Story by Christopher Hector and Photos by Eventing Photo, Trevor Holt, CLiX Photography, Julia Rau and Roz Neave

There is no doubt that Michael Jung has moved the sport of eventing to yet another level. He has proven, over and over, with a series of horses, that he is the modern master. A superb dressage rider, wonderful cross country, and a fabulous showjumper.

Michael at Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky!

I asked my pal Jan Tönjes, who edits Germany’s premier equestrian publication, St Georg (and I should point out Jan’s first love is eventing) what he thinks makes marvellous Michi so special…

“The answer is: He is supernatural, a god. The tweets posted after his fall at Burghley with Roxana, and then following his round with Sam, said it all: After the fall they said ‘he is a man made from flesh, no god, good to finally find out.’ And then after Sam: ‘Forgive me father, I was wrong, I shall worship no other than thee, Michi.’”

“I’ve known him from the times when he wasn’t yet Super Michi, but only an upcoming young rider with as much talent as guts, tons of it. And way back then he was always a man who wouldn’t talk too much, but only focus on his next ride, be it a puissance, a 3* or a four year old in a stallion show.”

Michael and the Trakehner stallion Grafenstolz

“As to dressage: The most amazing thing I ever did with Michael was on a stallion show at Birkhof Stud(Jan is in great demand as a commentator at stallion shows – he is also a breeding expert) when he was riding Grafenstolz TSF, then the world champion of young eventers. His parents Brigitte and Jochen came into the arena first with one of these small but high tables you can lean on while having a chat at a garden party. That table was put on the diagonal, some three strides out of the corner. They had a bottle of champagne on the table, and glasses in their hands: When they were saluting each other – cheers!”

“Michael who had done some cantering and a gallop down the long side, turned on to the diagonal, jumped over his parents’ hands with the glasses and then afterwards on the same diagonal rode some 11 (maybe only 9, but all well through) one tempis. The audience was completely silent because they obviously couldn’t really believe what they had just seen.”

“This is Michael’s way of working horses, having them through and supple, obedient and willing to work. He doesn’t squeeze them into a frame, he asks them to work, and since – and I think this is the real background of his enormous success with any kind of horse, from the cat Roxie to the stiff lorry Halunke – he is always in perfect balance with the horse he gives them the confidence they need no matter what effort comes next.”

Because Michael Jung has taken the sport to a new level, he is a problem for the troglodytes of eventing, the ones trapped in the past who warn, TOO MUCH DRESSAGE will RUIN your cross country. For many years this has been the refrain of British media identity (and former World Champion) Lucinda Green.

Michael and Sam at Aachen

What does his coach Christopher Bartle say – why is Michael so special?
“His will to win, his self belief and trust in his horses. He is not afraid of making a mistake, he doesn’t play safe. Michael is, of course, technically very good but he is always interested in the detail and is always wanting to learn more and be better. He is a coach’s dream partner. He has a great team around him at home but he is also a great team player.”

Jan tells a lovely story that illustrates this point:

“A couple of years ago, Lucinda Green did an article on Michael. Julia Rau did the pictures and picked Lucinda up at the Stuttgart airport. Julia told me Lucinda was really excited to finally meet a German eventer who doesn’t focus too much on dressage but rides ‘British’ i.e. letting the horse run through the cross working out how to tackle with the things that are asked, there on the spot. According to Julia, it was the disappointment of the year for Lucinda when Michael could tell her the number of strides between all the fences of all the courses he had ridden that year – ‘Seventeen long ones, then two shorter ones to make sure the horse is back on the aids before the left turn to the ditch which then had seven straight forward strides to the Trakehner which was completely in the shadow so you might ride eight strides if they hesitate for a little moment.’”

The resident expert at Chronicle of the Horse, Jim Wofford is another of the ‘those were the days’ school, that still laments the disappearance of the steeple, when men were men and cross country courses the ultimate test of courage, and I think we can see in his comments on Michael’s recent win at Lexington, a complete misreading of how Jung rides and approaches the sport:

“Then you have someone like Michael Jung who showjumps at five-star level for showjumping and rides Grand Prix dressage and then comes out here in horrible conditions and puts his hands down and says, ‘I am going to win this or die,’ and Roxie flung her ears up and said, ‘Really? How cool is that; let’s go see what happens.’”

Michael and Halunke

“I was watching in the TV production truck with all of these experts, and we all started groaning at the top of the hill because we knew what he was going to do. He was going to chase the time down through a related distance to a flat ramped oxer at the end, and he was going to hope he sees three fliers in a row. And he did. And if he had not seen those strides, and if she had not responded, they would still be picking him up.”

Sorry Mr Wofford that is your tired old macho fantasy, eventing of a bygone era, when every cross country ride was a dice with death. Why? Because you and your ilk could not ride dressage, you couldn’t balance the horse, or control the stride, like Michael Jung can. Why – because he does such good dressage work that he can help his horse find a safe way through. It is not a feat of macho derring-do, it is the cool calculated riding of a master of the art of dressage which makes him the master of cross country.

more from leading course designer, Mike Etherington-Smith follows

The world’s best eventing course designer, Mike Etherington-Smith loves nothing better than to stand quietly in the background on cross country day and watch how his courses ride, and he sees M. Jung for what he really is:

“Every so often a truly outstanding athlete comes along and he/she has the very rare and exceptional quality, ‘time’. Everything looks effortless, smooth, simple, rhythmic, and a pure joy to watch. It is more than just talent, it is motivating, it is inspirational, it is pure class, and we are fortunate to see all this in Michael and his relationship with his horses and how they perform for and with him. Watching him ride across country on his various horses is a lesson for us all. His balance, the way he makes courses look so simple, and the confidence he gives his horses is second to none.”

And what does all that mean for the course designer?

“The Michael Jungs of this world make things pretty tricky for us Course Designers. How do we test their skills in a way that remains fair to the horses? We need to make them have to think how they are going to tackle a course or a particular combination or series of fences and then make them have to make decisions based on what their horses are telling him as they are going round, whilst at the same time we have to recognise that there are not many Michael Jungs. Course designing has had to change over the years, to adapt the new format without Roads & Tracks and Steeplechase, and yet still provide enough to ‘test the best’. In planning a top level course we all try to provide a sufficient test to examine the big guns whilst at the same time looking after those stepping up to the level for the first time. Whether we even get close, is for Michael to answer.”

Michael and Takinou

International dressage Christoph Hess is another whose first love is eventing, and he too is a ‘Michi’ fan: “Michael Jung is perfect in all small details. He sits balanced and supple, his horses are in front of him on his driving aids and he trains them in a perfect way to the scale of training.”

“His horses have confidence because they can use their neck to balance their body and they have the chance to see the fences very early so they know what they have to jump.”

“Michael trains and competes in dressage and showjumping at the highest level. He competes every weekend in Eventing or Showjumping in top competition. Therefore he knows very well what he has to do at shows. He has learnt how to deal with stress in a positive way.”

Michael prepares for the dressage with his father as eyes-on-the-ground

No less than German superstar jumper rider Marcus Ehning smiles, and says he really has nothing left to teach Jung. Reitmeister and dressage team member Hubertus Schmidt, who has been Jung’s dressage coach for some time, says Jung has incredible feel, on top of the talent. So – after winning the eventing Grand Slam, collecting the huge pot of €408,000, the Jungs vanned Sam back home and Michael got four horses ready for Wiesbaden, where he will take part in top sport jumping as well as eventing. I guess dressage riders can breathe easy too, at least for now…

You can view more articles with Michi in his who’s who directory! http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/whos-who/jung-michael/

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