Text © World of Showjumping

“Everyone involved in this sport ultimately wants to be successful, but should we chase success on the expense of being good horse people? I don't think so,” Switzerland’s Beat Mändli tells World of Showjumping. “I believe horses give more when they are treated right and are in a good place in their minds.”

 Should we chase success on the expense of being good horse people? I don't think so

Over the last decade, the three-time Olympian has downsized his own sports career to focus on training USA’s Katie Dinan. “I like what I'm doing,” Mändli says. “Katie is talented, hard-working and serious about the sport, and has a great, supportive family behind her. I enjoy riding and playing around with the horses, trying to improve them and see them grow up. Whenever I have the right horse for it, I still like to go for the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon and try to win.”

To World of Showjumping, the 55-year-old Swiss rider talks about his decision to focus more on training, how he feels about the recent developments in the sport and how horsemanship for him is more than just a list of clichés.

“The decision was actually quite hard,” Mändli tells about how he more than a decade ago put his own riding career on the backburner to focus on coaching Katie Dinan, moving from Switzerland to the U.S.

Obviously I don’t regret anything, otherwise I would have changed it along the way

“At the time, I had three nine-year-olds that were ready to go and compete. However, when the opportunity to try something else opened up, I thought ‘why not?’. We did a trial, and obviously I liked it here," Mändli tells. "I have kept competing, but not doing it a 100% of my time – more like 50/50 with the coaching. Throughout the years, my own competing has perhaps gone down to 30% of my time, while the training takes up the other 70%. Obviously I don’t regret anything, otherwise I would have changed it along the way. However, I never planned to stop competing, it was more about trying something different – and it has worked out well.”

“During my career, I always had two or three horses for myself, did some buying and selling, and used to teach as well,” Mändli explains. “However, teaching was not my main occupation; I had some friends who I would help on Mondays and Tuesdays before we went to the shows, and then here and there at the shows as well. I also had other riders based at my stable, like Ben Maher who was with me for four years, as well as Steve Guerdat.”

“Currently, together, we have 12 to 14 horses under the saddle – with the youngest being four years old – and I’m actively involved in their training. I ride between six and eight horses daily,” Mändli tells about his daily routines together with Katie Dinan, who in April finished 8th overall at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final 2025 with Out of the Blue SCF (Verdi TN x Cassini I) after posting the only double clear round in Sunday’s concluding competition.

Who knows; maybe I'll come back one more time

After Mändli’s 2021 Olympic mount Dsarie (VDL Veron x Ahorn) retired, the Swiss rider has not had a horse ready for top level. “I have a little bit of a gap now,” Mändli explains. “I was a bit late with some of the younger ones. I always used to bring the young horses up myself to compete in the bigger classes, and I still like doing that. I have a couple of nine-year-olds at the moment which I'm going slow with. I play around here in the U.S. with them in 1.45m classes, slowly moving them up.”

“Obviously, the sport has changed,” he points out. “Everything is faster and more difficult. However, I'm still hot to go if one of the 9-year-olds I have maybe turns out to be a superstar. Who knows; maybe I'll come back one more time.”

During his career, Mändli has learned from the likes of Thomas Fuchs as well as Liz and Ted Edgar. “I was lucky to have a good upbringing with horses,” he tells. “I spent a year with Thomas and another year in England at Liz and Ted Edgar’s yard – all accomplished trainers. Before them, I had already learned from my parents and siblings, especially from my brother Markus, and a good friend Markus Beutel.”

“You need to keep your horses in a good place in their minds,” Mändli tells about the most important lesson he has been taught. “Variation is key; combining flat work, gymnastics, hacking out, as well as turn out – keeping it simple but interesting for the horses, and that's what I still try to do. At our place, we have six to seven grooms for about fifteen horses and our horses come out a lot. I'm trying to do that as much as possible, not only for their minds, but also for the bodies, their joints, and ligaments.”

You need to keep your horses in a good place in their minds

“Mental health plays a bigger and bigger part in this sport because it has all become so technical, light, and fast,” Mändli points out. “For the horses to perform, their brains have to be in the right place. It’s possible to have short-term success without paying attention to this, but if you as a rider wish to have a long-term partner, your horse needs to be right in the mind.”

In addition to letting his horses move as much as possible, Mändli is adamant in taking his time when developing them. “I don't ask too much of them too soon,” he explains. “I have had a few horses that I maybe took out in the big classes a bit too early, and I have learned from my mistakes.”

Another important point for Mändli is that riders should get on their horses only if they are in a frame of mind where they can give them 100% of their attention. “You don't want to take your personal problems to your horse,” he says. “I would say this to everybody; keep your mind free and focus only on your horse, have everything else checked out of your mind when you ride. The horses don’t know what you are frustrated or stressed about, but they do feel it through your body language. Therefore, it is important to not let your emotions affect your riding. And don’t ever lose your temper. Over the years, that has happened to me when I have been frustrated, but I have learned my lesson.”

Keep your mind free and focus only on your horse, have everything else checked out of your mind when you ride

“With horses, you have to be consistent,” Mändli continues. “You have to keep your routine and the way you behave towards your horse, so that the horse feels safe with you and understands what you want and what to expect.”

“How horses are treated at any stage in their life is important, from the day they are born. When working with young horses, you have to keep repeating and repeating so they learn and understand. You simply have to take your time and not rush them,” Mändli says.

