Ingrid Klimke

One of the Most Successful Riders Worldwide

Encouraged by her parents, Ingrid Klimke was involved with horses from a very young age. Her father, Dr. Reiner Klimke, was one of the most successful Olympians of all time.

The European Championships in 1991 were her first international championship no longer competing as a junior or young rider. She managed to win bronze in both the individual and team eventing divisions aboard Pinot. Further success followed at the German Championships in both eventing and dressage.

She has ridden in all Olympic Games since 2000 and won two Olympic team gold medals. She has received countless prizes and awards for her successes and accomplishments as well as being awarded the title “Riding Master”. Having turned her passion into her career, Ingrid Klimke is renowned worldwide for her success in both eventing and dressage at the highest levels. Since 2019, she is in both the dressage and eventing German Olympic Squads.

In the most recent years of her successful career, she won the European championships with Hale Bob in 2017 and earned no fewer than 7 gold medals as part of the German team in European Championships, World Equestrian Games, and at the Olympic Games.

Ingrid Klimke lives in Muenster, Germany. She runs a training stable with about 10 competition horses that she trains from a young age up to the highest levels of competition.

Her Remarkable Understanding of Horses

“My father has always told me: “Ride for your pleasure!”. And I feel pleasure watching my horses become more beautiful in the training process and learning to respond to the lightest of aids."

Not only is Ingrid Klimke well-know for her ability to ride every horse with fine and subtle aids but also for her calmness and patience, which are the pillars of her training philosophy. Offering variety to every horse during their basic training, regardless of the discipline they will specialize in later, is fundamental for her. A combination of dressage, cavaletti, cross country or outdoor exercises are her recipe to training her horses successfully and, later on, enhancing their abilities up to the highest levels of competition. 

An Equestrian Education Influenced by Various Impressive Personalities

Ingrid received her classical dressage education from her father and later from her mentor, Major Paul Stecken. Her early show jumping training was with Fritz Ligges. She went on to train with Ian Miller, Anne Kursinski and the former National Trainer of the German Show Jumping Team, Kurt Gravemeier. For eventing, Ingrid trains with the National Team trainer Christopher Bartle, and Hans Melzer. The work in hand and the double lunge work are done under the tutelage of Wilfried Gehrmann.

She says of all her teachers: “I have received very consistent coaching from all of them which results in an approach to training that develops an incredible level of trust between horse and rider and that never asks too much of the horse."