Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier: Dressage Royalty

I caught up with Fabienne Müller-Lütkemeier at Aachen where she came third in the 4* Kur. A member of dressage royalty, the German rider’s mother is Gina Capellmann who won many gold medals for her country and her aunty is Olympic, World and European champion Nadine Capellmann. Fabienne herself represented Germany as a young rider winning copious gold medals at Europeans and as a senior has won team gold at both Europeans and World Championships. She has also competed at two World Cup Finals. With her famous family, she has been exposed to the sport and involved in the top sport since she was a youngster. In this interview Fabienne chats about why it’s important to have other trainers and what makes Hubertus Schmidt so good. Her belief is that you always learn, it’s never done. We talk about her young Grand Prix mare Valencia which she rode at CHIO Aachen (and she seems to like the “V” line with quite a few in her stable) as well as her other up and coming horses including Valencia’s sister. She explains what’s involved in a day, the training process, how the sport has changed and how to manage the modern dressage horse.