Ingrid Klimke and the Klimke Family: Question and Answer

In her latest book, Training Horses the Ingrid Klimke Way, the author writes that it is very important to her that all her horses experience a fundamental education which is rich in variety and emphasizes versatility “no matter what discipline they will specialize in later.”

The newly crowned European eventing champion is all in with versatility. It’s been her ethos, inherited from her father, six-time Olympic medalist Reiner Klimke, since she was a kid riding bareback and popping over cavalettis. Variety, she says, teaches balance, and a seat independent of the hands is an essential part of riding.

Of the 51 athletes registered with the FEI in three Olympic disciplines, only Ingrid, a key member of Germany’s elite eventing team for 17 years, competes at the highest levels in all three. To illustrate, on the Tuesday of this summer’s CHIO Aachen, Ingrid was guiding her European champion Horseware Hale Bob to individual and team victory in the CICO 3*; two days later she was mixing it up in the main stadium with the big boys of show jumping in the CSI5* Sparkasse Prize. With Parmenides, an eventer who has won the occasional advanced jumper class, she finished 12th in a line-up that included Cian O’Connor, Steve Guerdat, and Ludger Beerbaum.

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Despite all her success in eventing, dressage remains her first love and she has two up-and-coming nine-year-olds to enjoy it with. Franziskas and SAP Geraldine (co-owned with Faith Berghuis) finished second and third respectively in last year’s Nurnberger Burg Pokal final. Both had successful starts to their grand prix careers this summer, performing admirably at S level. Ingrid’s eldest daughter Greta, 15, shares her mom’s enthusiasm for dressage and is already competing at M level with the stable’s Soma Bay.

Move over, mama, another generation of the famous family Klimke is off and running.

How is life treating you these days?

I love what I do and I do what I love. I feel very privileged to be able to ride my horses every day and have two wonderful daughters. We have 15 horses at various stages of their careers at Schulze Brüning – including Braxxie (two time Olympic team gold medallist Abraxxas) who at 20 is still lord of the stable. I spend the morning riding and training based on each horse’s needs. In the afternoon I will spend time with the horses and the kids or the family. For sure it is busy and I like to go to horse shows and spend the weekends at different competitions which are always full of adventure. I have a great team behind me. That’s why I can focus on my riding. Time for the office, interviews, lectures and clinics must fit in when there is time. Once a month we hold an open day where fans can come and watch a morning’s training.

How many generations of your family have been horse lovers?

My grandparents on both sides of my family were interested in horses. I grew up in a family where horses were family members. My mother said that I sat on a horse before I could walk.

When did you choose to follow a career with horses?

I suppose it was after completing my studies to become a primary school teacher when I decided instead to do my Masters degree in riding in order to start my own stable and work with horses full time. I started in 1998 with my groom Carmen Thiemann, who is now my stable manager.

Are there any downsides to this path?

You soon realize you cannot do all the things you would like to do. So you have to set priorities and perhaps cannot be the latest at the party while the show starts early in the morning. Or you cannot join your friends as often as you wish, but you know they are always there. I am always open and need a life outside horses, which is why I try to do as many other things as is possible.

How would you describe yourself?

I am an active, energetic and emotional person whose glass is always half full.

If life hadn’t taken you where it has, what would you be doing?

I like working with kids and animals, so for sure a line of work which would be nurturing and stir my emotions.

When did you last go on vacation?

I spent a week riding in the Karongwe Game Reserve with Wait A Little horse safaris near Kruger Park in South Africa.

Do you have a health regimen?

I make sure I take breaks to rest and do my exercises twice a week.

If you could have three wishes granted, what would you wish for?

Peace on earth, good health, and freedom from oppression for all.

If you were hosting a dinner party and you could choose three guests, living or dead, who would you invite?

Nelson Mandela, my father, and my ‘Canadian mother’ Faith Berghuis, so they could speak about the most important things in life.

Money or medals, which is more important to you?

Neither money nor medals are as important as moments of deep satisfaction.

Do you have any burning ambitions?

To be a great mother and friend and to bring more wonderful horses into the sport.

Any parting words of wisdom?

Listen to your heart; listen to your inner voice.

FAST FACTS

DOB: April 1, 1968

Marital status: Married to Andreas Busacker; two daughters: Greta, 15, and Philippa, 7.

Hometown: Munster, GER

Major achievements: Competed in 5 Olympic Games: team gold in 2008/2012 with Abraxxas; team silver in 2016 with Horseware Hale Bob. WEG team gold 2006 and 2014; European Championships team gold/individual silver (Escada) 2013 & individual gold (Bobby) 2017.

Canadian Connections: Canada’s great patron of show jumping and dressage, Faith Berghuis, was instrumental in finding international-calibre mounts for Ian Millar and Gina Smith, but she also owned horses ridden by Ingrid’s father, Dr. Reiner Klimke.

Faith’s first contact with the Klimke family came when Ingrid was in her early teens when a horse bred by Franklands Farm, Royal Echo, was in training with Reiner in Munster. Another horse, Dutch Treat, also owned by Franklands, trained with Reiner and later was ridden by Gina Smith for Canada at the Pan Am Games in Cuba.

Faith says she developed an instant rapport with the young Ingrid. “We had many discussions with her family about Ingrid’s path in life. Reiner was determined that Ingrid, after high school, should work for a bank. She did not love that connection, but I think her sharp business sense crucial to her horse business developed at this time.”

In her late teens, Ingrid spent a summer with the Berghuis family in Brockville, travelling every day to Millarbrooke to ride one of their horses in training with Ian Millar. Ingrid then spent that winter in Florida as a working student with Ian. Ingrid credits much of her jumping skills to the influence Ian had on her at that time.

Faith recalls when she, Reiner, and Ingrid went to Millarbrooke and Reiner rode Big Ben. “Ben was transformed that one morning into a dressage horse,” recounts Faith. Ian said watching Reiner ride Ben “was magical.”

Faith says Reiner had mutual respect for the jumper’s horsemanship. She recalls that one April after the World Cup Final, Ian went to Klimke’s yard in Munster where Reiner schooled him on his grand prix horses. Faith remembers Reiner saying then, “If he could train Ian for three more months, Ian could compete in dressage at the Olympics in Seoul that summer.” It was “an amazing relationship of two Olympic riders from two different disciplines and a lasting memory for us all,” notes Faith.

Of Ingrid, Ian says even as a teenager “her flat work was impeccable, as you would expect,” and “she was hard-working and clean-living.” Ian says to this day if Ingrid’s name comes up in conversation, Faith always says that she wishes that Ingrid would just concentrate on the dressage, as she worries about her as an eventer!

Faith and Ingrid remain great friends and they co-own Ingrid’s promising grand prix star SAP Geraldine with the Zeising family. Joan Johnston and Joanna Crilly, who also met Ingrid at Franklands, have been strong supporters in the past of Gina Smith and now own one of Ingrid’s horses.

“I am proudly Ingrid’s ‘Canadian mother,’ says Faith. “I take pride in her incredible success. But even more, I deeply admire her love of family, of friends, and of her horses. She gives so much of herself.”