Text © World of Showjumping

Christian Kukuk - 2024 Olympic champion and current world no. 4 - will at the end of 2025 be leaving Ludger Beerbaum’s stables after 13 years of employment, to start on his own. 

“Everything I have learned in terms of sport, I learned from Ludger Beerbaum. He has played the biggest part in my riding and my successes, and I am eternally grateful to Ludger for that,” Kukuk said in a statement from Beerbaum Stables. “I am aware that it will be difficult to make my way without his protective hand and unique experience. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life.” 

Kukuk, who started working at Beerbaum’s yard in Riesenbeck, Germany, in February 2012, has gone from competing young horses at national shows to winning individual gold at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris with Checker 47. In 2021, Kukuk and Mumbai were part of the German team that claimed team silver at the Europeans on home soil, and at the 2025 Europeans, Kukuk and Just Be Gentle won team bronze.

“As a young athlete, Christian has developed into a figurehead of our stable/team over the past decade,” Ludger Beerbaum said in a statement from Beerbaum Stables. “The fact that, in addition to our working relationship, we also have a particularly good, trusting personal relationship will allow us to continue working together in the coming years.”