Johannes Westendarp is one of Germany’s most successful riders of young dressage horses…
Johannes got his first big break when at the age of 20, when he won at the Bundeschampionate in 1994, on the stallion, Alabaster. “I was an absolute no-name and there were riders like Rudolf Zeilinger on Livijno, Alexandra de Ridder on Chacomo, as well as Isabell Werth and Nadine Capellmann.”
Johannes and Alabaster – the first big break…
“Then I started my own business at the age of twenty one. We had a normal farm with cows and pigs at home. My father died about then and because my passion was the horses we went more and more in that direction. I was lucky, I was asked to be part of the Oldenburg Auction rider team at Vechta at the Elite Auction. So step by step, I grew into that…”
But we have gone from Willi Schultheis, to a very different style of riding – auction riding…
“It’s not really, no it’s not what the people think. Auction riding has changed a lot because the people want a rideable horse. It’s a lot of stress for the horses in the auction when different people try them out, therefore it’s very important to give the horses a very good foundation. That means they have to feel secure, they have to accept the outside rein – it is not only the big extended trot because in the end, people decide to buy the horse when they sit on the horse and have a good feeling and a good connection to the horse and it doesn’t matter if it is a little bit bigger, or smaller, in the trot and canter.”
So not leaning back, driving the horse frantically in front…
“No, it’s not like it was in the olden times. It changed, I was a part of this process. I did this for sixteen years alongside my regular work at home. There I also met my wife…”
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Competing at the Bundeschampionate with Wolkentanz II
“My career with riding and working with the stallions started with Wolkentanz II. I bought him as a foal, three days old. I took him to the licensing, then we did the whole young horse program, the Bundeschampionate and rode him at the World Young Horse championships. Then we started the small tour, as a seven-year-old he won seven Prix St Georges with scores of over 70%. He had a lot of energy, and I think he could have gone on to Grand Prix but he injured himself, that was a shame. Now we have some mares from him that we are breeding with and they are very good.”
“Then we found Fürstenball for clients of ours, as a foal. He grew up with us and my wife Ines started riding him. He won the Licensing, he won the Bundeschampionate, he was twice at the World Championships, and as a seven-year-old, won at Prix St Georges. He is very talented for piaffe.”
Ines Westendarp and Fürstenball
“So we cross this line with the Wolkentanz II mares, and one of the foals we bred went on to be the Champion mare in Oldenburg. My daughter, Alexa competed her and they are in the German young rider team now. We have a fifteen-year-old son Matthias, and he has gone into the jumpers, and so now we buy jumper foals too! I had good luck with my first jumper foal. He was licensed and we sold half of him to the Sprehe company, and he has just completed his stallion performance test.”
Do you concentrate on the young horse classes?
“Absolutely, what I like as a rider is that you can follow the process. The development with the young horses is quicker, you can see the development from week to week. If you have a Grand Prix horse, you have to work on these really small things, day after day.”
Want to read the whole article? https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2017/04/you-have-to-make-them-feel-secure/
