Christopher Hector catches up with one of the world’s great trainers, and breeders, Wolfram Wittig…
It’s hard to reproduce on paper (or for that matter on a screen) what talking with Wolfram Wittig is like, there is a wicked gleam to the trainer’s eye as he refuses to take the world too seriously. He got me into real trouble one time with Isabell Werth, who he was working with at the time. When I arrived at her home for an interview, there on the table was a copy of THM, opened to an interview with Wolfram, and with his statement that ‘dressage is like a peep show, it doesn’t matter how it feels, as long as it looks good…’ in vain I pointed out to Ms Werth that the words were Wolfram’s not mine, she was not amused – but he is, amused that is, and most of the time!
Wolfram must enjoy sitting back and watching his riders when they are going so well. I caught up with him at Frankfurt Show, where he had three of the stars:
“There was Kira (Wulferding), Marcus (Hermes) and Matthias (Bouten).”
Marcus and Abegglen in the Burg Pokal last year
I thought it was a good example of horsemanship, last year in the Burg Pokal, Marcus had that horse, Abegglen and it is was off its face, just totally freaked out on the arena, this year he brought it back at a higher level, tougher test, same scary arena, but with proper training, proper gymnastic, the horse looked lovely…”
And it was the youngest in the class, just eight years, I think Marcus does a good job.”
Matthias Bouten and Bodyguard in the Burg Pokal
Kira is a fabulous rider, she has this quality of softness, but effective softness, she’s not a dolly rider, she gets the job done, but you never see her hands move, never a rough move…
“Our job together is this year nineteen years. She started in my barn in 1999, so next year we will have the twentieth anniversary.”
Kira and Cayenne W (bred by Wolfram!) in 2006 at the Bundeschampionat
Was she always an exceptional rider – or did she have to work on it?
“She works, she had a very good training from her father, but she is always interested in updates, and she is always working 100% professional. That’s what I like about her – and she is even a very good rider for difficult horses.”
Is it hard for a rider like Kira, she has shown she is a very good rider with many horses, but her father is not Mr Sprehe, or her mother, Sissy Max-Theurer, who will pay millions for a horse for her to ride – is it hard for her to break through to Grand Prix level, to break into the German team?
“First of all, she is a professional, so her job is to train the horses and then later on, to compete. Normally if you have a Grand Prix horse that you own, it is your decision to keep them or to sell them, and as a professional, it is always better to sell them because you need the money.”
But how she has been with you for twenty years, would you like to see her with a competitive Grand Prix horse, team horse?
“Yes, absolutely, but we are never focused on the team, our job is to be as good as possible and in a very fair combination with our horses, that’s the main goal. Now the next step for her, should be the Grand Prix and let us see – we are not in a hurry, we are not under pressure. If it works, good, if not…”
Kira and Bohemian Rhapsodie in the Burg Pokal this year
Which horse do you think might take her to Grand Prix?
“I think she has now a very very good six-year-old horse, Bonita Springs, a Boston out of a Fidertanz mare. She was bred by Mrs Katzorke-Hellwig, the same breeder as the Belissimo mare (Bohemian Rhapsodie) and this horse is unbelievable. Unbelievable. Another mare.”
if you would like to see this ‘unbelievable horse hit the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3r_BVcy_fY
Does Kira have a special talent with mares?
“She has the right hands for making a good job with horses, it doesn’t matter, is it a stallion, is it a gelding, is it a mare. For Romance she was competing, it’s a stallion, Sissy Max-Theurer’s San Francisco, a stallion… she works in all directions.”
If Wolfram is quick with a quip or witty remark, Kira is – in English – almost silent, the most I could get from her was:
“He’s a good trainer for me, for the young horses or the older ones, with three-year-olds or Grand Prix horses. The basics for him, must be perfect.”
What I find so nice when you visit Wolfram is that the work is always so quiet and nice for the horses…
“Yes, he has time for the horses. The owner can come and say, let’s go to the show, and he says, no, we wait until the horse is ready for the show.”
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Qualifying Brianna for the Bundeschampionships in 2017
How old were you when you started working with Wolfram?
“Eighteen.”
Do you prefer working with young horses or with the Grand Prix horses?
“More with the young horses, it is interesting to me, the younger horses.”
Kira’s Grand Prix hope, Soiree d’Amour
Do you still have the ambition to be a Grand Prix star?
“I hope in the next year, I will do well in Grand Prix… I hope next year to do Grand Prix with the ten-year-old, the San Amour mare, Soiree d’Amour, she was here last year in the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal.”
You have your own training stables?
“Yes, I work at home, I have twelve to fifteen horses in training, and I drive one day a week to Mr Wittig for training. It’s a small stable, I prefer it that way.”
Back to Wolfram who is far more confident in his grasp of English, but thank you so much Kira for trying so hard…
What do you think about the Grand Prix test getting shorter and shorter?
“That’s a very difficult question and the answer is not easy, but if you like to go forward with the classical way, which is very worthwhile for the horses, think about ice-skating where there is one classical part and then just the freestyle, but the classical part is always the basis, that is the first step. And they have less spectators when they do the classical part, it’s only really good for spectators with the freestyle. If we have our horses that safe, that calm, well trained, we should do it the classical way. Sometimes we can shorten some tests, this is not a problem because if you have 40, 50, 60 metres of walk, if the walk is not in a rhythm, or if the horse is a bit nervous then after five metres or 55 metres, it is the same mark. We still have to have walk, absolutely, but in the Freestyle, it is 20 metres, this for me is enough. Twenty metres collected walk, twenty metres extended walk, you don’t need more.”
And the rein back?
