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The Next Generation - Guido Klatte

Wednesday, 01 February 2017
The Next Generation

Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.
Guido Klatte with Qinghai. Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.

The 21-year-old German rider Guido Klatte has accomplished things many riders can only dream about. Last year, Klatte won the European Championship for young riders and the year before he made a hat-trick in the U-25 classes in prestigious Aachen. Despite his achievements, Guido remains a humble and down-to-earth person that knows exactly how fast it can go up and down in this sport.

With one of the biggest shipping business for horses – Guido Klatte Horse-Transport – in the family, and with his cousin Henrik Klatte running the breeding stable Zuchthof Klatte – Guido was more or less born into the horse world. But, it was not always given that Guido would ride.

“I started with ponies, but mainly just competed and hardly ever rode at home. I thought it was boring to ride at home, and ponies were never really my thing. Then I played football instead until I was 12, and it was through my sister Victoria that I started riding again. I had a good horse for children-classes, and then from there it went on to juniors and young riders,” Guido explains.

Together with the now 10-year-old Qinghai (Quidam de Revel x Cordalme), Guido won the European Championships for young riders last year. It is also with Qinghai that Guido has been collection World Cup points this season. “My dad bought Qinghai as a foal on the ESI Auction that my cousin Henrik is organizing every year, and after he got under the saddle I’m the one who has been riding him. We did our first shows together when he was four and then we took part of the Bundeschampionat (the German Championship for young horses) when he was five and won it when he was six. He was always jumping incredible, but he was really nasty as a young horse. I have fallen off him at least twenty times. Most of the times it happened when I got to the outdoor and took the blanket off, then he either turned or started bucking. And those times I couldn’t stay on he took off, and it took us forever to catch him again. Qinghai can still be a little bit like that, but slowly he starts to grow up and starts to behave,” Guido laughs and continues: “Now it has been quite a while since I fell off, but I don’t dare to say too much!”

Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.
Guido and Coolio made an unbelievable hat-trick in Aachen 2015. In the future Coolio will be ridden by Guido's sister Victoria. Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.

Guido has a good string of horses for the coming year, even though he will give his sister Victoria her horse Coolio back – which Guido made a hat-trick with in Aachen in 2015. “Vicky bought Coolio from our cousin Henrik as a 4-year-old, and then she rode him until he was seven. I have been riding him for two years, and now she will take over the reins again.”

But with Asagan M, Corisanto, Cristofin, Chaccato and Cornet’s Prinz in his stable, Guido has enough horses in addition to his super star Qinghai. “We bought Asagan M in America at the beginning of last year. He didn’t know so much and doesn’t have that much experience, but he is getting better and better for every round and is a lot of fun to ride. Actually he is also a horse coming out of the ESI Auction. Then I have Corisanto and Cristofin that are eight, and will do the youngster tours this year and a 7-year-old very promising horse in the stallion Chaccato. Cornet’s Prinz has been out for a year, but is now fit to compete again so I’m really looking forward to this year.”

Guido spent the autumn in the US with the hope to collect some World Cup points, which he succeeded in. With 18 points from the North American League, Klatte was able to ride in London, Mechelen, Leipzig and now Bordeaux. “It was a lot of fun to be in the US, but it was also a many things that were different from the shows here in Europe. For example, on the warm-up I wanted to start jumping as I do at the European shows, with a small fence eight horses before going into the ring. Everybody looked at me, and I found out that I could only start jumping three horses before it was my turn. You then get a fence to use on your own. I had to change my plan totally, but I don’t think it is that bad. Even though I just had three horses to jump, I had a fence on my own and could use it as I wanted and be ready on time.”

“I would definitely go there again, but then I would do it a bit different. This time I had my first World Cup show in Sacramento, where I also collected nine points. These points don’t count though as I didn’t know that we Europeans can’t collect points in the US before the Western European League has started. So that show was kind of for nothing. If I go there again I will go later, and then maybe add two World Cup shows in Canada,” Guido says of the experiences he made.

After collecting points in London as well as in Leipzig, Guido has now 32 points and is rank 16 in the Western European League. In other words, there is a chance for the World Cup Final later this year. “The World Cup Final would of course be a huge dream, but I’m not thinking about it yet…” he says. Guido’s hopes for 2017 are instead to be able to ride some Nations Cups and to compete in Aachen again.

In 2015 Guido spent almost half a year training at Marcus Ehning’s place and learned things he still uses every day. “The most important thing I learned was to keep the horses happy. To make sure that the horses have fun with the work I do with them. And that less often is more.”

So, does this talented rider have any tips for other young riders that want to make it in the sport? “I just know from myself that I had a lot of ups and downs and that you should not give up. Even when everything goes wrong you just have to continue.”

 


Text and pictures © World of Showjumping by Jenny Abrahamsson (No reproduction without permission)



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