Clemens Dierks was born on 9th July 1948 in the Russian occupied East German town of Wismar, on the Baltic Sea. His father was an accountant. The family moved to Schwäbisch Gmünd near Stuttgart when he was eight years old and Clemens began vaulting at 12, paying 2DM to join the group. Vaulting was a popular discipline at the time as it allowed all children to be around horses without too much expense.

Clemens taught vaulting for three years, “Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2pm”, right through all his apprenticeship years having left school at 14 years old and beginning his apprenticeship as a bereiter straight away. At 17 he sat his bereiter exam at Warendorf and became fully qualified, teaching all disciplines including dressage and showjumping.

He came out to Australia in 1973, flying into Darwin from Timor as a backpacker, having travelled right through Asia. He taught his first fews lessons at Darwin Pony Club before working as an electrician’s assistant in the mines at Tennant Creek, a riding instructor in Adelaide (where he also competed in show jumping up to A grade) and picking apples in Tasmania before meeting Kalman de Jurenak in Sydney. When his visa expired, he went back to Germany to get a migrant visa which only took a week because he had a special trade.

Clemens was in high demand with his new German way of riding despite language difficulties, because although he spoke English, horse terminology could be difficult. He taught dressage and show jumping in Sydney to riders such as Greg Eurell and Colleen Brook as well as building courses before settling specifically on dressage. He also trained horses for sale, initially difficult off the track Thoroughbreds before the quality slowly improved to the Warmbloods we see today.

Notable riders who have trained under the guidance of Clemens include Ann Honor, Carolyn Lieutenant, Matthew Dowsley, Rachael Downs and Mary Hanna, to whom he sold her first Olympic horse, Mosaic which she rode at the Atlanta Olympics. Wife Judy has also represented Australia and daughter Daniella is one of the top Australian dressage riders in the country today.

The highlight of Clemens’ career has been dressage team coach at the Olympics three times for two different nations; Australia for Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000 and Athens for New Zealand in 2004.

Today he is still involved in training top level riders and gets a kick watching the younger ones coming up, seeing the future of dressage develop with riders like daughter Daniella, who is slowly taking over the family’s horse training and sale business.