Pepo Puch

Pepo Puch (2013)

Josef "Pepo" Puch (born January 10, 1966 in Graz ) is an Austrian rider. Until 2008 he competed in eventing for Croatia in sport, today he starts as a dressage rider in disabled riding .

Career

Puch started riding in Oberzeiring at the age of 15 . Puch, who left his home village at the age of 15, is a trained chimney sweep . At first he was active in endurance riding and also reached the world championships here.

He later switched to eventing, where he initially worked for Austria. After differences with the Austrian federation he rode successfully for Croatia for years. He took part in the European Championships in 2001, 2003 and 2005. In 2004 he took part in the Summer Olympics in Athens with Banville d'Invoy .

For Pepo Puch, riding safety was always very important and he was one of the first riders to wear a newly developed airbag vest (safety vest that inflates in the event of a fall). In August 2008 he fell at the Schenefelder Versatility with serious consequences: he fractured the third and fourth cervical vertebrae, and an incomplete paraplegia is the result of the fall. After the fall, it was initially suspected that the airbag vest worn by Puch had saved his life. However, Puch, who can remember the course of the accident, stated that the vest had inflated when a little rumbler occurred, the bang had frightened his horse and he was practically immobile due to the vest, which caused him to fall. The vest prevented him from rolling off. He is convinced that no accident worth mentioning would have happened without the vest.

After the accident, Puch spent six months in the hospital, first in Hamburg, then in Zurich. After months he managed to move his hand again. He managed to be able to walk again with restrictions.

As a result, he found his way back into the sport, now as a dressage rider in disabled equestrian sports. Here it is assigned to competition class Grade II (until 2016 referred to as Grade Ib). As an aid, he rides with two whips and tuning aids.

“The ideal way to ride out of the weight is to ride out of the weight, but that is sometimes difficult with a disability because the horse doesn't know whether you are having a spastic attack or whether it is a command. Therefore the tuning aid is important! "

- Pepo Puch : about voice aid in equestrian sports for the disabled

Puch found his way into equestrian sports with the self-trained gelding The Who . With this he had won the international eventing ( CIC 2 *) in the Bavarian town of Unterbeuern two weeks before his fall .

In 2010 he qualified for the 2010 World Equestrian Games , which would have been his first international championship after his fall. His mare Fine Feeling was injured beforehand. A year later, he made his first big appearance as a para-rider: At the European Championships in Moorsele, Belgium, he won gold in the individual evaluation with Good Boy's Feeling and an individual silver in the freestyle.

At the big Salzburg indoor equestrian tournament at the end of 2011, he was given the “Amadeus Award”, which is given annually to a person who has made a special contribution to Austrian equestrian sport. Shortly before that, he had become world number one for the first time, a position that he still held in the summer of 2012. At the Maimarkt tournament in Mannheim , Germany's only international disabled equestrian tournament in 2012, he achieved a new world record in his competition class: In the freestyle grade Ib he achieved 80.667 percent with fine feeling .

He played his first Paralympic Games in London in 2012 : With Fine Feeling , he won the bronze medal in the championship test and individual gold in the freestyle. At the Paralympic Games he had to do without the planned support of the family on site: Shortly before the start of the competitions, his mother-in-law died and the whole family left London.

In May 2013 Puch improved the world record in the freestyle of Grade Ib together with Fine Feeling to 80.917 percent. A year earlier he had already achieved a world record in this test. With Fine Feeling , he also successfully participated in the championships in the following years.

In 2016, the gelding Fontainenoir replaced the now 19-year-old Fine Feeling as the championship horse Puchs. At the World Equestrian Games in 2014 , European Championships in 2015 and Summer Paralympics in 2016 , Austria also provided one team each. Puch won the gold medal in the individual ranking in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 - now with his championship horse Fontainenoir.

Pepo Puch (left) honoring Austria's athletes of the year 2016

Puch was named Parasporter of the Year as part of the 2016 Athlete of the Year award.

In 2017 Pepo Puch rode the FEI European Championships in Gothenburg 2017 and won the gold medal in the individual competition with Fontainenoir. Puch presented Sailor's Blue , born in 2008, internationally for the first time in 2018 and also decided to start at the World Equestrian Games for the young black gelding. He was rewarded with two silver medals - each in the freestyle and in the individual evaluation.

In 2019 he was named Styrian Disabled Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time.

successes

As an eventing rider:

• Olympic Games :
  • 2004, Markopoulo near Athens : 63rd place in the individual ranking with Banville d'Invoy
• European Championships:
  • 2001, Pau: with Grim 28th place in the individual ranking
  • 2003, Punchestown: 22nd place in the individual ranking with Banville d'Invoy
  • 2005, Blenheim: 46th place in the individual ranking with Banville d'Invoy

As a para-dressage rider (for Austria):

• Paralympic Games :
  • 2012, London : with Fine Feeling 3rd place (bronze) in the individual evaluation (championship test) and 1st place (gold) in the freestyle
  • 2016, Rio de Janeiro : with Fontainenoir 1st place (gold) in the individual ranking (championship test) and 2nd place (silver) in the freestyle
• World Equestrian Games :
  • 2014, Caen : with Fine Feeling 2nd place in the individual evaluation (championship test) and 2nd place in the individual freestyle, 6th place with the team
  • 2018, Tryon : with Sailor's Blue 2nd place in the freestyle and in the championship test

