Christopher Bartle talks about what makes a winner – and he should know – he’s won at the highest level in both dressage and eventing himself, and trained Gold Medal Teams for two different Nations…
Victory at the 2018 Worlds for the Great Britain: Ros Canter and Allstar B, Piggy French and Quarryquest Echo, Gemma Tattersall and Arctic Soul, Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser. (Photo Eric Knoll)
Christopher, pictured in his time as coach for Germany, tells us
“We all know there are three ways to train – one is to tell and they do, like you teach kids. Then you have the show and copy system, you show them how to do it or they watch someone else do it and they try to copy. Then the other important way of learning is experimenting, you’ve got to let rider experiment and try and not be afraid of making a mistake.”
“It’s the third element that is critical to a champion, they are not worried about making a mistake. The first quality is will to win, the second is attention to detail, and third, not afraid of making mistakes – the willingness to take a risk. Fourth is mental toughness. I always say in every sport, life goes in waves, up and down, keep rowing the boat and you’ll meet the next wave coming up, but don’t jump out of the boat!”
“I’ve had riders who have ticked all the boxes, yet they haven’t achieved great success because they haven’t had that will to win…”
What does his coach Christopher Bartle say – why is Michael so special?
“His will to win, his self belief and trust in his horses. He is not afraid of making a mistake, he doesn’t play safe. Michael is, of course, technically very good but he is always interested in the detail and is always wanting to learn more and be better. He is a coach’s dream partner. He has a great team around him at home but he is also a great team player.”
Here’s what Ingrid Klimke said about her time working with Christopher…
Has your training changed very much under the influence of Christopher Bartle?
“Oh yes, definitely, because Christopher is like my father, he is always thinking. He has really helped me, I love to work with him in all the disciplines. He has the same philosophy in them all, he tries to think like a horse, understand the horse, to always find a way that the horse can understand you. Everything he does is in a horsemanship way, it is understanding and trusting your partner the horse. It is totally fair, and always intelligent. He is always finding intelligent solutions to problems, and he is always flexible enough to say, let’s try this, let’s try that, but he never loses the classical way.”
How did Christopher go from training one Gold Medal eventing Team, Germany, to another, Great Britain? Find out more: