Anyone who knows anything about the modern world of horse sport will recognize the name Klimke. There was Dr. Reiner, of course, team and individual Olympic gold medallist in dressage, and at the time of his death in 1999, Germany’s most celebrated sportsman. Now there is Ingrid, his daughter, a regular fixture on Germany’s eventing teams for the last 15 years. Together, the Klimke dynasty has amassed eight Olympic gold medals in two disciplines.
Like her father and her mother, Ruth, Ingrid is all about classical style and an empathetic approach to the human-equine relationship. She once said, “Horses do tell you a lot, you just have to listen to them.” And that’s what she does, drawing on her own natural bond with horses as well as the knowledge and experience accrued throughout the years from her parents, her trusted advisor Major Paul Steken, and such notables as Kurt Gravemeir, Anne Kursinski, Ian Millar, and Hans Melzer. Her own ability as a trainer was recognized formally in Germany with the Riding Master title in 2012, only the second woman ever to earn it.
There is no other modern-day international eventer who has managed to combine parallel careers in eventing and dressage to the degree that Ingrid has. In 2002, she placed 7th at the FEI Dressage World Cup Final with Nector VH Carelshof; won the first of two World Championships for Young Dressage Horses in 2005 with Damon Hill; and in 2006 came second at the CCI4* Badminton with Sleep Late (the best result ever for a German) and won eventing team gold at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Aachen. In 2008, she won her first Olympic gold medal with the “pony” Butts Abraxxas at the Beijing Olympics, and was runner-up in the hugely competitive Nürnberger Burg-Pokal final with Damon Hill.