Riding has always been Pia Fortmüller’s passion. Her career has taken her from North America to Europe, and from the highest pinnacles of success to the depths of despair. Throughout all the ups and downs, the 30-year-old from Calgary has never lost her love for the sport.
As a youngster growing up in Calgary, AB, Pia was heavily influenced by her mother, well-known equestrian Dagmar Fortmüller, and grew up enjoying everything from 4-H to eventing, jumping, and even western trail riding, However, it was in the dressage ring that she really shone.
Following a successful Young Rider career which culminated in her capturing the team and individual gold medals at the 2006 Young Rider Championships, Pia moved to Germany in 2009 to train full time. That decision paid off when she purchased a Dutch Warmblood named Orion the same year. The gelding had been trained as a youngster through to grand prix by BC rider and Pia’s Canadian trainer Leslie Reid, who qualified on him for the 2008 Olympics. Orion was sent to Steffan Peters to be sold and was then moved to Leonie Brammall’s yard in Germany, where Pia was training at the time.
In 2010, she and Orion moved to train with Heike Kemmer and Pia focussed on her goal of representing Canada internationally. The pair bonded quickly, achieved great success in the grand prix ring, and were named as alternates to Canada’s 2012 Olympic dressage team.
Everything seemed to be going Pia’s way. In the fall of 2013 she opted to train full-time with Jonny Hilberath. Her success with Orion continued and the pair found themselves regularly at the top of the leaderboard at Europe’s most prestigious CDIs. “Even at the age of 17, Orion was a frisky fighter at heart. Most horses would be a little worn out from such a demanding schedule, but Orion danced down the centre line as fresh as ever,” Pia says. “Orion and I got to know each other so well and after countless hours of training I was starting to finally catch those special moments where I could take a deep breath and just enjoy the bond that had developed between us.”
Sadly, those special moments ended far too soon. In January, 2014, Orion was rushed to the veterinary hospital with signs of colic. Although he initially stabilized, his condition quickly grew worse and the vets recommended surgery. “Before the surgery began, I asked for one last moment with Orion and when I looked him in the eye, Orion let me know that his time had come,” Pia wrote on her blog. The surgery revealed that Orion’s colic was caused by a large tumour and sadly, he could not be saved.
“Although Orion is no longer here on earth with me, I never ‘lost’ him, because he will always live on in my heart,” says Pia. “Every morning when I wake up or in the evening when I look up at the sky and the stars are shining bright, my heart immediately searches for the Orion’s Belt constellation, because I know my Orion is up there, proud and strong.”
The tragedy required Pia to step back from the competitive arena for a moment. “When I lost Orion I had to regroup, which was very difficult for me at the beginning, because Orion truly was the rock of my grand prix career,” she says. “Thanks to the great support team around me, my focus is still the same as before, and that is to proudly represent Canada internationally. My ultimate goal has always been, and still is, the Olympics.”
Although life after Orion hasn’t always been easy, Pia is excited about the string of talented young horses she is bringing along. Her sights are set on both the 2016 Olympics and – more realistically, she says, due to the green nature of her horses – the 2018 World Equestrian Games. She also plans to return to Canada, saying she loves her country and family too much to live in Europe permanently. While she has no plans to stop competing any time soon, Pia is looking forward to dedicating more of her time to teaching and passing on the knowledge she has gained over the years to young Canadian riders.
Orion will continue to be part of the future of Canadian dressage as well. The Canadian High Performance Committee is in the process of introducing a championship for Canada’s under-25 grand grix riders. Together, Pia and Dagmar Fortmüller are sponsoring the award, which will be called the Orion Cup.
