Michael Jung riding fischerChelsea at Hagen – the eleven year old bay mare,
won the 1.50 class. Photo – Stefan Lafrentz
Words – Rebecca Ashton
Michael Jung, ready to showjump at Hagen Photo – Ute Raabe
Michael Jung needs little introduction. Winning individual Olympic gold at both London 2012 and Rio 2016 with La BiosthetiqueSam, he was the first rider in history to hold the Olympic, World and European title at the same time. After his Europeans win in 2015, he became just the second rider in history to win three consecutive titles on three different horses.
Michael and Sam at the Rio Games. Photo Rebecca Ashton
Following Michael’s 2016 Badminton win, he became only the second rider in history to win the Rolex Grand Slam. He also won Kentucky 4* in 2015, 2016 and 2017 on FischerRocana FST. In recent times, Michael has also been holding his own in the 5* show jumping arena. I caught up with Michael at Hagen Horses and Dreams where he was showjumping some youngsters and, of course, didn’t go home empty handed.
Want to see Michael riding at Hagen? – click here
You’ve acquired the ride on Chipmunk (this was Julia Krajewski’s horse at the Tryon WEG). How’s that going?
It’s a really nice horse, very clever and super to ride. It’s good to have him.
A new ride for Michael, Chipmunk Photo Julia Waldenmaier / JW Fotografie
You like to start your own horses and train them through so has he been more of a challenge or easier because he’s so well trained?
I think every rider trains a bit differently so it’s a little bit like a new start also for him because he has to learn some things a bit differently like I want to have it. So now we are just going easily, basic work together and the first competitions together will be like training rounds, a bit working through the cross country, the jumping and the dressage. Everything just to get experience but yes it’s nice to work with him. He’s a horse with a lot of talent.
story continues below the advertisement
Will you start him in Marbach?
Yes. (Michi and Chipmunk went on to come second at the CCI4*S at Marbach and another second at Baborowko in the CCI4*, hence qualifying for Tokyo)
Michael and Chipmunk at Marbach Photo – Julia Waldenmaier / JW Fotografie
Picking up with the training, you do a lot of flat work with them so can you expand a little on that, what you do, how you go about it.
I do everything with them. You get on the horse, you feel what they need and you have a different plan everyday. They go hacking, galloping, a bit of jumping, a bit of dressage. Sometimes you get on and think, ok this horse needs a bit more lunging maybe, this one needs a bit more stretching work so every horse has a different programme.
You obviously have to do dressage with the eventers, but how far do you take this?
We have two things. One is the real dressage. You have to learn this, that every step is there where you wish. The other side is that the horse and you are in a very good partnership. The horse understands what you want and that when you put your leg on, you get a good reaction. All these things and also when you have the dressage saddle on that you can do nice dressage work. Not dressage work like shoulder in and half pass, but dressage work that you work together with your horse, that you school your horse to accept your aids but also listening and reacting very quickly. These things are very, very important for the cross country.
This winter I know you really did a lot of show jumping. Do you do jumping just with the show jumpers or do the eventers go straight show jumping sometimes?
I mix it up a little bit in the training also. They have nearly the same programme, not that I go cross country training with the jumping horses but also that I work them on the cross country place. Sometimes we also go galloping with the jumping horses. Basic work is for every horse the same and I think that that’s very important.
story continues below the advertisement
How many horse in training at the moment?
I have about 20, 25 horses. I ride between four and ten a day.
How do you manage it?
It’s difficult to explain. I have a good team around me and I have good riders at home who train the horses when I’m at competitions, but they do more the basic work. I have one rider who goes to the smaller competitions also. But it’s very important that we work together, that I also sometimes get on the horses that they are riding so I can tell them, ok you need to look to this or look to that a bit better, that the horses are ridden as I would have it, that I could get on a horse and I can go directly to the competition. When I get a new horse, first I need a few months to change something so they have to work as I would like to have it. This is very important. We swap the horses a lot when I’m at home so that every rider can ride nearly every horse and then we all work in the same direction.
For example, last week I was at an eventing show so that this week they have it a little bit of a break, more easy going and then next week these horses at this show will have it a little easier. So it changes always a little bit and it makes it a little easier during the season.
story continues below the advertisement
With the show jumping, do you see yourself heading in that direction in the future or are you just happy mixing it all up a little bit?
We have not enough eventing competitions around my place so for me it’s perfect to do also the show jumping and I really like it. It depends also always on the horses that you have which classes you can compete in. The same with eventing. So this year for example, I can’t go to Kentucky or Badminton so I have to go to other competitions. But it’s still nice to work with all the horses and every winter you get new horses and it makes every season interesting. It’s especially nice to work with the young horses, teach them something then see a few years later how they do at the shows.
