Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Roz Neave
You can read the words on the page, but can’t hear the gales of laughter that bubble up all through this interview with the German based, Danish rider, Fie Christine Skarsö.
Fie has every reason to laugh. She is based at one of the world’s most beautiful studs, Gestut Wiesenhof, just outside Dusseldorf where she gets to ride the stud’s two Grand Prix dressage stallions, Münchhausen and Monteverdi, while training with Jean Bemelmans, in an atmosphere that positively sparkles!
The day we arrived it was like the United Nations. Aside from Fie working her mare, Media Luna, there was one of the Austrian riders heading for Aachen, Nina Stadlinger and her Westfalien, Egalite – along with three of the Spanish riders, headed by Ignacio Ramblas. The combination of Jean and the Spanish team has been extraordinarily successful over the past decade, and the Spanish riders add their own sense of flair (and willingness to party) to the heady mix.
It was fun watching Fie ride her pretty chestnut mare, fun later to find out how she made the journey from Denmark to Germany…
“I was riding stallions in Demark, and there is one big show – Herning – once every year. A German was watching me ride this stallion and he came up, and said ‘Hey, do you want to come and work for me in Germany?’”
“First of all I had to talk with my parents, and with people who knew about Germany but I always wanted to come here because everybody knows Germany has the best horses, the best trainers and the best sponsors.”
“So I said, okay I would like to come. It was not the place I wanted to stay and I got out of there very quick, like three weeks… I was twenty-three at the time.”
“In Denmark I had been in the Pony team, the Junior and the Young Riders team. I was in the Danish team and I was enjoying that, but at 23, I thought, okay I take the chance.”
“I had been promised me a lot of things that hadn’t happened, and so I thought, you don’t want to be here, but you don’t want to go home – you want to be in Germany where you can improve, that was the plan. So I moved to my own stables and in half of one week it was full! FANTASTIC – it was super.”
“I had Grand Prix horses, M horses, young horses. It was super cool. Then one day someone came along and he tried two Grand Prix horses, and he said, ‘listen girl, you need to have a sponsor. I have one for you, are you interested?’ I was like, Hello! Of course!! That was Thursday and on Saturday morning I came to Gestüt Wiesenhof and Saturday afternoon I signed the contract…”
Fie and Münchhausen
And you were in horse heaven?
“For four and a half years! This was where I met Münchhausen, he was five. He was the oldest horse I had to work with. It’s funny, I made all the horses myself, later together with Jean Bemelmans, that’s even more fantastic. It was not like I got ten Grand Prix horses, here please ride these… no, I made them myself. I did the Bundeschampionate with the horses, I did the World Championship with the horses. My second horse, Monteverdi, he is also doing Grand Prix now – he also went to the Bundeschampionate… we went all the way with all the horses.”
Luna at the Bundeschampionate…
Mr Bemelmans was not here when you came here?
“No, he came three and a half years ago. I worked here for a year alone. It’s been fantastic to have him every day, just fantastic. When I think about Jean, he made me. He is like my Daddy, he is just the best.”
“His personality is fantastic, and the way he works with the horses. He is never against the horses, he is always with them. He looks at each horse and says ‘oh we have to ride this horse like this’, and the next horse we maybe have to do it in another way. It’s just fantastic.”
You ride your horses in the classic way?
“We ride them long and deep at the beginning. With the young horses very long so they are through and the muscles can be trained in the right way. Then we ride them up and down again so that they feel good all the time. For me it is very important that they feel good, when a horse doesn’t feel good, when they are tense, you can’t ride them. I always ride the horses with my heart because I have a lot of Trakehners, and you have to ride them with the heart, especially the stallions – I love stallions. Sometimes stallions take longer, and in the arena they are not always on your side, but when you get that AHAH feeling, it’s fantastic with stallions because they give a bit more.”
Munchhaüsen was your first German Grand Prix horse?
“It was so nice to make the Danish team with him, we were training so many years for this… it’s just a dream come true. I’d been on the Pony Team, and the Young Rider Team, and now it is so special to be on the Senior Team.”
Your family had horses?
“Actually not. We were living in the country but we did not have horses. It’s the usual story, a neighbour had a little pony, then after two months I got my own pony, and then the year after I was in the team! It went really quick but I was lucky I had super trainers, and my parents were supporting me – it’s a dream story, sometimes I have to pinch myself… In Denmark I was training with Lief Sorenson who does a lot in America, when I was training for the Young Riders, I had two super trainers who were both riding Grand Prix themselves, and that was nice. I could take a bit from this one, or this one, then make my own line.”
Was it hard to get into the German scene?
“It’s different, it’s more professional, like you have the line – Jean always says to me, for a rider it is important to find your own line in riding. He just supports, and gives me new ideas, but you have to find the line where you can ride the horses. The German line is really nice.”
Many people don’t like to ride Trakehners?
“That’s true because they are too complicated. Everybody says ‘Oh no, Trakehner!’. In Denmark I had a stallion, he was Trakehner and he taught me a lot. There I found the clue for the Trakehners. He was difficult but we went from L to Grand Prix in one year. I found a way to ride him, and now with Munchhaüsen and Monteverdi, I hoped I could do it again and it worked.”
So what is the secret to riding Trakehners?
“I think the secret is you have to ride them with the heart. You cannot ride against them. Many people are not calm enough to ride Trakehners. Of course they have to know where the direction is but you have to pat them a lot as well. It’s the way…”