‘I ride him in a totally different style – his stride is enormous’: meet the mega stallion leading the showjumping Europeans

Topping the leader board ahead of the third round of competition at the Longines FEI European Showjumping Championships are the phenomenal combination of Richard Vogel and the mighty stallion United Touch S.

The German rider’s ascent to the top of the sport in recent years has been meteoric, helped in part at least by this powerful 13-year-old stallion with whom he has struck up an incredible rapport.

Richard Vogel and United Touch S: from CSI2* classes to European Showjumping Championships leaders

United Touch S, a son of Untouched x Lux Z, has one of the longest strides we’ve ever seen – “possibly one of the biggest strides in the world” proclaims his rider – and he clears the toughest 1.65m five-star tracks effortlessly.

Richard, ranked number nine in the world, describes riding United Touch as “a lot of fun”.

“He’s sensitive and smart,” he says. “He’s also given me a lot of firsts – I won my first five-star grand prix with him and we did our first championships together.

“But he’s such a different horse compared with many others – if you look at how I ride him and how I ride some of my other horses, it’s a totally different style. So he’s taught me that – to take each horse as an individual rather than trying to ride them all the same way.

“It’s the same for the training we do at home or the program we have for each of them – now we try to make the best plan for each horse and analyse each of their strengths and weaknesses to try to improve them.

“People always talk about how much I improved United Touch S, but actually he taught me so much. It’s just a great partnership, including with his groom Felicia Wallin, who has also grown with us. So I’m just very proud of all the steps we’ve done and how much we’ve grown together.”

A great start in A Coruña

Richard and United Touch S opened with a lightning-quick performance on day one at the European Showjumping Championships, placing them just 0.01pen behind leaders Daniel Coyle and Legacy. However after the Irish pair’s withdrawal on Thursday and Richard produced a follow-up clear with Julius-Peter Sinnack’s stallion, they moved into the gold medal position in the individual standings, while Team Germany sit in second position just behind leaders Great Britain.

“I try not to have that [being top of the leaderboard] in mind because it’s a very long journey until the individual finals,” says Richard, who is competing alongside his girlfriend Sophie Hinners on the German team at the European Showjumping Championships.

“We’re really thinking about the team now as we’re very close behind the Brits and close in front of the Belgians. So that’s what we’re focusing on and trying to do the best we can with the team. It looks promising though, because all the horses have jumped very well – we had four clears on Thursday and if I’m not mistaken we were the only team that had four clears.

“But I’m delighted with how United jumped on Thursday, especially after going so fast the previous day when we really opened up. He was very much with me, very collected, and I could do all the actual [stride] numbers – I didn’t have to leave out everywhere, because his stride his so enormous! I was worried he’d be a bit too much forward on the second day, but not at all, so that made me very happy. He’s fresh, he’s motivated, he’s in a good place – in his mind, too. So we’ll just try to keep that form going through.

“I think Friday’s course will be quite a bit tougher though [for the team final],” he says. “We saw enough clears on Thursday, but that’s probably what the course-designer wanted and expected – he didn’t want to build it too challenging. We jumped 14 numbered fences, 17 actual fences, on Wednesday and Thursday so it’s taken a bit of energy out of the horses already before the third day in a row of jumping, when the fences are likely to be more delicate and the doubles may be tougher. We saw problems already at the triple combination, although I think the second combination didn’t really cause any troubles on Thursday. But in general, it was a 1.60m class but not a very tough one. I’m sure we’ll see a difference on Friday.”

United Touch S at the European Championships: “He switches into ‘sport mode’”

United Touch S was previously ridden by Dutch showjumpers Willem Greve and Bart Bles, with Richard taking the reins in 2022. But while he’s electric in the ring and proved exhilarating to watch at Casas Novas Equestrian Center in Spain this week, he’s “pretty chilled” in the stable, assesses Richard.

“He’s the easiest horse and as a stallion you’d expect him to be difficult around other horses, especially mares, but he’s so well behaved in all aspects,” he says. “But when you go in the ring he realises very quickly ‘OK, today is an important day’ or like these championships an important week, and he switches into ‘sport mode’.

“I think that’s an ideal mix to have – a horse that doesn’t waste energy in his stable or when he’s travelling. Of course, sometimes it takes a bit to keep it all under control in the ring, but he’s a lot of fun and always tries to do his best.”

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