the team that drives me, and the support of the people around me who carry and affirm me.
Passion and teamwork – these are not just words, but the basis for everything I achieve in sport.
