Words and photos – Rebecca Ashton
Simone Blum has had horses in her life from day one. Her whole family works with horses and father Jürgen represented Germany in eventing at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Simone made her senior teams debut on her chestnut mare DSP Alice in 2017 at the Nations Cup in Barcelona and just a year later she was crowned world champion, winning individual gold a the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, becoming the first woman to do so since 1986.
Since then the German show jumper has had a whirlwind of a year. She’s had to deal with all that comes with gaining a gold medal, she got married, was awarded FEI “Athlete of the Year” for 2018 and is now expecting her first child. She also represented her country in the Europeans this year at Rotterdam, where I caught up with her before she joined her team members in claiming team silver and just missed out on an individual medal, finishing fourth.
story continues below the advertisement
What’s it been like…you won Tryon and I imagine it’s been full on since then?
It was just like a dream. I think I knew before that she is really a clear round machine and that I could do it. We were in the best shape and we had luck. Hard work pays off. We had good rounds before, good training with my husband. It was a perfect year, a perfect way to build it up. I hope it’s not the only big success for this horse because I think she can do more.
What’s it like, being thrust into the spotlight, having to do all these interviews when perhaps you’d just rather get on and ride?
At the moment it’s a little bit better. After Tryon it was terrible. I had no time for riding. It was too much. So then I had a three month break which was really good for me. After that, I could start from new a little bit, small competitions and build Alice up again and it was perfect for me.
story continues below the advertisement
What sort of things would you do to bring her back from three months?
She was in very light work, she could go into the field or whatever she wanted. My husband and the other riders were riding her. Then I went to Italy for two weeks to do some smaller shows, one 4* and then 5*s Mannheim she won and La Baule she won the Grand Prix. So the break was super for her.
How do you keep her motivated or is she just like that anyway?
She’s always motivated. She just loves it. She loves jumping, she loves competition. We try to compete her one or two times a month, so she will go about 15 competitions a year. Last year it was maybe 10.
She’s a really special horse.
She’s a diva. She knows she’s the best. She loves having people around but she needs to know the people. She doesn’t like strangers; she can bite or kick. We know each other really, really well. I’ve had her since she was nine and she’s 12 now. She’s a very, very special horse. I think now we have worked out the best plan for the horse. Sometimes she had too much temperament and she tended to be quite a stressy horse and now I think we have a really good plan over the season. Now she can give 100%. We have less bad rounds!
story continues below the advertisement
You came from being a very good rider but now you’re one of the best. Does that come with a lot of pressure?
No. I think that is normal for every rider because every rider is nothing without the horse. You can be the best rider in the world but if you don’t have the right horse, you can just ride normal shows. Every rider will have this situation at some stage. And I think it’s also about the right team. Perhaps Alice would not be so successful with another rider because she’s a mare, she’s really difficult, we gave her a lot of time but in the end it was our luck in the end. Some shows are a little bit too much pressure because people want a lot from you but you really just want to be concentrated on your work. It’s good to be in the press but sometimes you have to say no. I learned that!
And you love being on the German team?
For me the team competition is real sport. It’s what I love. The championships are really, really important to me. It’s a really good team and great team spirit.
Want to breed your own showjumper? Check out the amazing line-up of stallions available through frozen semen from International Horse Breeders…
