Chris Bartle jokes about his life falling into two segments; black-and-white and colour. The former refers to the early days of this English public school and university-educated Yorkshireman’s career in the 1970s and ‘80s when photographs of his dressage exploits, including a second-place finish at the very first World Cup Final in s’Hertogenbosch, were largely recorded in monochrome.
His colour phase has been defined by the sport of eventing, both as an athlete and as a coach. At the age of 46, Chris won the world-famous Badminton Three-Day event when the winner’s purse (£25,000) was a quarter of what it is today.
Teaching, however, has been his livelihood and in 2001 his instruction was sought by the German Equestrian Federation. As national coach for the German eventing team alongside Hans Melzer, he masterminded a superlative success rate. This included individual and team gold at the 2008 Hong Kong and 2012 London Olympics, a clean sweep of medals at the 2011 European Championships and team gold in 2013 and 2015, team and individual gold and silver at the 2014 WEG in Normandy, and in August last year, team silver and individual gold at the Rio Olympics.