The Most Successful Dressage Rider In The World - Dr. Reiner Klimke

Dr. Reiner Klimke is the most successful dressage rider in the world. Reiner Klimke won a total of six gold and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games.
His Impact on the International Dressage Scene
The success and reputation of German riding is closely linked with one name: Reiner Klimke. The lawyer from Münster was already a riding legend in his lifetime. Together with his horses Dux, Mehmed and Ahlerich Reiner Klimke became one of the most successful riders in history.
At the beginning of his riding career, Reiner Klimke was already impressing with his success in Eventing. He was on the medal-winning Team at two European Championships, part of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and won the at the German Eventing Championships before specializing purely in dressage.
In the dressage saddle at the Olympics, he won a total of six Gold and two Bronze medals and was for a very long time one of the most successful German Olympians. Having won six World Championships and eleven European Championships he is one of the most successful dressage riders in the world.
Outside the dressage arena, Reiner Klimke was also a very active representative. As Deputy Chairman of the Sports Commission, he sat in the state parliament of North-Rhine Westfalen from 1990 to 1995. In 1991, Klimke was awarded the Olympic Order of the IOC and was the recipient of all the awards of the German Equestrian Federation. The "L 'Annee Hippique" yearbook chose him as the "dressage rider of the century".
A Training Philosophy Influenced by Classical Dressage
His motto “riding should make horses stronger and more beautiful” is continually heeded, with Klimke training all his horses following classical principles. His most successful and well-known horse was Ahlerich, who died at age 21 from colic. Their ride to Gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will never be forgotten. The special relationship between them meant they became one in the arena. Elegance, control and precision were the contributing factors for their enormous success.
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[@jancross516]

The lightness and freedom in the front end. The confidence and power of the hind end. The "unstuckness". The end of the test blew me away.

[@kimnenninger7226]

Remember when dressage was beautiful? RIP, you were magnificent.

[@DeborahHamilton-q1w]

Yes, he was a magnificent horseman! With all the horrible things going on in dressage circles these days, he's probably turning over in his grave. It's so sad that the horses are the real losers in the whole thing. This is what dressage is meant to be! Not the overbent stiff head carriage you now see, with little to no engagement of the hind quarters.

[@Rebecca-fu5hg]

I love that it shows that its not about giant exaggerated movement but about soft connection. You rarely see this quality of movement in the ring today.

[@sandiewhyte7179]

So true! Absolutley just beautiful. Hardly any over exaggertaed movement!

[@MoniekRedhead]

Absolutely agree with that

[@1980angeleyes]

This is how it should be🥰 and not the mechanical movements that get rewarded over 80% 🥴

[@OneGoldenTeaspoon]

Nice to see a horse that is so relaxed and fluid in motion. Most modern dressage horses are so exaggerated and look stiff.

[@Rebecca-fu5hg]

I just realised that you hardly ever see floppy relaxed ears on dressage horses any more like you do here. Interesting and very telling.

[@SBlackmare]

I was going to make the same comment. I have his VHS training series, and all the horses are so relaxed and floppy eared lol

[@Rebecca-fu5hg]

@@SBlackmare And that pirouette!!! its so fast and smooth, Ahlerich literally is wrapped around his leg.

[@johanna7096]

And this is a relaxed ear! I see so many ppl confusing ears that are pointed outwards (which is a bad sign) with real relaxation...

[@randomvielleuse527]

The softness of his aids, the gentleness of his legs and seat, the kindness of his hands... Wow. Absolutely superb. And he barely uses his spurs at all! I wish more riders would take note of that and copy his example. Thank you for posting this.

[@J_LorraineK]

I get goosebumps every time I come back to this video. I gotta watch it every once in a while, so Dr. Klimke and his horse can wash away my discouragement and let me remember that dressage is a beautiful endeavor.

[@readwriteteach]

The. Gold. Standard. Grateful for every single second of Klimke film I see. His daughter Ingrid carries this work on today.

[@darceejean]

can I like this 1000 times???

[@heathercollins4432]

Same...

[@profe3330]

Softness and power at the same time - so elegant.

[@TheOldandslow]

chills continuously and that melt into halt at the end. None of the resistance and faking we see so much of today. He is deservedly a standard of correctness.

