Maria Günther Passed Away

Tue, 09/21/2021 - 15:34
Germany
Maria Günther at the 2010 CDI Hagen :: Photo © Astrid Appels

ST. GEORG reported that renowned German dressage rider and judge Maria Günther passed way in Hamburg, Germany, on 19 September 2021. She was 96 years old. 

Günther was an international dressage judge, trainer and rider as well as a companion and support to her husband, Walter "Bubi" Günther. 

Born as Maria Bühling in Zwickau, Germany on 30 January 1925, Maria was raised in a non-horsey family but started riding at the age of 7.

She finished her high school in 1943 during World War II and was enlisted in the army. She became a young horse rider in Pommern, who had to prepare the horses for the military. The horses had to be rideable in extreme conditions cross country, bombproof as well as be able to be driven. The horses got three months time to be trained before they were shipped to war by train. 

British Employment

After the war, Maria moved to Menden, where the British had their Royal Horse Guard stationed.The 20-year old Maria worked there as a groom and rider, which gave her the opportunity to compete at the 1947 CHIO Aachen for Great Britain.  In those British stables she found her husband, Walter Günther, who had trained with legends Felix Bürkner and Otto Lörke. 

The couple married and moved to Hamburg where they started their own training business at Stable Greif. The focus was mainly on show jumping horses, but they also trained one horse up to Grand Prix each year. 

Double German Champions

The couple achieved a historic feat which, so far, nobody repeated. On the same day Walter Günther won the German Dressage Championships on Adjutant, while Maria won the Show Jumping Championships on Sambesi. Maria Günther's most successful dressage horse was MacBeth. 

Walter Günther was German dressage team trainer at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He had Liselott Linsenhoff, Josef Neckermann, Herbert Rehbein and Gabriela Grillo as student. He passed from a heart attack in 1974. 

Dressage Judge

Maria began a new chapter in her life as a dressage judge and travelled the world judging at major CDI's and Championships. 

In the last part of her life, Maria found companionship in former international dressage judge Dr. Joachim Bösche and was often accompanied by judge Heinz Schütte. 

Günther was not afraid to share her opinion against rollkur training and was also very critical of the training of judges. "The judges control where the journey of dressage goes to. They assess the horse in a test and also the training that lies behind it. The problem is that a lot of judges no longer see the basics," she said in an interview six years ago.

Source: ST.GEORG

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