Text © World of Showjumping 

In a sport where many young riders are blessed with great opportunities, two-time Olympian Jur Vrieling still believes that those who work the hardest will outdo the rest. “It has always been like that, and it will remain so,” Vrieling says. “As an example, Jeroen Dubbeldam was not extremely talented, but he worked hard – and you can see what he has won. The same goes for Harrie Smolders; he came from nothing, but has always put in the effort. And Henrik von Eckermann, he is a workaholic! In the end, the ones that work the hardest will achieve the most – you don’t have to be the most talented to make it to the top.” 

Vrieling speaks from experience. With VDL Bubalu (Baloubet du Rouet x Nimmerdor), he won team silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London as well as team gold at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Caen. Last year, Vrieling claimed team silver at the World Championships in Herning with Long John Silver 3 N.O.P. (Lasino x San Patrignano Corrado). Vrieling has competed at five European Championships – winning team gold at the 2015 Europeans in Aachen, where he also placed fifth individually with VDL Zirocco Blue (Mr Blue x Voltaire). Furthermore, he has taken part at two World Cup Finals, as well as five Nations Cup Finals – winning two of the latter.

Vrieling’s career in the top sport started late though, as he for a long time was focused on young horses. It was former Dutch Chef d’Equipe Rob Ehrens who gave Vrieling a piece of advice that changed his approach to the way he was working. “I was 38 at the time, and fully focused on getting young horses used to the saddle. Rob told me that if I wanted to reach the top level, I would have to put in more effort, more time, make my management better and care less about other things. If I wanted to make it to the team, I had to train harder. Rob’s comments changed my life. However, I have no regrets; I have achieved what I wanted – it only took longer,” Vrieling smiles. 

Vrieling is based in the very north of the Netherlands, and together with his girlfriend Susanne Tepper he runs a stable with around 30 horses – and young horses still play a huge role in his life. “Susanne does the young horses and currently I am in a lucky position to have a great sponsor in SF Equestrian who has given me horses for the higher level,” Vrieling explains. “However, we normally build up the horses ourselves, starting with them when they are four or five – and hopefully in the end, we have some good horses for the top sport.” 

I love it when I can grow together with a horse

And, it has been Vrieling’s endless work on producing young horses that has carried him through to do multiple championships. “The success behind our stable is that we never look at horses with a short-term view, we think ahead,” he tells. “As a rider, you have to consider where you want to be in a few years and which horses can get you there. Furthermore, we have had the luck of having great horse owners like VDL, SF Equestrian and Henk Slik who have allowed us to take our time in developing the young horses we have. At the moment, I have an unbelievably good horse in Long John Silver, but we always look for young horses to build up for the coming years. When I had Bubalu, I was already thinking about Zirocco Blue and how to get him to the highest level and it was the same with Glasgow… You have to think about the future, you need to think years ahead. You cannot buy a horse and go directly to a championship, a connection like that does not form overnight. You need to know your horses. I love it when I can grow together with a horse, this way you get to know their character.” 

Vrieling has had a close cooperation with the VDL Stud for many years, and the majority of his success has come on their stallions – with horses like VDL Bubalu, VDL Zirocco Blue and VDL Glasgow vd Merelsnest (Nabab de Reve x Darco). “It has been – and still is – a great time, even though I now mostly have younger horses from them,” Vrieling tells about their partnership.

I think it is great when horses can get experience at the bigger shows without pressure

“It started with Indorado, then came Atlantic, and later Bubalu who won the team gold at the World Championship in Caen. Then after Bubalu, I had Zirocco Blue as a young horse who I started with when he was four. When Bubalu retired, I directly had Zirocco Blue who was ready to step in as he had been gathering experience at all the big shows for a few years a bit in the shadow of Bubalu. Zirocco’s first big show was the World Cup in Oslo, which he won, and he was 4th in Helsinki a week later. He took over from Bubalu directly, and later I had luck again with Glasgow who grew in Zirocco’s shadow. I think it is great when horses can get experience at the bigger shows without pressure. All the stallions I had from VDL had a really nice time growing up, there was no hurry and no pressure on them; they grew to the highest level behind another good horse.” 

For Vrieling, VDL Zirocco Blue – a horse he produced from a four-year-old to championship level – is the one he has had the closest connection with. “He is the horse that has grown closest to my heart,” Vrieling tells. “He was kind of brutal as a stallion and when he was younger, he was very dominant. As a young horse, he jumped amazing, but he always jumped far too high. Later on, he started to learn to do it in a nicer way, got more lose behind and learned to use his power at the right moments. He was unbelievably careful and a clever horse; I knew already when he was a youngster that he was a once-in-a-life-time horse for me.”

I knew already when he was a youngster that he was a once-in-a-life-time horse for me

“My biggest achievement with him was the European Championship in Aachen in 2015, where we won gold with the team and placed 5th individually. However, during his career, almost all the Grand Prix classes he jumped, he jumped clear so he did a lot of good things – it is not only the championships he excelled at. He jumped on the highest level for many years and always did his best.” 

