Text © Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, edited by World of Showjumping

At a Rolex panel discussion at CHIO Aachen on Saturday morning, Rolex testimonees Daniel Deusser, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Richard Vogel sat down with media representatives.

Daniel Deusser reflected on his 2021 Rolex Grand Prix victory with Killer Queen VDM in Aachen. “For me, it’s a lifetime memory to win here,” he said. “I have been coming to Aachen for many years – since I was a kid – to watch the competitions, but I could never imagine that I would even ride here, let alone be on the winners’ board. It was a really unbelievable day, a memory that will stay with me forever.”

“It definitely can be done, but it is very difficult,” Deusser said when asked about the possibility of winning the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, a feat so far only accomplished by Great Britain’s Scott Brash. “We have had the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping for more than 10 years, but yet only one person has won. Everyone is so focused on these Grand Prix classes and trains their best horses for a long time for these specific competitions; it makes it hard to win. You need to have a very good horse and you need to have a lot of luck as well.”

“Sometimes everything goes well and you are motivated by winning, but other times there are moments when it doesn’t work out, so you go home and really think about what went wrong,” Deusser said about the ups and downs of being a professional rider. “Then a few days, weeks or even months later things might click. You might not even really know what you are doing differently for this to happen, but that’s the nice thing about our sport; you can’t 100% plan for everything. It’s about the journey you come on and the progress you make from one show to the next. You learn from success and you learn from the bad experiences and you improve. However, on the day, there is still an element of luck about whether everything comes together.”

“When you talk about winning the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, it’s not only about having a good relationship with our horses, good control and good communication, but it’s also about what happens on that day, and being just a fraction of a second quicker than your opponents that day,” Deusser pointed out. “Maybe six months later, you might feel like you had a better round, but someone else goes faster so you don’t win. So really, there are so many moving parts – you need to have a very good horse, you need to be in good shape, but also everything has to come together.”

Richard Vogel, who won the Rolex Grand Prix at CHI Geneva in 2023 and placed third at Aachen last year, talked about the differences between the various Rolex Grand Slam venues. “At the CHIO Aachen we have a huge grass ring, and the obstacles are slightly different to what we have indoors,” he explained. “The CHI Geneva also has a huge arena – one of the biggest indoors we have in our sport – but still there is a different atmosphere and everything comes up quicker. That could make it seem like it is easier here in Aachen, because we have more time, but Frank Rothenberger, the course designer, is sure to make it a challenging course. In addition, we jump over three rounds here, two first rounds and then a potential jump-off as well, so we need horses that are in top shape and that have a lot of gas left in the tank – as well as some luck on our side.”

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, the only woman ever to have topped the world rankings, talked about the importance of trust between horse and rider. “I can think back to the greatest horse-partnership I had, which was with Shutterfly, who won the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen. I have described our relationship in many different ways. One was that I was his mother and he was my baby – I was always protecting him. He was very sensitive to noise and was agitated very easily, so I was always looking to keep his environment quiet. Later, it became like a husband-and-wife relationship because he knew me as well as I knew him, and it was a great partnership. When we walked into that ring, we both grew. It’s a silent partnership you have with the horse; the language is not as we know it, but there is a language between the two. At this level, the winners are the ones that have a really close relationship with their horse.”

“You need to have a very good relationship with your horse, I see it more like a friend-relationship,” Deusser added. “We train them at home, we communicate with them at home. When we go into the ring, there are situations that you cannot train for, such as the atmosphere or a tight turn in a jump-off. In those moments, it’s up to us to help our horses feel safe and when they feel supported and they feel like our friends, they give a little bit extra.” 

“When you go into that arena for the Rolex Grand Prix, with that crowd and atmosphere, there’s no horse in the world who isn’t slightly intimidated. It comes down to the rider giving the horse confidence and support,” Vogel weighed in. “This is only possible if you have that relationship with the horse because you cannot talk to your horse, so you need to give them the feeling of confidence; that you believe in them and that together you can do it.”

“There are a lot of rounds I would redo, but looking back on them, they were all important stepping stones,” Michaels-Beerbaum reflected on the ups and downs of her long and illustrious career. “That’s the way we riders have to look at them. Looking back at the rounds we have to consider; did we win, were we successful, did we learn, did we come back stronger. Looking back now that I am no longer competing, I think I would take my career exactly as it is and be grateful for what I have accomplished but also for what I have learned along the way.”

“I remember back when I first started out, every time I stepped in the ring I felt an extreme pressure,” Michaels-Beerbaum explained. “I needed to prove myself; I was the first woman to ever make a championship team for Germany, so I had to do something more. But somewhere along my journey, I suddenly became comfortable in myself and with my success. I had proven myself multiple times, and I finally felt not judged anymore. That’s when competing became a lot more enjoyable; I didn’t have to prove anything anymore, as a woman in the sport. That for me is a really important place to be as a rider, and I feel like it is important to impart that knowledge to my daughter. It’s an important part of her learning process; it is about the sport, the journey, it’s not about your last win. That is why I have always been so comfortable in the Rolex Family of Testimonees, because I always felt as though it wasn’t about my last ride, I wasn’t here because of my last event, it was the legacy that I bring to the sport and the longevity of our partnership. That makes you feel far better as an athlete, and I think Rolex plays a key role in imparting that to us.”

“It’s really nice for the future generation of women, especially for the likes of my daughter, to know that the sky is the limit,” Michaels-Beerbaum concluded. “When I started, there wasn’t a woman on the German team, and recently there have been numerous. There has still never been another woman as no. one in the world since me, so that is something we still need to achieve. However, if you look at the calibre of female riders that compete on the international stage, it is certainly possible. In terms of advice, it’s about finding the right partnership between horse and rider, and having the right team to support your journey.”