[@trppro7640]

Absolutely perfect. He uses his aides softly and rides quietly. He is not behind the bit and he is relaxed. So nice to see him ride again. It is a joy to see dressage as the art it was meant to be. Not forced into an over bent frame. ❤

[@justanotherAA]

An absolute LEGEND. I remember being a young kid watching him ride in the 84’ Olympic Games; even then it took my breath away!

[@isabellabuttner8742]

So sollte Dressurreiten aussehen!!! Absolut perfekt .Ein Mann der weiß wie es geht Harte und lange Arbeit von Reiter und Pferd .Mit viel Ruhe ,Liebe ,Einfühlungsvermögen und ein Wissen wie es geht. Ich hoffe,man sieht immer einmal wieder solche guten und sensiblen Reiter mit so gut ausgebildeten Pferden ,die genügend Zeit bekommen haben um zu reifen und zu wachsen.Herrlich.

[@trppro7640]

This is lovely. ❤️ I agree he is the standard for correctness and training. I would love to see dressage get back to its roots.

[@shelley-anneharrisberg7409]

This is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Absolutely in awe!

[@katect5992]

Those little floppy, relaxed ears 💞

[@jandavison7288]

Enlightened horsemanship

[@cheryl_the_horsechick]

Omg that extended trot and the slow collected trot? Is that what it's called! He was floating. No gapping mouth or foam or tricks. Thanks for sharing!

[@anonymousequestrian2022]

How perfect this was just gives me the chills

[@valmiron4360]

That was absolutely beautiful! Fantastic! Horse & rider in total union. Thank you for all your hard work! A brilliant dance!

[@martinalewis6010]

Always and forever, breathtaking!

[@sham742]

This is absolutely beautiful and correct riding

[@konigskanal3395]

Thanks for posting such jewels...!!

[@IndigoFirebird]

true relaxation! so lovely!

[@zeitgeist5134]

Look at that horse's tail. Utterly relaxed. This horse could not be more relaxed. He is in a serene, zen state. Not one scintilla of anxiety or doubt. He trusts his rider right down to the marrow of his bones. No, he doesn't even know that it is possible not to trust his rider, as if gentle, warm, compassionate, encouraging treatment were an immutable law of physics. I am transfixed by this video. Humbly in awe.

[@susanhaas8632]

Absolutely phenomenal 👏 it did bring me to tears!!

[@heathercollins4432]

Yes. Thank you for posting this!!! So beautiful...

[@monocle8868]

Smooth!

[@katja5492]

Thank you very much ! You put wonderful music to theese epic moments.

[@christinebaker8754]

Lovely to see a rider maintaining perfect balance and connection with his horse. The modern way favours padded leg supports on saddles, overtightened crank nosebands, excessive rein pressure and spurring, blue tongues and blood, pathetic piaffes, exaggerated extended trot and a lot of unhappy triggered horses.

[@Viva_Cynefin]

Literally know nothing about dressage tbh, but seeing this is so nice its not very showy and looks so natural 🤗

[@anne-marienordin7636]

The heads position! No roll cure

[@The27jennifers]

In today's world Ahlerich would be sold as an expensive AA horse. Not international horse. Interesting that the lateral movements do not have the hyper flexion of today's horses in the pirouettes as well. Seems judges have a distorted eye these days of proper bend. According to Dr. Gerhard Geisman a horse's nose should not go past the point of the shoulder. Now days you see horses in half pass well beyond that point and down in the poll. In the canter pirouette I feel the judge would have said needs more bend. I feel that Dr. Reiner Klimke demonstrated how to ride a horse for soundness and longevity, with a quality of life. It's a pleasure to watch.

[@emah4518]

He was legend

[@anne-marienordin7636]

Super!👏👏👏

[@Linsi273]

That piaffe😍 thay extended trot😍 wow

[@bertranddoucet1128]

admirable

[@comesahorseman]

Harmony!

[@catherinemurawski7761]

Pure beauty in motion. A beautiful horse with such a quiet rider. It makes many of today’s riders look like hacks.m

[@lokibae2448]

This is the dressage I fell in love with. Now a days it's all so forced and robotic.

[@saarlooswolfhund6237]

Yes. This was Classical Dressage. Look at this proud totally relaxed horse, this real partnership. Everything is great and natural, , collection, movements, nothing is wrong. And then compare with Modern Dressage riders and their crampy horses. Classical Dressage is dead now, with just a few exceptions.

