Legendary Dressage Trainer Paul Stecken Passed Away

Thu, 09/15/2016 - 18:01
German Dressage News

Legendary dressage trainer Paul Stecken has passed away in his home town Munster, Germany, in the night of 15 September 2016 after a short period of illness. He had celebrated his 100th birthday on 26 June 2016. years old.

Stecken was one of very few old classical dressage masters still alive today, who learnt riding according to the pure classical principles that aim at keeping cavalry horses healthy for a long time through correct training.

Descending from an equestrian background, he was first meticulously trained by his father Heinrich, who was the head of the Westfalian Riding School in Münster for 25 years. Stecken began his professional riding career as an inspector in the German riding regiment 15 in Paderborn. In 1936 he witnessed the Olympic Games in Berlin where the German riders from the cavalry school of Hanover won all gold medals.. In 1943 he was promoted to major but he had to cut his own riding career short due to an injury he sustained in the war.

In 1950 Paul succeeded his father as director of the Westfalian Riding and Driving School, a job he held for 35 years. During this time Stecken stamped countless apprentices and discovered talents like the very young Reiner Klimke who rode under his eagle eyes in the 1950s. Forty years later he began teaching Klimke's daughter Ingrid.

Stecken, who also acted as FEI-judge, was honored multiple times for his extraordinary merits for equestrian sports. An honorary member of the German Judges Association and the Xenophon Society, he received the golden plaque of the North Rhine Chamber of Agriculture in 2006 and was awarded the rider's cross in gold and the Gustav Rau plaque by the German equestrian federation.

At the 2016 CDIO Aachen in July, the 100-year old Stecken was awarded the "Silver Horse Award" in the Horse Personalities category. Ingrid Klimke, who worked with Stecken on a more than regular basis after her father Reiner passed in 1999, said at the time: "For him the well-being of the horse and rider are more important than success. He is a gentleman. He is attentive, is a good listener, he analyses everything very accurately, he is circumspect. His special gift: He can explain correlations extremely well. At the same time he has clear principles, which he sticks to and nothing in the world can persuade him otherwise. Nobody else has such a longer or richer wealth of experience than Mr. Stecken."

Paul Stecken, whose brothers Albert and Fritz also had remarkable careers as dressage trainer, was the very last witness of both the pre-war as well as post-war time for dressage sport and horse breeding. His incomparable wealth of experience was only recently documented in a 2015 published book.

Stecken's legendary sentence „Correct riding is enough“ is quoted countless times for its t its absolute truth. May what he taught throughout his long life be the guideline for all those in equestrian sport.

Photos © Silke Rottermann - LL-foto

Related Links
Paul Stecken Celebrates 100th Birthday
Albert Stecken Passed Away
The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki: En Route to the Games
Ingrid Klimke: Where Riding Becomes Art