The Horse Podcast

João is one of those quietly spoken, hard working gentle souls who loves his horses and loves his art. Having represented his country at European Championships and Worlds, the top Portuguese rider finally reached the peak in 2024 where he went to Paris. Unfortunately whilst at the venue, his Olympic dreams were dashed in the most awful circumstances with the illness of his stallion Drosa Fürst Ken...

Marieke Van Der Putten is a Dutch Grand Prix rider. The 43 year old represented her country at the World Championships at Herning in 2022 and the World Cup Finals in Omaha in 2023. From her start breaking in wild ponies to working with team Glock as a stable rider, she is now out on her own riding for RS2 and taking the Grand Prix sport by storm In this interview Marieke talks about the importance...

Although just recently reaching the senior classes, Semmie is no stranger to the top sport having represented Germany in 11 youth European Championships from pony to U25 since 2011 and coming away with numerous medals. With her sister Sanneke also a successful young rider, her father and mother representing Germany and Netherlands and brother Sönke part of the gold medal winning German team in Rio...

Ingrid Klimke needs no introduction. She has represented Germany in both dressage and eventing, she is a multi-championship medal winner including Olympic team gold. We talk about her journey with Vayron, who has been with her just a year now….the little challenges and his amazing personality. We discuss the importance of her own fitness work and riding as you get older…the wisdom and patience and...

DInja is a Dutch dressage amazon who has already had great successes from young horse classes to championship Grand Prix. Her greatest success at the top sport was an individual bronze in both the Special and Freestyle at the World Championships in Herning in 2022 on the stallion Hermès and she followed it up with a fourth place at the Paris Olympics in 2024. This year she already won the World Br...

Last year dressage superstar Jessica von Bredow-Werndl successfully defended her Olympic gold medals both in the teams and individual competition in Paris on her champion mare Dalera. A year on, I sat down with Jessi as she compares her experiences of both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and post Olympics. What she experienced may not be what you imagined. Things can look very different from the outs...

It’s the “Aachen Series”! Today we chat to Team GB dressage superstar Becky Moody. This was her first Aachen experience and she brought her top star and current number two in the world Jagerbomb along with her young small tour mare Magic Dream JB. We talk about the highs and lows of the last 12 months post Olympics. The challenges of being at the top of the sport. How the horse sport is different...

Swedish dressage rider Patrik Kittel has been in the top sport for 25 years. A competitor in four Olympics and numerous World Equestrian Games and World Cup finals, Patrik rode to victory in the World Cup final this year in Riyadh. In this podcast we discuss taking on criticism and where the dressage sport is at the present moment; horse welfare and what do horses really need; bringing positivity...

Christoph Hess is a modern day master. He studied to be a teacher at university and was a rider of competitions and at auction yards before becoming an international judge for 30 years in dressage and eventing, judging everything from young horse to Grand Prix. He worked at the German Equestrian Federation for almost 40 years being the head of training for 30 of those years and headed the Federal...

Although Paris will be Jayden’s first Olympics, the Australian dressage rider is no stranger to the international sport. He competed in the Young Rider’s World Cup Final in 2008 on Widelo, World Young Horse Championships in 2013 on San Andreas and the World Games in 2022 on Sky Diamond. Having spent the last two years in the UK training under Carl Hester, Jayden’s Olympic dream has been realised a...

Team GB’s newest dressage superstars Becky and her homebred Jagerbomb may have seemed like an overnight success story when they burst onto the international scene last year, but the truth is, Becky has been competing at the top level since she was nine. Great successes last year in Jagerbomb’s first year at Grand Prix meant the selectors sights were set firmly upon them, as they became the travell...

Even though still in his 20s, German dressage star Sönke Rothenberger has already had massive success in the competition arena. Following numerous successes in Pony and Young Rider Championships, the German has continued on in the Seniors with Team gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 World Championships as well as the 2017 and 2019 European Championships. He also received individual silver...

I catch up with dressage legend Carl Hester at Aachen CHIO. We get the lowdown on the Aachen stars Imhotep and Times Kismet and getting young horses to Grand Prix. Carl chats about his new partner Fame and En Vogue and hot horses in general; embracing science in the sport, the role of “Team GB”, getting those one percenters and the challenge of making the team with Charlotte and Lottie around. We...