[@saarlooswolfhund6237]

In this vid Rainer Klimke shows exactly how NOT to ride Dressage. The disgusting reality is:today 95 percent Modern Dressage riders ride this horrible style. kzbin.info/www/bejne/omLNd2d7abahd8k

[@randomvielleuse527]

@@saarlooswolfhund6237 Thank you so much for posting this! WOW. Such a huge difference- and the horse is so much happier being ridden correctly, stretching down and into the bit, fluid and relaxed... Thank you again. This was very helpful.

[@kevincrotti6500]

One of the last great Sir of Dressage.

[@jomurphy1654]

Absolutely stunning! Which horse was this?

[@dbbdvm]

The horse is Ahlerich

[@sandiewhyte7179]

By far the GREATEST!!!!!

[@HorseNAround]

I've heard rumors that relaxed and self carriage is the end goal but now days if the horse isn't slobbering all over it's self and the arena, every vein isn't popping out of it's head and body and it's mouth isn't strapped shut you don't have a chance to be successful.

[@annaleseequestrian188]

Mouth foam is actually a very good sign. If you look close the horse in this video is foaming a lot as well. Their mouths foam when they are working with a relaxed jaw. It’s a good sign!

[@annaleseequestrian188]

You can see blobs of foam dropping when he goes into his tempi changes

[@caciliawhy5195]

I think breeding the big movement into horses started the downfall of dressage. Not many people can really sit that movement and control it, so they had to come up with ways to do so.

[@reasondora2712]

Super ! Sadly with the modern big moving horses we shall rarely see this sort of work again . Charlotte and Carl are the ones who train average moving horses into superstars .

[@annaleseequestrian188]

Yes I feel like Charlotte and Carl are some of only ones who train correctly on the big scale anymore

[@the_graves_boys]

this aged like milk :(

[@astas7364]

@@the_graves_boys It is so sad that people really can't tell the differences between what is accomplished by abuse and what is accomplished by proper riding. The horses have told the story from the very beginning.

[@the_graves_boys]

@@astas7364 guess so, but Dujardin's 2010s rides were fairly good with horses that are less tense than the average, which was already an accomplishment in the average rider's eye.

[@alicecopsey7789]

The one time changes remind me of the great Valegro 😍

[@astas7364]

what an insult to this team

[@alicecopsey7789]

@@astas7364 Insult indeed. Valegro holds all 3 FEI World Records and is the goat of dressage.

[@krispedersen2335]

No Rolkur here!!!!!

[@beccathib3656]

How does a horse die from colic? I'm completely new to horses, know nothing but have fallen in love with dressage, especially this type. I've begun trying to educate myself so i don't sound like a complete idiot but still ask stupid questions. Everyone here probably knows what colic in a horse means but i dont. Thanks for listening. BTW I cried through most of this video as it was so beautiful...thanks for this video. Why aren't more equestrians(?) doing this type of training? I don't understand. Sorry for the long post.🙏

[@astas7364]

horses can`t puke and have pretty sensitive stomachs/intestines. In the case of my horse gas started to distort his intestines and some of it got stuck over the splenorenal ligament. There were two options. Have expensive surgery with guarded chance of survival or hope that it gets untangled before the intestines start to die from poor circulation. We were lucky that it did get untangled on its own. If it hadn`t the part of the intestines would have died which can cause ruptures and leakages into the body which leads to sepsis and death.

[@ThePURPLESELLER]

Why do they need spurs at all?

[@jonjonwp]

He has a perfect seat on a horse , calmness , elegance were great. However it lacks energy and forward movement.

[@uskok4636]

I have no idea what you were watching, your comment regarding forward movement and energy doesnt relate to this video in any way

[@jonjonwp]

@@uskok4636 Well i think it does. You're welcome to your opinion.

[@dog2484]

​@@jonjonwpits lacks energy 🤣🤣. John, you always made my day. You don't understand anything about horses, or Classical Dressage. I'm shure, you have never ridden a horse 🤭🤭🤭

[@sarahwagland1559]

​​@@dog2484I have a sneaking suspicion that JonJon has forgotten more than you know. Your arrogance suggests to me that your ego is too dominant for you to ever be a good rider. Personally I found JonJons comment the most interesting one of all.

[@dog2484]

@@sarahwagland1559 lol, Jonjon is criticizing the world's best Dressage rider, who rode the real Classical Dressage. Jonjon defense abusive riding like Charlotte Dujarding. Jonjon does not understand anything about Classical Dressage. Like you

[@MySalamandre]

Lui, et Edward Gall !