Interview with show jumper Christian Weier
Mr. Weier, can you explain how you came to equestrian sport?
This happened through my parents. My mother had always ridden. Through her my father got into horses, and I followed through them. My father once took over a stable with a friend. In the 1980s he then built the stable in Senningerberg, where we still are today. That is how I found my way to horses.
So you were involved from a young age?
Yes, exactly. As a child I had to wait until I was allowed to start riding. Obviously, this was a long time ago. My sister, who is two years older than me, was upset at the time because she was only allowed to start at ten and I could start at nine.
When did you decide to go into show jumping rather than, for example, dressage or a different discipline?
That was pretty clear to me early on, but at that time the emphasis was still mainly on classical riding training. That consisted of several steps. It started with dressage, with the young rider exam, and if you had the required level there, you were then allowed to jump.
At the end of the 1990s you had a first big success when you became national champion at the Young Riders category.
Back then I competed a bit internationally as a junior. At that time local show jumping was far from what it is today. I took part in European Championships in that age group and then achieved the result mentionned at the Luxembourg championship. As a Young Rider that went very well. I tried internationally in that category as well, but both the horse and I were overwhelmed. After that I began my studies and had to step back from equestrian sport a little.
What do you consider your greatest success and which events gave you most satisfaction?
The moment I realized I could compete successfully internationally was when I won the English championship for seven-year-old show jumpers in London with Carisco, born in 1998. I was working in England and had taken him with me because there was no one in Luxembourg who could ride him. He was actually supposed to be sold. Some members of the well-known Whitaker equestrian family were there and I also worked briefly with Ben Maher. That brought me respect and people took me seriously. That’s when I realized I could hold my own at that level. I had tasted blood; it was a very important step in my career, because otherwise I probably wouldn’t have done as much later on, I think.
Later you were even nominated to the COSL squad.
That was at the time when I had won in Birmingham with Carisco. He and I reached that high level together. We competed in five-star classes and were together at the European Championships in Madrid. We really went that path together and it meant a lot to me. Because I no longer had a horse with which I could repeat that, I am now somewhat away from the top sport. I still do it as an amateur and in that case you have to build on outstanding partnerships.
So that describes your current status?
I am clearly an amateur. My partner and I run an office together and we have a lot of work. I have two children and pursue equestrian sport as a hobby. With my second horse, Global, which I also trained myself, I was also successful. With him I reached the final of the European Championship in Gothenburg, which was the greatest sporting experience I ever had. I had never dreamed I could achieve that. But those horses made it possible. The year after I also went to the World Championship in Tryon (editor’s note: in the USA) with Global, too. I couldn’t have expected more, and after that I was perhaps a bit burned out and the horse’s health was also somewhat not ideal. I also, so to speak, put my money on the wrong horses, as they say.
Does that explain why we currently see you at international tournaments only sporadically?
I trained two horses myself that turned nine this year. They could actually already compete in big classes now, but they are not as good as the ones I had before. It’s simply not the same level. Personally, I don’t have the riding level I had before either. I still have the aim of being good at a lower international level and finding my satisfaction there. The big sporting goals are less of a priority. I definitely still have motivation and I enjoy training horses. I also hope to be lucky enough someday to have another particularly good one.
The current ones are good, but none allow me to dream of championships. That’s not the priority. The priority is to do good work with the horses I have now and to have a long-term perspective. The two I’m currently riding are fun, but unfortunately one of them is injured at the moment. That makes the start of the season less enthusiastic than I had hoped for. I am now focusing on the one that remains and hope I can get back into the sport. I am optimistic. When the moment comes, you feel it. When the horses are ready, success will come again.
“I’m more positive than I was a year and a half ago”
Christian Weier
How would you characterize your sporting goals at the moment?
I’m more positive than I was a year and a half ago. It’s about staying competitive at two- or three-star level. Shows in Belgium remain an option for me. If I can keep up with the riders there, I think I’ve done the right work at home training the horses. Everything has become highly professionalized, so it’s difficult for me to compete as an amateur. I need those competitions and I’m not going to stop riding them because the motivation to just ride at home isn’t enough for me. I remain a competitor.
Those competitions also provide important feedback.
Exactly, you have to know where you stand. At home you are always the champion; elsewhere it often looks completely different.
Can you briefly describe the work in your own stable?
I ride six days a week, usually in the evenings after work. I try to prepare the horses based on my own competition plan, for example for the mentioned two- or three-star competitions. I train and educate them myself, and I have a groom who helps me. I ride and jump daily and make sure the animals are well and happy.
How does that look in practice? Do you buy a two- or three-year-old and then try to bring it to a certain level?
Yes and no. At the moment I have many home-bred horses. That happened because I had good mares. Their offspring are good, but not top level. I bought one from a rider in our stable because I liked it. That didn’t happen with the hope of big sport. I bought that one as a five-year-old. If I were to buy new horses, I’d prefer them already under saddle. I have too many of them and therefore I can’t look for yet more. Two- or three-year-old would be too early for me; I’d rather look for five- or six-year-olds.
That’s the age it was with Carisco and Global. Of course the path with home-bred horses is longer. Some qualities can be seen early in young horses, but what matters later—whether they have the right mindset as athletes—only becomes clear much later when they face the required tasks. You can estimate the goal of reaching, say, two-star level, but how far development goes after that is hard to say. I don’t have the option of buying horses that have already proven they can go a higher level.
That’s like in all sports: the higher the level, the more it comes down to details.
Yes, if I were lucky enough to be able to choose one with lower risk… At the moment, however, I have to follow the described path, which entails many more uncertainties. You have to invest a lot of time and energy and in the end you don’t know if you’ll reach the desired level. For that reason I lost a few years, but which I don’t see in a negative way. At the moment I feel that things are getting somewhat better again.
Is the risk you mentioned the one that exists when you can’t devote yourself to it 24 hours a day, or how should we understand it?
That was a choice I made. I didn’t want to be a professional. I also change my competition plan frequently because I can’t follow it as I would like due to professional reasons. As a self-employed person there are phases when work takes priority. I’ve been at it long enough and I’m honest with myself when I say I don’t have the high level right now.
I try to go to such competitions when I am really ready. Even top riders have highs and lows, although this low phase for me lasted a bit longer than necessary. I am happy and expect that this year I will benefit finally again from the training with my horses. I also hope that my health and that of the animals remains good so that we can show something.
This article was also published in De Lëtzebuerger Bauer. Translated from German by AI and adjusted by Paul Krier.