You have to keep your routine and the way you behave towards your horse, so that the horse feels safe with you

“When the horses are nine, I think they are like teenagers; at a stage where they are very keen to do as much as they can, and it is important to not get carried away and ask too much of them," Mändli points out. "Hence, when you have the chance as a rider to take your time, you should. If you go too fast, it will reflect negatively on the horses’ careers later on. Rushing always catches up on you at some point.”

Having worked with horses across continents for decades and been a part of the crème-de-la-crème of international showjumping from the late 1980s, Mändli is today considered one of the greats of his generation. With so much experience and knowledge, how does he define horsemanship? “I guess the first thing that comes to mind is stating how much we love horses, how we should turn the horses out as much as possible, treat them as natural as we can, and not ask too much of them,” Mändli says. “However, this has in my opinion almost become a cliché – a list of bullet points everybody repeats these days.”

When you work with an animal, you have to get them on your side – and you cannot do that by creating fear or submission

“To me, horsemanship is much more – I mean, where do you even start? Perhaps with the fact that riders need to understand that in today’s society we have to gain acceptance for even sitting on a horse,” he explains. “And that when you work with an animal, you have to get them on your side – and you cannot do that by creating fear or submission. You really have to listen to the horses to understand what they need.”

“Every rider, owner, groom and manager, those who spend the most time around these animals, have to figure out what each horse needs to be happy,” Mändli continues. “The longer you work with horses, the better you can see if they are happy or not. Horses can't speak to us through words, but if you observe them carefully, you can understand how they feel through their body language, in their eyes and in how they behave. It is important to remember that every horse is an individual. It is up to us humans to figure out what each individual needs and prefers, and there isn’t just one way for all horses.”

It is important to remember that every horse is an individual

“I believe that horses are extremely adaptable animals,” Mändli continues. “For sure you can argue – as many do – that they should live outside in the field 24/7, as nature intended. Horses are after all born to move around and eat 24 hours a day. However, I'm not totally sure if the horses which are bred now-a-days would thrive in nature as their ancestors did."

“Our sport is a great sport, but we have to protect our horses,” Mändli says when asked how he as someone who has witnessed the evolvement of the sport for decades feels about watching it these days. “There are not many John Whitakers out there anymore, and people throw themselves into classes which they are not ready for.”

“Maybe we should have a qualifying system for every level,” Mändli says about how to solve the problem with riders that compete in classes they are not ready for. “If you don’t have a three-star Grand Prix placing, why would you go to a five-star show and try your luck there? By being overly ambitious and unrealistic, you can hurt yourself and your horse, and create bad images and negative publicity for the sport. There should be a better system to control this. Additionally, in my opinion, trainers should at times be stronger and say no more often.”

Our sport is a great sport, but we have to protect our horses

Mändli believes that if all riders would act more responsible, there would be less need to regulate down to detail at FEI level. “As an example, the new FEI rule on nosebands tightness is in my opinion ridiculous – but to be honest, it's our own fault,” he says.

It's our own responsibility as riders to not get it wrong in the first place

“I also don't think that riding without a noseband necessarily is better. However, when someone does, you can instantly hear comments on how horse friendly it is – but is it, really? If you remove the noseband and have the bit on the bottom of the jaw, it's actually not very nice," he points out. "Every horse will be much lighter in the mouth like this – because it's much harder to have pressure on the bottom jaw than a steady connection with a correctly fitted bit and noseband. Then there is the other extreme, too; people who close the noseband too tight."

"And with all these extremes in opposite directions, the FEI of course has to do something. However, in the end, it's our own responsibility as riders to not get it wrong in the first place.”

“The FEI calendar is getting busier and busier,” Mändli says as he continues to reflect on the development in the jumping sport. “There are shows every week for 12 months in a year, and on 50 weekends you can go to a five-star show. When it comes to competitions, the cups and the poles are lighter, the courses are more technical, and the jump-offs are faster.”

We have to be mindful that we don’t ask too much of the horses

“However, I don't think that the horses can do more than they used to do in the past,” he says. “Maybe we have more experienced and specialized blacksmiths and vets, more advanced equipment and treatment methods, but in the end, the horse is more or less the same animal than it was years ago. Horses still have four legs and the same anatomy. However, the breeding has changed. There is more blood in the horses, they are faster and lighter, which in my opinion also makes them more fragile.”

“To cope with the sport today, you need to have a healthy and strong horse which is somehow contrary to how they now are bred,” Mändli points out. “This aspect is something that I think we should be careful about; we have to be mindful that we don’t ask too much of the horses.”

“Again and again, you hear riders proclaim that we do all of this out of the love for the horses, but is it really out of the love for the horses, or is it for the love of success, ribbons and prize money? We have to be careful that we don't mix this up,” Mändli says.

I think the most important is that we act on our love for the horses and not only use it as a cliché cover

“I think the most important is that we act on our love for the horses and not only use it as a cliché cover – because I don't think it's the whole truth,” Mändli concludes. “Everybody wants to go to the show and win a ribbon, but you have to do it in a way where you don’t forget your responsibility towards the horse."

"Those who are riding need to understand that they're not sitting on a bike or on a motorcycle or going in a car. You cannot treat a lameness as a flat tyre, and you cannot give a horse a new coffin joint. We simply have to take care of these animals and we have to teach that to the younger generation.”

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