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Features : INTERVIEW: Laura Bechtolsheimer

Tuesday 7 June 2011

THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM A FEATURE THAT RAN IN HORSE MAGAZINE'S JANUARY 2011 ISSUE. HORSE FEATURES TOP RIDER INTERVIEWS EVERY MONTH

You might imagine someone with Laura Bechtolsheimer's talent and success could be rather arogant. Similarly, you might assume someone with her blessings might be terribly pretentious. You'd be wrong. In fact, it's impossible not to like the girl.

“I like to make things fun – not that I'm suggesting for a second that my situation is a difficult one to have fun in,” she says, having laughed at herself throughout our photo shoot at her family's Gloucestershire home. She can't believe we have the image we need so quickly. “Really, is that good enough?” she asks. Her father Wilfried jokes: “Surely you don't want to zoom in that close?” Perhaps that's where the modesty comes from.

“I do ask one of the grooms to go out for jam donuts, if it's one of those days!” she admits. And that's as diva-ish as Laura gets.

In short, she's got class. And by that we're not referring to the circles she hangs out in – unlike the Daily Mail, who in 2010 ran an article on the Olympic hopeful titled: “Harry's pal has a stable girl”. She found this as insulting as you'd imagine. They were referring to her two-year relationship with polo player Mark Tomlinson, which, wonderful as it is, could hardly be considered her raison d'être.

“When I started seeing Mark, I did find myself thinking, 'why on earth am I going out with a polo player?' But he's lovely, and his polo friends are really good fun, too, so I take it back. Though there probably are some that are still, you know….”

Laura is the epitome of modern dressage. At just 25, she pocketed three silver medals at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky (25-30 September, 2010) riding the endearing Mistral Hojris, with whom she is a favourite for London 2012. But she's over her previous accolades already, looking forwards instead to fulfilling her dream of becoming an “all round horsewoman”, capable of producing top horses from scratch.

The bulk of Laura's daily work is riding her young horses – half of whom are homebreds – with the aim of getting them to grand prix.

“One of my six year olds is super talented. He threw me off a few days ago, the bastard, but he's my favourite. All the youngsters are close to my heart as they've grown up in our fields. I want to prove I've got the skills to produce them,” she says.

To anyone who feels she has been granted a gift in the extraordinary Mistral Hojris, rest assured she's only too aware.

“If people have the impression I'm not able on other horses, then I think that's really unfair. I'm only young and I'm not an established rider,” she says. “I don't plan on treading water. I'm lucky to have had my horse of a lifetime already and I need to use what I've learnt with him on future horses.”

This shouldn't be an issue, since she rides beautifully and abhors the forceful training methods that have damaged the reputation of her sport in recent years.

Passionately classical
It's reassuring to note that Laura has achieved her success by the most sympathetic means possible.

“I don't like to see horses being ridden with force. We all have moments when we need to get the horse through, but when I see a horse ridden for over an hour and it looks like a duel then that's sad. Dad, Klaus [Balkenhol, Laura's trainer] and I are very passionate about riding in the way that it should be done.

“Obviously it's easier on some horses than others to exemplify good riding, but you can see which riders have the right attitude and which are loosing their way just by looking at how stressed the horse is.”

Images and video posted online over the past two years of horses being ridden in a very deep neckframe caused such a furore that the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) were obliged to investigate training methods and produce guidelines for competition stewards. For example, riders cannot school their horses for more than an hour.

There are however instances still slipping through. “It was hard for them to police training in Kentucky – riders would just move on to the next arena if their hour limit was nearly up and work again there,” Laura points out. “At least the stewards now feel that they can say something. These riders have a very good reputation and in the past I didn't see the stewards actually stopping them much when they saw bad riding.”

Laura wants to see an end to aggressive riding in competition warm ups to protect her sports' image.

“It's not just up to stewards – riders, trainers, and judges also have a responsibility, we all need to make sure the sport stays great,” she says. “Totilas and the success of the Brits in WEG have put the sport in such a positive place. It can be beautiful and we need to make sure we don't shoot ourselves in the foot.”

Looking to the future
One thing's for sure, if we were Totilas, or any horse, we'd like to be Laura's – living in luxury over in Gloucestershire, swaning around roomy stables in the smart rubber-matted barn with heatlamps in each. They might as well have a glass of warm milk and a bedside table. That said, the facilities could be a tumbled down wreck and we'd still want to live at the B's place.

“The four year olds were backed last winter and turned out all summer. They'll work a little this winter and then have another summer off – we take it quite slowly,” says Laura.

Dressage horses that actually get to go in fields can be something of a rarity, let alone regular holidays out.

As for Alf, it's all about keeping the megastar fit, healthy, sound and happy for London 2012, hopefully taking in a European medal en route. “It's about doing enough, but not too much,” says Laura, who takes the same approach with herself.

Still in touch with her uni friends – she studied politics and psychology at Bristol – Laura goes to see them or one of her brothers in London for a break.

“I don't go out drinking very often, but when I do I go for it,” she says. “I fell asleep in the elevator in the hotel at half four in the morning after the celebrations in Kentucky. I woke up in my whites with my medals and hairnet still on.”

So what next, aside from Olympic glory? Wedding bells?

“Not yet!” she protests. “You sound like my Mum, why doesn't someone ask him, then he can be embarrassed! I still feel like I'm 15 sometimes, much too young to be doing something serious like getting married. Mum's desperate for grandkids, but I've got three older brothers and I reckon that's their responsibility first.”

Instead, she'll continue enjoying her enviable lifestyle, producing those future champions.

“What goes up comes down at some point,” she reasons. “But if you're enjoying the training then that stays as a constant whether you're doing well or not at competition.”

There's something we can all relate to, on some level.