“The rider who is sitting a little bit forward, who doesn’t make himself heavy, is what I like. When I ride, I always try to not make myself heavy and bring the horse down, but to go with the movement and keep light, this is not one of our inventions.”

“Dressage is also a lot of experience and feeling, and this you can only get by going in competition, and learning, learning, learning, and this process takes some years, even if you are very talented. Forty years ago at the age of eighteen, I won my first Prix St Georges at Berlin Horse Show, maybe it was a good performance, but I did not have the feeling and the experience that I had when I made my first Olympic performance, because time is very important.”

“The Cavalry horse had another aim, to serve for the soldier, absolute obedience for War. This philosophy we do not have any more, the horse is not our slave, the horse is our friend. We look for other things – expression, the way he goes, the presence, this is what wins now. The Cavalry School aim was absolute obedience, but this has changed and with it, our horse breeding.”