{"id":22008,"date":"2015-03-31T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T23:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22008"},"modified":"2017-02-09T16:59:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:59:11","slug":"meet-fie-skarso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/03\/meet-fie-skarso\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Fie Skarso"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fie<\/a>Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

You can read the words on the page, but can\u2019t hear the gales of laughter that bubble up all through this interview with the German based, Danish rider, Fie Christine Skars\u00f6.<\/p>\n

Fie has every reason to laugh. She is based at one of the world\u2019s most beautiful studs, Gestut Wiesenhof, just outside Dusseldorf where she gets to ride the stud\u2019s two Grand Prix dressage stallions, M\u00fcnchhausen and Monteverdi, while training with Jean Bemelmans, in an atmosphere that positively sparkles!<\/p>\n

\"Bemelmans\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The day we arrived it was like the United Nations. Aside from Fie working her mare, Media Luna, there was one of the Austrian riders heading for Aachen, Nina Stadlinger and her Westfalien, Egalite – along with three of the Spanish riders, headed by Ignacio Ramblas. The combination of Jean and the Spanish team has been extraordinarily successful over the past decade, and the Spanish riders add their own sense of flair (and willingness to party) to the heady mix.<\/p>\n

\"Therese2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was fun watching Fie ride her pretty chestnut mare, fun later to find out how she made the journey from Denmark to Germany\u2026<\/p>\n

\"MediaLunaSI\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was riding stallions in Demark, and there is one big show \u2013 Herning \u2013 once every year. A German was watching me ride this stallion and he came up, and said \u2018Hey, do you want to come and work for me in Germany?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all I had to talk with my parents, and with people who knew about Germany but I always wanted to come here because everybody knows Germany has the best horses, the best trainers and the best sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I said, okay I would like to come. It was not the place I wanted to stay and I got out of there very quick, like three weeks\u2026 I was twenty-three at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Denmark I had been in the Pony team, the Junior and the Young Riders team. I was in the Danish team and I was enjoying that, but at 23, I thought, okay I take the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been promised me a lot of things that hadn\u2019t happened, and so I thought, you don\u2019t want to be here, but you don\u2019t want to go home \u2013 you want to be in Germany where you can improve, that was the plan. So I moved to my own stables and in half of one week it was full! FANTASTIC \u2013 it was super.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had Grand Prix horses, M horses, young horses. It was super cool. Then one day someone came along and he tried two Grand Prix horses, and he said, \u2018listen girl, you need to have a sponsor. I have one for you, are you interested?\u2019 I was like, Hello! Of course!! That was Thursday and on Saturday morning I came to Gest\u00fct Wiesenhof and Saturday afternoon I signed the contract\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MunchhausenFieLong\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fie and M\u00fcnchhausen<\/em><\/p>\n

And you were in horse heaven?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFor four and a half years! This was where I met M\u00fcnchhausen, he was five. He was the oldest horse I had to work with. It\u2019s funny, I made all the horses myself, later together with Jean Bemelmans, that\u2019s even more fantastic. It was not like I got ten Grand Prix horses, here please ride these\u2026 no, I made them myself. I did the Bundeschampionate with the horses, I did the World Championship with the horses. My second horse, Monteverdi, he is also doing Grand Prix now \u2013 he also went to the Bundeschampionate\u2026 we went all the way with all the horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MediaLunaBundes\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Luna at the Bundeschampionate…<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr Bemelmans was not here when you came here?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he came three and a half years ago. I worked here for a year alone. It\u2019s been fantastic to have him every day, just fantastic. When I think about Jean, he made me. He is like my Daddy, he is just the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis personality is fantastic, and the way he works with the horses. He is never against the horses, he is always with them. He looks at each horse and says \u2018oh we have to ride this horse like this\u2019, and the next horse we maybe have to do it in another way. It\u2019s just fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MediaLunaStretch\"<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You ride your horses in the classic way?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe ride them long and deep at the beginning. With the young horses very long so they are through and the muscles can be trained in the right way. Then we ride them up and down again so that they feel good all the time. For me it is very important that they feel good, when a horse doesn\u2019t feel good, when they are tense, you can\u2019t ride them. I always ride the horses with my heart because I have a lot of Trakehners, and you have to ride them with the heart, especially the stallions \u2013 I love stallions. Sometimes stallions take longer, and in the arena they are not always on your side, but when you get that AHAH feeling, it\u2019s fantastic with stallions because they give a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munchha\u00fcsen was your first German Grand Prix horse?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so nice to make the Danish team with him, we were training so many years for this\u2026 it\u2019s just a dream come true. I\u2019d been on the Pony Team, and the Young Rider Team, and now it is so special to be on the Senior Team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your family had horses?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cActually not. We were living in the country but we did not have horses. It\u2019s the usual story, a neighbour had a little pony, then after two months I got my own pony, and then the year after I was in the team! It went really quick but I was lucky I had super trainers, and my parents were supporting me \u2013 it\u2019s a dream story, sometimes I have to pinch myself\u2026 In Denmark I was training with Lief Sorenson who does a lot in America, when I was training for the Young Riders, I had two super trainers who were both riding Grand Prix themselves, and that was nice. I could take a bit from this one, or this one, then make my own line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it hard to get into the German scene?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different, it\u2019s more professional, like you have the line \u2013 Jean always says to me, for a rider it is important to find your own line in riding. He just supports, and gives me new ideas, but you have to find the line where you can ride the horses. The German line is really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people don\u2019t like to ride Trakehners?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true because they are too complicated. Everybody says \u2018Oh no, Trakehner!\u2019. In Denmark I had a stallion, he was Trakehner and he taught me a lot. There I found the clue for the Trakehners. He was difficult but we went from L to Grand Prix in one year. I found a way to ride him, and now with Munchha\u00fcsen and Monteverdi, I hoped I could do it again and it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what is the secret to riding Trakehners?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the secret is you have to ride them with the heart. You cannot ride against them. Many people are not calm enough to ride Trakehners. Of course they have to know where the direction is but you have to pat them a lot as well. It\u2019s the way\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join Fie Skars\u00f6 in a dressage training session with master trainer, Jean Bemelmans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,1142,248],"class_list":["post-22008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dressage","tag-dressage-training","tag-fie-skarso","tag-jean-bemelmans"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22008"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32307,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22008\/revisions\/32307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}