“We can discuss this, but all the horses have proved that they rein back in the years before as they come through the classes. Is it necessary in the Grand Prix – that we can discuss. I think for sure, it is not 100% necessary because it has been proved in the Prix St Georges, in the Intermediaire II, we know the horses are able to do the rein back. In the classical way, that’s okay, but in the Freestyle, no-one is asking for the rein back.”
The horses are getting better, the riders are getting better, how is it that the judges aren’t getting better? We saw in the Burg-Pokal, the scores were up and down like a heart beat, they could not agree most of the time…
“I did the judges’ test myself, up to ‘S’ which is St Georg, Intermediaire I, and Major Paul Stecken said to me, Mr Wittig, being a professional you have to learn to get the right placings – and I said, I cannot agree with that, he said, why? Because we are also responsible for the first rider and that first rider needs the right marks, not the rankings. The first rider needs the right marks, is it 70, 75, or 85? It has nothing to do with placings. What was it worth – 70, 75, or 85? But it is not very easy to discuss with the judges.”
And all the solutions they come up with to improve judging, don’t seem to work – they said, we should drop the top score, and drop the bottom, but yesterday, we had an example of when the judge who gave the lowest score was correct and the higher scores were wrong, and if you drop that score, then when people look at the results, oh that must have been a nice test, but with the low score you are not so sure…
“I just ask one question, if you go to court for something you have done, are you quite sure you will get the same penalty in Perth as you would in Sydney?”
“No.”
“Then why should the dressage judges be any different? But sometimes it looks like, not guilty, or execution!”
Do you think dressage is going in a nice way at the moment?
“1972 was the first time I was watching the riding and I got a book from the 1972 Olympics and there were some comments from a very well known judge, and he said, we must fight strongly against shortness in the neck. That was 1972, and nothing has changed, and the rankings back then were awful, so nothing has changed.”
Wolfram is a man of many talents, he was a competitive rider himself, now a successful trainer, so much so that at the Frankfurt show, he was awarded the prestigious title – Reitmeister – riding master, but he is also one of the most successful breeders of dressage horses in the world – with his wife, Brigitte, he has produced 11 homebred Grand Prix horses… and almost all of them by his stallion Breitling, who was once again ranked on the German FN breeding values, the number one sire of dressage horses for open competition…
Blind Date competing at Aachen
“We are delighted that his children has been so successful. And now Kira has another very good one, five years old, it is owned by Victoria Max-Theurer, and it is an up-and-coming young horse.”
Do you know how many mares he covered – he must have the highest ratio of foals to Grand Prix competitors of any stallion…
“I think so, but we don’t have all the information, but I know his average must be very very high. The most mares he ever covered in one year was about 80 when he was placed at Schockemöhle’s, that was the maximum…”
And some stallions covered 800 in one year…
“What is important is not to sell the semen, what is important are the products, and what is so good about him is that he produced useful horses.”
Wolfram and a young Boston, out of one of the Bismark mares
For a long time people would say, oh, the Breitling progeny are successful because they are ridden by Wolfram and Brigitte, but now there are more and more horses that are being successful, with riders whose surname is not ‘Wittig’…
“We have very very good mares in breeding at my place. At the moment it looks to me as if our breeding system just produces modern horses, not power, not potential, just modern horses, and for me, a horse is really modern if there is a blue ribbon on its head.”
Charlotte Dujardin and a Breitling she took to Grand Prix level. Barolo is now competing for Japan
When we look at the top horses in the sport – like Valegro, he’s not such a ‘modern’ type – like your Breitlings…
“No, but they are useful with a strong character, very good temperament, a very high level of rideability, this is what we are looking for. The next thing is that it takes a long time, the horse is seven or eight when you ask, is he good enough for Prix St Georges or Grand Prix, but at the moment we are producing the foals to sell as foals. They need the dark colour, that is important…”
Flick their front legs with nice little tight backs…
“And we are not asking for good haunches for a good canter, and that is what is most important, canter quality.”
Who bred Breitling, you or your father-in-law, I see different versions…
“He took the mare to be covered so his name is written on the paper, but at the time, I was sending all our mares to Bismark. This year we have a seven-year-old who is by Boston (Jazz / Flemmingh) out of a Bismark mare, the Bismark mare was born in 1991, and Brigitte competed the horse in three competitions, Prix St Georges for two victories, and one second place. She has also been successful at Prix St Georges with another Boston, this time out of a Breitling mare. At the moment we are breeding with five Breitling mares.”
Foundation/Breitling the next generation
What stallions are you looking at this year?
“I was taking Foundation, he’s a very good stallion, then we have also used For Romance, Kira was in the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal final with him. This year I am also using Baron (Benicio / Sir Donnerhall I), more B line – back to Bolero. For me it’s important that I am independent with my mares, because the mares really have very good gaits, big fundament, big frame – so I don’t need a big stallion, and for me, 60% is based on the mare. I can make up my own mind when choosing the stallions.”
So you are doubling up on the B line….
“I’m not intelligent enough to use the alphabet, I got stuck on the second letter. Once I used Carabas, and bred Cayenne W, a world champion, so I did get as far as the third letter.”
You didn’t get to D and Donnerhall…
“It didn’t work, even with DiMaggio it didn’t work and I liked DiMaggio, but it didn’t work, I couldn’t get our mares pregnant. That was the problem.”
Wolfram and the next generation, one of his young Breitlings…
You can use many of the breeding lines Wolfram talks about, in Australia, like Breitling, Foundation and more. Go to www.ihb.com.au and find the right stallion for your mare for the 2019 season.
Foundation
And go to the International Horse Breeders site and type in the name of the stallion you would like to use, and find out what’s available