Moving to the UK in 1999 to develop his riding and compete at a higher level, Portuguese dressage rider Luis Principe has made the most of this great opportunity. Aboard his 13-year old Hanoverian gelding Washington (by Wolkenstein II) Principe was member of the Portuguese team at the 2011 European Championships and is aiming for more the years to come.
"I was offered a job at Woodlander Stud, breeders of Woodlander Farouche, and I decided to take it," the 35 year old from Cascais, Portugal, told Eurodressage. "Life in the UK has been great!"
By moving to the U.K. Luis also took the chance to study at Greenwich University and he received his degree in Marketing and Communications while at the same time achieving competitive success all the way to Grand Prix level. "I'm lucky to have very good owners, clients, sponsors, friends and family here, especially my partner, Vikky Pengilly," he said. "She is my biggest supporter and without her I would have struggled to have done it all. While she is a very successful competitor herself, she still finds time to come and be there for me at the big shows."
Feeling he is now 'part English' Luis is honored to have the support of his surrogate nation behind him. "When I was competing at the Rotterdam European Dressage Championships, I finished my test and all the GB spectators stood up out of their seats, clapping and waving their GB flags. That was an amazingly welcoming feeling," Luis reminisced.
In all honesty, Luis says that at the time of his move to the UK almost everything about his new life felt completely different, but nowadays that difference is not so great. "From a social point of view, the work ethic, the food, and the weather of the two countries could not be further apart," he admitted. "The junk food and the serious lack of sun made it extremely hard to adapt, but to balance the equation the opportunities that were made available and the people being keen to help you succeed, made me happy to have moved to the UK."
Luis pointed out that the biggest difference between the two nations was in the horsemanship. "The care and attention granted to the horses in the UK has always been way ahead of other countries. Their attention to shoeing, saddling, dentistry, mental & physical happiness, etc. has been something of major importance to the UK equine community."
Discovering his horse Washington at a breeding stud in Germany, Luis spotted the horse as a 3-year old after the breeder phoned him to say they had a special horse that he should have a look at. "Once I got there they showed me the horse they told me about, Big Ben," said Luis. "I wasn't that fussed about him, but while I was there I saw Washington go past and inquired after him."
At the time the breeders said they didn't think the horse was going to be good enough, but Luis asked to see him and he quickly knew that he was the one. "The funny thing was that at the time I was being told by a couple of people that Big Ben was the one and not Washington, but as I didn't feel that way I decided to buy both just in case I was wrong," he joked. "As we all know now I wasn't wrong and it turned out that Big Ben was the worst buy I've ever had."
Always a hard worker Washington is a horse that is very happy to do the job, but Luis says that his clever attitude hasn't always worked to the pair's advantage. "But hey, I still prefer a keen worker over one that hasn't got that much will," he said.
Placing well in the young horse classes and then climbing his way through the levels with ease, Washington qualified for the Kampmann Trophy Young Grand Prix Horse Final in Oldenburg when he was 10 and has gone on to achieve many more career highlights. In the past couple of years the pair was selected for the 2011 European Championships, after having only competed in 4 CDI's and they competed in 3 World Cup qualifiers, always placing in the top 15. They were also the Portuguese individual reserve for the 2012 London Olympics.
Luis has also noticed the differences in the training focus between the Portugal and Great Britain. "In the UK the training is really focused on the basics and on getting the horse through the levels in a sympathetic and friendly manner, independently of how long it might take," he said. "Portugal's attitude nowadays I know it is very different, but when I left everyone was more bullfight orientated and just wanted to get the horses to do all the "tricks" as soon as possible."
According to Luis a good rider was considered someone that could manage to have a 4-year old Grand Prix horse. "This is one of the main reasons why I left, as it just wasn't for me to bully horses around," he stated.
However, Luis is extremely pleased that the people in Portugal have worked very hard since he left and he believes the mentality towards training is changing. "This is evident in Portugal's results in the past two years at all the major shows," he said.
Originally training with Joao Pedro Rodrigues and Joaquim Fernandes in Portugal, Luis has to switch coaches once he arrived in the UK. The relocation brought exciting new connections with it. "I now have Carl Hester as both my friend and trainer and there is no-one better for it," he said firmly.
Also competing very successfully up to 2* level in 3-Day Eventing, Luis was awarded best rider at the Pontispool International Show and he hopes to continue to excel in this discipline also. "Once I've done it in dressage, my aim is also to compete at a major Championship in eventing and achieve the feeling of a successful all round horseman, like Reiner Klimke," Principe said.
With a new 5-year old horse on the way, Luis will focus this "extremely talented" horse Duplication on eventing and has set his dressage hopes on the 8-year old State Premium Mare Dolores (by Davignon). "She is from the same breeder as Washington and is super talented," he explained. "Hopefully she will be my 2016 Rio ride."
by Sarah Warne for Eurodressage
Photos © Astrid Appels
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