Felix Bürkner

Felix Bürkner (born  May 1, 1883 in Göttingen ; † November 17, 1957 in Hanover ) was a German dressage rider .

family

Felix Bürkner was born as the eldest son of (Leopold Ferdinand) Konrad Bürkner, professor at the University of Göttingen on May 15, 1883. He had two brothers: Robert Bürkner (actor) and Ernst (doctor).

The Bürkner family was bourgeois and artistically influenced and so Felix received a varied education and training. He had three children with his first wife and a daughter with his second wife.

Military career

From a young age, Bürkner strived for a career as a cavalryman in the military. In 1901 he joined the 2nd Kurhessische Feldartillerie-Regiment No. 47 in Fulda as a flag junior and was promoted to ensign in October 1901 due to his equestrian talent . He passed the officer's examination in 1902. In 1914 he became captain of the squadron as Rittmeister and took part in the First World War. After the end of the war, he was initially accepted into the Reichswehr , but in 1922 Bürkner retired from the army. He joined the Wehrmacht and on April 7, 1939, took over as head of the school stable of the Army Riding and Driving School (Hanover, later Potsdam-Krampnitz). On May 1, 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , then on December 1, 1940, he was promoted to colonel . In 1943 he retired from the Wehrmacht for reasons of age.

Equestrian development

Felix Bürkner's equestrian talent was recognized in the first riding lessons. He received basic training in Göttingen from the riding instructor Georg von Münchhausen and later in particular at the Military Riding Institute in Hanover from Rittmeister Negenborn. He won six imperial prizes in a row. In 1912 he took part in the Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm in dressage and reached seventh place with King in the individual ranking, a team ranking was not made.

As a private person he joined the Tattersall Beermann in Berlin in 1923 to run the “Prussia” tournament stable. In 1930 he leased the "Rittergut Düppel" in Berlin-Zehlendorf and founded the "German Riding School" there, where other greats such as Richard Wätjen and Colonel von Heydebreck also worked. Bürkner prepared the German dressage team for the 1936 Summer Olympics .

After the Second World War , Felix Bürkner returned to Hanover. Here he had horses in a stable in the Vahrenwalder Heide . Bürkner trained horses and also sold them abroad. Among other things, he trained Totila , with the Colonel Franklin Wing won the Grand Prix of Aachen in 1948 .

He always attached great importance to versatile training, especially to riding in the terrain and hunting. He won numerous tournaments at home and abroad.

Felix Bürkner was German dressage champion 14 times in the period after the First World War. In 1936 he was team leader of the German riding team, which won all gold medals.

German school quadrille

Bürkner founded the German school quadrille , which he developed together with Otto Lörke and Kapellmeister Friedrich Witeschnek. The quadrille was demonstrated in the Army Riding School from 1940 to 1943 when important guests visited.

The German school quadrille was revived for the 1972 Summer Olympics , under the guidance of Albert Stecken , it was demonstrated at the graduation ceremony by twelve of the best German dressage riders ( Reiner Klimke with York , Liselott Linsenhoff with Piaff , Wolfgang Haug with Lorlot , Karin Schlüter with Liostro , Josef Neckermann with Venetia , Ilsebill Becher with Mitsouko , Willi Schultheis with Armagnac , Inge Theodorescu with Marzio , Walter Günther with Partisan , Gabriela Grillo with Honduras , Harry Boldt with Ariadne , Eva Maria Pracht with Mazepa ). Willi Schultheis and Walter Günther were already involved in demonstrations of the school quadrille in the 1940s.

Fonts

• An equestrian life. Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008 (reprint of the Verden / Aller 1957 edition), ISBN 978-3487081854 .

Web links

• Felix Bürkner in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Result of the individual dressage ranking at the 1912 Summer Olympics
2. ↑ ^{a b} Warm-blooded export . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 1948 ( online - July 10, 1948 ).
3. ↑ Quadrille Riding: Continuing Traditions - Having Fun Together , German Equestrian Association
4. ↑ Deutsche Schulquadrille ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Portrait of George Theodorescu ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.