Will Matthew is the overnight success that’s not an overnight success. Originating from Western Australia he now rides for and trains with Isabel Werth. I caught up with Will fresh from his Louisdor Qualifier win in Hagen beating his trainer Isabell. Riding in the top sport in Europe, Will is definitely the master of making unrealistic dreams come true, putting in the hard yards and making his own...

Australian dressage rider Lyndal Oatley is based in Europe and married to Swedish team member Patrik Kittel. She has competed in two Olympics, London 2012 and Rio 2016 and has her eye on Paris 2024. She has also represented her home country at the 2014 WEG in Normandy and the 2016 World Cup Final in Gothenburg. I caught up with Lyndal just after her win at Hagen Horses and Dreams just a few weeks...

Team GB dressage rider Gareth Hughes has won over 60 national and international titles including team silver in 2014 and 2022 WEG and 2021 European Dressage Championships and was the team reserve for Tokyo Olympics. We talk about his current superstar Classic Briolinca and the success at Herning. Why did it all work out so well and how do you turn a team of champions into a champion team? We all k...

Today’s interview is with the generous, genuine, insightful and pragmatic Charlotte Jorst. Although on the surface Charlotte’s life might look utopian, she has had her fair share of obstacles but she’s the sort of person who just picks herself up, dusts herself off and gets on with life. Self made, her success in business, as well as the dressage arena is quite impressive. Having founded the watch...

I caught up with Cathrine during her sensational Aachen campaign just before the World Championships at Herning. She’s always so much fun to talk to. We discuss how she manages her horses and how she builds trust with them, their character and Cassidy’s “new job”. Why it’s important to always keep learning and evolving, remaining curious to new ideas, staying motivated, being able to chill at comp...

Christopher needs no introduction. He’s arguably the best equestrian coach in the world. After a twenty-year gold rush with Germany, Christopher Bartle is well on the way of repeating the same success with his home country eventing riders, Team GB. Having won Gold at the last World Equestrian Games, this year Chris and his squad also took out Team Gold at the Tokyo Olympics, and then few months la...

Picture this…..you’re one of the world’s top dressage rider. Tokyo is just around the corner. You are at a Nations Cup representing your team and your horse just says no. This is where Danish dressage star Cathrine Dufour found herself at Compiègne, just two months out from the Olympics when her horse Bohemian, who had been consistently scoring over 80%, decided the arena wasn’t for him and refuse...

Eight time Olympian Andrew Hoy and I had a fabulous catch up over Zoom (how good’s technology?!) just before he heads off to Tokyo. Here’s your chance to get to know one of those rarified individuals who is just uber successful; one of the elite. We learn about the influence of Andrew’s parents when he was young, the importance of having great people around you. Making mistakes. The important part...

Do you want to ride like Jessica Von Bredow-Werndl? So do I. Well….I can’t promise her fitness programme will achieved that…she does a lot of hard work on the horse as well. However, it will help you be the best rider you can. You don’t want to be the weak link in your training! In this podcast, I talk to Jessica about the fitness programme used by her and her brother Benjamin and that’s now avail...

This is one of the most fabulous interviews I’ve had the privilege of being part of. Andreas Hausberger. He’s a chief rider at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. He is beautiful, friendly, learned, generous and has a great sense of humour. His passion is infectious. Andreas is a genius with work in hand and is in high demand from some of the top riders of today to help with the high school movem...

Hans Heinrich is a household name in Germany when it comes to the training of young riders and young horses. If you go to any of warmup arena at the big shows like the Bundeschampionate, Hans Heinrich is everywhere, warming up and preparing many combinations. The German has been the director of the Hoya National Riding School since 1986 and in 2001 he became the national dressage coach first for t...

Hans Heinrich is a household name in Germany when it comes to the training of young riders and young horses. If you go to any of warmup arena at the big shows like the Bundeschampionate, Hans Heinrich is everywhere, warming up and preparing many combinations. The German has been the director of the Hoya National Riding School since 1986 and in 2001 he became the national dressage coach first for t...