Education

Volker was born in Northern Germany, where his interest in the horse world started at the local riding club. He went on to apprentice in the German Equestrian Federation training program, training under the tutelage of his Mentor Walter Christensen (former coach of the Swedish dressage team). After his apprenticeship Volker stayed there as a Bereiter and Christensen consequently opened the doors for him to come to the US. Volker became a licensed Bereiter, F.N. in 1980, and a Pferdewirtschaftsmeister (this license is best known in the U.S. as Reitlehrer, F.N.) in 1988. Volker started working with Klaus Balkenhol (former coach of the German and the U.S. Dressage Team, and an Olympic medalist himself) in 1994. Consequently, Volker became Klaus’s translator at many U.S. Team clinics for over 10 years, which gave Volker a lot of insight into the training of advanced dressage horses and riders.

Volker is a USDF Medalist and also an FEI certified instructor through the USDF instructors program and has trained numerous horses and horse/ rider combinations to various USDF Medals. He trains and competes through the FEI level, as well as coaching other upper-level riders. Volker has written numerous articles on dressage techniques for magazines including Practical Horseman and DressageTODAY, and he continues to contribute articles. Volker has been the guest speaker for many dressage organizations in different parts of the U.S., and he always welcomes the opportunity to talk and educate about our sport of dressage.

Volker’s goal in training is to systematically build a horse and rider combination that understands one another and can communicate, without changing their natural personality. In short, he likes to preserve and enhance the natural abilities of the horse and rider for their unified success whether the goal is achievement in competition or riding for pure enjoyment.