It’s such a shame that the Olympic surfing competitions are taking place in the South Seas this summer and not on the Seine. Otherwise Richard Vogel would have been able to compete in two disciplines. “I hope,” said the show jumper at the CHIO Aachen, “that we can surf this wave a little longer.”
The wave of success had just carried him and his horse Cepano Baloubet to victory in the European Prize. It has been rolling inexorably for months, making the 27-year-old the only German rider in the top ten of the world rankings and now making it into the German show jumping team at the Olympic Games in Paris – with his top horse, the Westphalian stallion United Touch.
Learned from the best
“He is a gifted rider,” says national coach Otto Becker about Vogel. “I don’t know anyone who has the speed just before the start like he does.” Jump-off is Vogel’s speciality. It’s about finding the shortest route through the obstacle course, but not losing the feeling for the horse at all the speed and disturbing its rhythm as little as possible. Vogel has mastered this like few others – he learned it from the best.
He worked for Olympic champion Ludger Beerbaum for two years, then set up his own business with show jumper David Will and now lives with his partner, the successful show jumping specialist Sophie Hinners, in southern Hesse. There they primarily train young horses, some of the top horses are at the company’s second location near Marburg.
“Joy and pride”
In February, the Swabian-born man spent time in Florida, where well-funded tournament series take place in the winter. Vogel’s business includes selling horses, and Florida is full of wealthy customers. But he also used the time to hone his skills in the saddle – with the help of two-time Olympic team champion McLain Ward. Vogel relegated the American to second place in the European Prize. Ward was then asked about his further plans for the tournament week. His answer: “That Richard comes second.”
That would be difficult given the wave that Vogel is currently riding. At the Summer Games in early August, he will compete for Germany for the first time in a major championship, with Philipp Weishaupt and Christian Kukuk. The moment when he received the approval and the trust of the national coach was “overwhelming,” Vogel remembers. “You work towards it for a long time and are optimistic, but when you know for sure and it happens, it’s a completely different feeling of joy and pride.”