While Vrieling prefers to give his horses time to grow to the highest level, everything was totally different with Long John Silver. “At the time Glasgow retired, I was a little bit out of horses for the bigger sport. Then, one day, Mounaim Dani called me and said he knew a very good 9-year-old that was at Holger Hetzel’s. I went there and tried Long John Silver, who jumped amazing – I directly had a good feeling on him,” Vrieling tells.

He has such scope and a great mind

“The only negative thing was that he had no international experience, he had only done national shows so he did not have any results. Luckily, our sponsor SF Equestrian bought him regardless. The first show I did with him was a five-star in St. Gallen – and our vet was laughing because he had only one stamp in his FEI passport! He jumped fantastic, and on the last day, he was 4th in the 1.50m. From there on, he had an amazingly fast progress, and directly went on to compete on the highest level. Long John could go straight to the five-stars, because he has such scope and a great mind. He is maybe not the quickest, but he is a horse that can do it very easily. With a horse like him, I could do that, but that is an absolute exception. With another horse, I would have probably needed more time. Everything went fast, but we never did anything I didn’t feel he was ready for.”

“He was a bit behind Fiumicino in the beginning, but that has changed, and now he is actually my number one,” Vrieling continues to tell about the sympathetic grey. “Last year, we did well for the team in Herning, but everything came quite soon for him and he didn’t have the best experience back then. Now he has another year under his belt.”

With his long-term view on producing horses, Vrieling does not chase the ranking – even though he is currently 29th in the world. “I was thinking about it for a while, when I had three really good horses in Comme Laude W (Comme Il Faut x Diagonal), Fiumicino van de Kalevallei (Plot Blue x Nabab de Reve) and Long John,” he says. “If you have three horses of this calibre, then you are moving higher up on the ranking, and for almost a year, I stayed within the top twenty. However, then you also know that when a horse like Cum Laude gets sold, you have to take a step back. I don’t want to stay in the top twenty on the cost of doing too much with my horses. You have to be realistic. I might drop down now, but I know I will come back again when my horses are ready.”

You have to look out for your horses and make a plan for them and not run everywhere you can

“It is all about the horses: When they feel good and jump good, you automatically improve your ranking. There are so many shows now, but you have to look out for your horses and make a plan for them and not run everywhere you can,” Vrieling points out. “Some horses need more shows, more rhythm, some need less. I always look at my best horse first – at the moment Long John – and then I think about the number of shows I can do with him, and which shows will get him in the best shape. You have to make a plan according to the horses you have, and there is a bit of hope mixed in as well.”

“I like scopey horses,” Vrieling says when asked what he looks for. “If you have horses that are very scopey, like Long John, they don’t have to give their all every time, and they stay sound longer because it is easier for them. In addition to scope, I want to see character and carefulness. I think it is the character that makes the difference. It is a hard thing to judge though; you might have a horse like Bubalu, who was always willing and easy, or a horse like Zirocco, who wanted to do things his way. However, they both had a great character and I had a great friendship with them, even though they were very different. And both were very successful – the best ones love what they do, they love their job and want to jump clear.”

The best ones love what they do, they love their job and want to jump clear

“Three things that we cannot change are carefulness, character and scope – those qualities horses have to have from nature, but the rest you can teach them,” Vrieling continues. “When you train with the horses, you will quickly see which ones like to work; they have to enjoy it. You can teach a lot to a horse, almost all the things we need. They remember everything, so it is very important to give them a positive education. As young horses, they have to learn to jump the fences easy, not that they jump too high or too wild – they just have to do it all on their own legs, in their own balance, and learn from their mistakes. In my opinion, horses learn more from a mistake inside the ring than in the warm-up or at home. So, just give them a positive feeling, let them learn from their mistakes and make the rideability as good as possible.” 

At the moment, Long John Silver carries the badge as the number one horse for Vrieling – who already has a future promise ready in the stable. “We have a five-year-old stallion called Nyrocco – who is by Zirocco – and I think he can be my next championship horse,” he tells. “We give him all the time he needs now. It is better he goes 20 times a class too low, than one time a class too high. I think my girlfriend Susanne does a great job with him; she can give him all the experience he needs. We keep everything nice and slow, he doesn’t have to prove anything, he can just get the right experience, there is no pressure – even if I think he might be a horse I will need in a few years, at the end of my career. There are a few other horses like him as well in our stable, who might be championship horses. However, as I am getting older, this generation feels like the last round of horses that we are training with these hopes and dreams.” 

“I always say that the moment I don’t like the daily work and training at home anymore, I will stop riding,” Vrieling concludes. “Every day, I still love training my horses, seeing how they develop. I also love buying foals and young horses, watching them grow, and start working with them. I love walking through the stable in the evening and seeing my horses; just being with them. Of course, it has been nice to enjoy a lot of success in my career, but even without that part, I love horses and working with them. I would like to win one more medal, with Long John. And then, I want to do it all over again, once more, with another young horse we have developed ourselves. That is what I love to do; take a young horse and make it ready for a championship, and win a medal…”

17.10.2023 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.