Germany - Riding Scene

About the German Riding Scene
By: Heike and Gerhard Wahl

Germany is on it’s way to becoming a "Horse Nation" again. Within the last couple of years - or to be more precise - within the last two decades, the number of horses and horse owners has risen remarkable. The main reason for this development is to be seen in the so called "Freizeitreiten" (it’s a combination form leisure and trailriding - and has become a sort of lifestyle). As a matter of fact, this development is booming though the general economic situation of Germany has decreased in the recent past.

The reasons for this development are that horseback-riding in Germany is no longer a matter of the upper class people. Additionally, the traditional schooling and training methods appeared to be a bit too smart and military, which was completely ‘out of fashion’ during the 70th’s and the quality of riding lessons went down to pure formalism. Horses decayed to "sport-engines".

Maybe this development was also forced by the fact that the compulsory riding lessons for the upper class people as a symbol of status, were replaced by changing interests in leisure activities such as tennis. Riding schools had to worry about their economic situation, too.

Dressage.jpg (6381 Byte) photo by Susan SextonŠ

'Freizeitreiten' - a lifestyle

At this time - the early 70th’s - the so called "Freizeitreiten" was born as a general phenomenon. Especially young riders - encouraged by several new magazines and books that appeared on the market at that time - went in for horses and found out that they are living animals that need more than a stable and a riding arena and that outdoor riding could be much more fun than ‘only’ riding in the arena. Maybe there was also a nostalgic element involved, but basically it was sort of frustration.

Since most riders couldn’t afford to have a horse of their own and keep it in a normal riding stable, they were looking for alternatives. They found them at local farmers (which at that time began to reduce their amount of live stock because rentability went down). Thus they had plenty of room, additional pastures and -(which was the real advantage) keeping a horse at a farmyard was much more affordable then a normal riding stable. Most of them didn’t even have any pasture as well.

It’s the dream of each ‘Freizeitreiter’ to have their own little patch of land and some horses outside the kitchen window. So - travelling through the German countryside and city outskirts you’ll find horses around every corner. Knowing that that about 10,000 - 20,000 farms close down every year due to the insufficient economic situation, the reason is plain to see.

One against the other

From the beginning there was a certain rivalry between the ‘Freizeitreiter’ and the ‘classic rider’ (which we call ‘English-Reiter’ over here). This rivalry is based on the fact that each side denies the competence of the other in keeping and riding horses. While the ‘Freizeitreiter’ accused the ‘English-Reiter’ of mistreating their horses by keeping them in a dark stable and allowing them only to go ‘out’ into the arena, the other side asserts that the ‘Freizeitreiter’ let their horses decay in muddy pastures with insufficient feeding and a total lack of care. They add that ‘Freizeitreiter’ don’t know anything about riding. Well, both sides are right in a sense. It took some years and lots of efforts to bring both sides together ‘horse-wise’. Meanwhile the process of ‘softening the frontier’ between both groups is in full motion and both sides take a profit out of it. frzeit.jpg (3813 Byte)

Classical riders went into the training methods of LTJ and Pat Parelly and found out that ‘horsemanship’ is essential for good riding. Many riders went for the classical riding tutorials that had been setup and written down during the late 18th and 19th century and found out that the main topic there was - horsemanship! Even popular dressage people - amongst them are Klaus Balkenhol and Nicole Uphoff-Becker - agreed with some positions of the ‘Freizeitreiter’. Actually, Klaus Balkenhol worked with LTJ recently and was impressed by her intuition and the results of her methods.

On the other side the ‘Freizeitreiter’ also found out that they would need more basic knowledge of riding and working with horses, and that the experience accumulated by the classic riders and horse-people over the decades would, also be valid for working with their horses.

Meanwhile both sides know that they are pulling on the same end of the rope - at least for all the horse-related things, and that the difference between their riding style is more or less a question of ‘what will I achieve - and how much time will I invest into that target?’.

So - let us all work together for the horses sake and never let ambition win over horsemanship !

Heike & Gerhard