Do you think there’s a problem in Germany with having enough event horses because perhaps you need to save the good ones for championships? Is that an issue or not really?
I think it’s both. We have not enough eventing competitions and we have not enough breeders for the eventing sport and we have not the market to buy and sell the horses. At the moment you need two kinds of horses, you need one horse for the short four star, ERM classes for example and you need different horses for the big classes, the five star. You need much more Thoroughbred.
Another great one, Fischerrocana at the 2014 WEG…
So what makes a great event horse?
The problem is you have three disciplines and you need all three and in the beginning you can win a lot of competitions when you do the one star, two star, three star when you have a horse that is not really a Thoroughbred horse and has more talent in the dressage and show jumping. But later to win the big classes, you need a horse that has a lot of Thoroughbred. So with this horse you might win nothing for three years but then later you can win Burghley or Badminton. You have to think a bit differently about what you want to do. If you want to win the European Championships for the Juniors or Young Riders, you need a different horse. In relation to our breeders, it’s easier to breed a show jumping horse and sell him for much more money when he’s three or four years old than an eventing horse. You might still breed a good eventing horse, but you get no money. It makes totally no sense to breed eventing horses and it is difficult to explain to breeders why they have to breed eventing horses.
Gold at Rio – Photo Rebecca Ashton
What makes a great rider?
I think a great rider is a rider who can teach the horse and has a good feeling for the horse and you need a feeling for how good the horse is and the prospect of the horse. Sometimes you have to be a bit more relaxed the first two, three years and not give them too much pressure because later after three, four years, he’ll be a top horse at the high level. But if you try to win when he’s six, seven or eight, maybe it’s too much for him. With some other horses, you can win much more easily at the easier competitions.
So it’s knowing how much pressure a horse can take and knowing when to back off.
story continues below the advertisement
When you’re in that start box at the Olympics, mentally, so controlled, is that just the sort of person you are? Cool, it’s your job, you’re not throwing up, sort of thing!
Yeah I think so. And you have to know how were the competitions before? If you had always a bad result, it makes you a little more stressed or if the results were good and you have had good training, you are 100% sure it works. You can have problems anywhere, for sure, but normally it works. When you go into a 1.40 class and it always works, and you can go faster or slower. If you have always bad results at 1.30 and you go 1.40, for sure it’s too much, and it’s the same as in eventing. You need a good preparation and a good partnership with your horse and you have to be also fair enough and quiet enough to think, ok maybe this is too much this year and you need another plan.
You cannot make a plan and just follow it, you need a feeling for how it works. I think this is also sometimes a problem in our sport; the rider really wants to do it but the horse needs maybe just two competitions a bit easier then you are back in a better shape and the horse has a bit more motivation and then you can keep going. But some of them I think stay too long on this and they have too many problems and then, boom, they have to start from the beginning.
So almost micro managing a little bit, making slight adjustments forward and back.
And we have also a few nice competitions like Badminton and Kentucky really early in the season. Maybe if you had problem somewhere, different kind of problem and you think, maybe it’s now a bit tough to follow this plan, so you do a little bit less early and you can have in the middle of the summer top things, or at the end of the season, but if you push and keep going because you have those big shows early in the season, you might have nothing for the whole season.
It’s a bit the problem because in the show jumping if you see something such as, the ground is not good or my horse isn’t quite right and you retire, next week or two weeks later you can go again. But we have just two, three, four interesting eventing competitions a season so you cannot really choose. If the ground is like this, you cannot say ok I retire and I go next week. It’s a half a year later.
What do you do on the day of a comp, say cross country day? Do you have a routine you follow? (Michael looks puzzled!) No, just relax? We’re all jealous of you! You don’t meditate and do yoga for an hour?!
No. Not really. No.
You just get on with it, do what needs to be done.
Ja Ja. I try to have good training. It’s like what we’ve been talking about. With the competition that it works well and you have a good feeling.
I saw a video of you training cross country in the snow and you were popping over a “Tokyo 2020” jump. You must have plans…
It is the motivation! It started with a good friend of mine after the first World Equestrian Games, he built a fence, “London 2012”as a motivation, so now I always do something like this.
Do the jumps stay after the event?
Sometimes they get broken but yes we try to keep them.
And finally, what’s Sam doing now?
He gets ridden every second day. He’s super happy, relaxed, sound, powerful. It’s nice to see him fit like this.
