Richard Wätjen

Richard Lacey Wätjen (born July 9, 1891 in Bremen ; † January 13, 1966 in Bergisch Gladbach ) was a German dressage rider and instructor. He was the son of George Wätjen (* 1857, † 1928 in Bremen) and Alice Heinze (* 1862 in Brooklyn , † 1926 in Munich ). His nephew was Eduard Wätjen .

Richard Wätjen as a student at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna

Wätjen had contact with equestrian sports from an early age. At the age of 14 he received his first horse as a gift from his father, a cavalry captain in the reserve. After finishing school, he initially worked as a volunteer at the Trakehnen main stud , from where he moved to Graditz stud after a year, with whom he made the move to Hoppegarten . There, through the nearby Luisen-Tattersall in Berlin, he was to get the first opportunity to ride horses with first-class training in dressage. The subsequent move to Vienna as a student at the Agricultural University gave him the opportunity to perfect his equestrian training at the Spanish Riding School there. Finally, in 1925, Wätjen became a professional rider and opened a show stables in Berlin.

Together with Felix Bürkner and Otto Lörke he trained the German riders for the Olympic Games in 1936 and in 1938 became an instructor at the SS main riding school in Munich-Riem. He is the author of the textbook “Dressage Riding”, the 9th edition of which appeared in 1986. He is considered a riding master who has significantly shaped the art of riding . Wätjen trained numerous riders, including Egon von Neindorff . He was the coach of the US military team in 1948 and in 1952 he trained the successful English eventing team at the Porlock Vale Riding School in Somerset and thus achieved international renown. Horses trained by him include Donner II, house daughter, Wotan, Feuerhorn xx, Welfenkönig, Feldmaus, Alarich, Burgsdorff, Bajazzo, Lindbergh and Flinker Kerl.

Wätjen has been awarded the Golden Riding Badge .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annette Fusenig: How to invent a 'World Equestrian Festival' - The Aachen jumping, riding and driving tournament 1924 to 1939 , p. 53
2. ↑ Four Showjumping Masters ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2007 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. : "There came in the 1950's the influence of the German school, through Bertalan de Némethy, Richard Wätjen and Gunnar Andersen" 

literature

• Waldemar Seunig: Masters of the art of riding and their ways. Parey, Berlin and Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-489-62532-3 .

Web links

Commons : Richard Wätjen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography in Polish
• Literature by and about Richard Wätjen in the catalog of the German National Library