Who's Who

Schulten-Baumer, Dr Uwe

Born : 1926

Died : 2014

 

Uwe Schulten-Baumer was born in Kettwig, Essen,

Dr Uwe Schulten-Baumer’s interest in horses began as a child getting up at 5 am to muck out and groom in return for rides. “At the back of my school was a riding school. It proved too great an attraction and I used to go every day before my ‘real’ lessons started.”

Although he started riding aged seven or eight, it was to be a good while before the young Schulten-Baumer had a horse of his own. His first horse was given to him by a local farmer. “He was a jumper and not an easy horse, but that is how you learn a lot and I was proud to win the school’s best rider competition on him.”

The basic interest in equitation was always there, but war intervened as did work and it was later that the ‘Doctor’s’ passion for dressage was to be sparked off by his second horse, an eventer. The German Federation asked if Dr. Schulten-Baumer would lend this horse to the legendary Fritz Ligges to ride in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics but it was found to have a wind problem. So Dr. Schulten-Baumer took him home and started to do dressage with him with the assistance of Fritz Tempelmann.

It was through his children, Uwe junior and Alexa, that Dr Schulten-Baumer was to come to prominence as a trainer. Uwe junior was the man to beat in the early eighties. German National Champion in 1979, ’80 and ’82, a string of Grand Prix and Special victories in the ‘hottest’ venues – Aachen, Berlin, Dortmund and Rotterdam were crowned with the 1981 European Championship where they finally triumphed over Christine Stückelberger and Granat who had kept them in silver medal position in the 78 World Championships and the 1980 ‘alternative’ Olympics. His two best known horses were Slibowitz and Madras.

Dr Schulten-Baumer also coached the French star, Margit Otto-Crepin and the Italian rider, Pia Laus. In 1986, he began to work with young Nicole Uphoff and Rembrandt – two years later, the pair won individual Gold at the Seoul Olympic Games, with Margit Otto-Crepin, taking silver.

It was also in 1986, that Dr Schulten-Baumer began to coach Isabell Werth, giving her the ride on his own horses, the most famous of which was Gigolo FRH. Isabell rode with ‘the Doctor’ until 2001.

Dr Schulten-Baumer was awarded the title ‘Reitmeister’ by the German Federation in 2005, and was the International Dressage Trainers’ Club, Trainer of the Year in 1992 and 1997.

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