• European Championships:
  • 2011, Moorsele: with Good Boy's Feeling 1st place in the individual evaluation (championship test) and 2nd place in the freestyle
  • 2013, Herning : with Fine Feeling 1st place in the individual evaluation (championship test) and 1st place in the freestyle, 8th place with the team,
  • 2015, Deauville: with Good Boy's Feeling with Fine Feeling 1st place in the individual evaluation (Championshiptest) and 1st place in the individual freestyle, 8th place with the team
  • 2017, Gothenburg : 1st place in the individual ranking (championship test) with Fontainenoir and 6th place with the team

• Austrian Championships (selection):
  • 2016, Fritzens: State Champion with Fontainenoir
  • 2017, Fritzens: State champion with Fonainenoir
  • 2018, Fritzens: State champion with Sailor's Blue

Horses

Current

• Sailor's Blue (* 2008), Hanoverian black wallach, father: Swarovski, mother's father: Arogno
• Fontainenoir (* 2005), Oldenburg black wallach, father: Florencio I, mother's father : Donatelli

Former successful horses

• Grim 3 (* 1989), chestnut gelding
• Banville d'Invoy (* 1989), brown Selle Français- Wallach, father: Banville, mother's father: Herbier
• Fine Feeling S (* 1997), Hanoverian dark chestnut mare, father: Fabriano, mother's father: Trapper
• Good Boy's Feeling (* 1999), Hanoverian black wallach, father: Grand Cru, mother's father: World Cup I.
• The Who (* 1995), thoroughbred , chestnut gelding

Private

Puch is married to Michele Puch, a native of Schwarzenbach. Michele Puch, daughter of Alfred Schwarzenbach (Olympic participant 1972) and granddaughter of Hans Schwarzenbach , rode long versatility tests herself and is now starting in show jumping . Both have a daughter together.

Michele and Pepo Puch run a training stable near Zurich (Switzerland) together.

Web links

Commons : Pepo Puch  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Pepo Puch's website
• TV interview with Pepo Puch , Aeschbacher from September 2, 2010
• Video of the freestyle by Puch and Fine Feeling at the Paralympic Games 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} FEI Rider Biography: Pepo Puch
2. ↑ Parade dressage: Pepo Puch is the new No. 1 in the FEI world rankings , August 8, 2011
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Pepo Puch back in the saddle ( memento of the original from January 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.1 MB), pferderevue, issue 8/2010 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Pepo Puch is doing much better: Are you planning to return to Sport 2010? ( Memento of the original from January 6, 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. , buschreiter.de 
5. ↑ Luhmühlen-Splitter 2002 ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , buschreiter.de 
6. ↑ ^{a b} I was just the dummy , Sigi Lützow / Der Standard , September 4, 2012
7. ↑ ^{a b} Reports on the fall of Pepo Puch ( memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , buschreiter.de 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Pepo Puch: What is conceivable is possible! ( Memento of the original from January 7, 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. (PDF; 348 kB), Austrian Paralympic Committee 
9. ↑ EM in Gothenburg also season highlight for para-dressage riders , Uta Helkenberg / German Equestrian Association , February 28, 2017, accessed on March 12, 2017
10. ↑ FEI success database, retrievable via the FEI person detail by Pepo Puch  ( page no longer accessible , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Fine Feeling injured: Pepo Puch does not go to Kentucky , August 30, 2010
12. ↑ The Amadeus Award goes to Pepo Puch  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ Parade dressage: Pepo Puch is the new No. 1 in the FEI world rankings , August 8, 2011
14. ↑ World Individual Ranking list Para-Dressage 2012 (PDF; 168 kB), July 16, 2012
15. ↑ Mannheim: Austrian Pepo Puch cracked the 80 percent mark
16. ↑ Result of Championshiptest Grade Ib, Summer Paralympics 2012
17. ^ Result freestyle grade Ib, Summer Paralympics 2012
18. ↑ Pepo Puch: "Medially it was a madness" ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Wolf-Dietrich Nahr / buschreiter.de 
19. ↑ Pepo Puch improves his own world record , press release of the Austrian Equestrian Federation , May 7, 2013
20. ↑ Brem and Hirscher are athletes of the year . Article dated October 27, 2016, accessed March 4, 2020.
21. ↑ orf.at: Pilhatsch and Rehrl Sportsman of the Year . Article dated May 24, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019.
22. ↑ Result of individual evaluation eventing, Olympic Summer Games 2004 (PDF; 14 kB)
23. ^ Result Austrian Para-Dressage Championships Fritzens / 1st-3rd July 2016 (PDF)
24. ^ FEI horse database: Fontainenoir
25. ↑ FEI horse database: Grim 3  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
26. ↑ FEI horse database: Banville d'Invoy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
27. ↑ FEI horse database: Fine Feeling S
28. ↑ FEI horse database: Good Boy's Feeling
29. ↑ FEI horse database: The Who
30. ↑ Buschreiter.de - current: Interview with Michele Schwarzenbach: Still hope for an Olympic ticket ( memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
31. ↑ FEI success database, available via the FEI person detail by Michele Puch ( memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.