Swiss Western Riding Championships | July 23, 2023
The Swiss Western Riding Championships are taking place this weekend in Roggwil. Participating for the second time: Tatjana Dul with her Quarter Horse “Gunners Blue Hope”. We accompanied them to the final.
Tatjana Dul and Jasper in the Elite Western Ranch Trail competition. Photos: Alina Dubach
White clouds with a hint of gray decorate the blue sky over Roggwil BE. The sun brings just the right temperature. The spectators wear everything: long-sleeved, short-sleeved, cropped, short and long trousers. In this weather you like to sit on the horse. A perfect day for the Swiss Western Riding Championships. And that happened this weekend.
Western riding is a niche sport in Switzerland, and the passion of everyone involved can be clearly felt. The music trickling from the speakers is completely unexpected. Film music from «Star Wars» and – with a little uncertainty because it was a long time ago – «Manitou’s Shoe». The latter attracts a small grin on the face. Avril Lavigne’s «Skaterboy» should at least make the millennials present happy.
For newcomers to the field of equestrian sport: the Swiss Western Riding Championships have been held since 1986. In contrast to the English riding style, western riding has its origins in the work of the cowboys in America’s Wild West. You can see that at first glance, because on these two days there are many riders in Roggwil wearing jeans and chaps. The leather overalls scream “Cowboy” and “Cowgirl”. The tops also exude an extravagant flair, fringes, sequins and of course cowboy hats as far as the eye can see. It is correspondingly difficult at first to track down Tatjana Dul.
Tatjana has been riding for 14 years
“White shirt and light chinks,” she describes herself via Whatsapp. I find her horse before I find Tatjana. With the starting number 60, “Jasper” is also easy to identify. Tatjana is not sitting on him in the announced outfit to warm up, but her niece. Luana, who for the layman also acts very professionally on horseback. Tatjana herself appears shortly afterwards. Long brown hair braided in a ponytail. Chaps (or as she calls them: chinks), hat, cowgirl boots – the external symbols of western riding are also found on her.
Tatjana Dul and Jasper relax during the lunch break. He would have liked to have eaten from her plate.
Tatjana has been riding for 14 years. She started because of a knee injury. Although Tatjana was preparing for the entrance exam in Magglingen, she had to turn her back on the sport. After two years it was clear that school horses and participation in riding were not enough. So the native of Thun, who now lives in Allmendingen near Bern, bought her own horse. Jasper was three months old at the time.
«Jasper» is simply the best
Tatjana uses all the advantages of the early start together and was even allowed to choose the breeding name herself: Gunners Blue Hope. Gunner after the father and Blue Hope as the most valuable diamond in the world. With the beautiful blue eyes of the gelding, one can only agree. Nevertheless, the call name is then Jasper. Adopted from his breeder, who wrote the name with «Ch». In order to prevent the Bernese from making “Chäschpu” out of nowhere, Tatjana decided to spell it with a “J”.
Tatjana Dul and Gunners Blue Hope «Jasper» have been a team since 2011.
“Everyone always laughs at him because he’s not the fastest,” Tatjana explains the little peculiarities of her four-legged teammate. “He’s more of an introvert and not the easiest person because he gets stressed easily. But we fit together extremely well. I have a lot of energy, so we complement each other very well. For me he is simply the best.”
Things weren’t always as good for Jasper as they are today. Tatjana couldn’t ride him for three years, he had stomach problems and no one could figure out what was going on. “In the end it was probably herd stress,” Tatjana suspects, since they moved, he’s doing great again. “Two years ago, I would never have dreamed that we would start here today.”
When you think of athletes who take part in a Swiss championship, you imagine that they spend an incredible number of hours training somewhere. Tatjana surprised after this question with an embarrassed laugh. She reports only going to a gym with Jasper about once or twice a week to work out. She also meets her trainer every two weeks. “All the ranch disciplines can be excellently trained outside. That’s why we ride out a lot. We then practice with logs and anything we can find.” The method definitely seems to work.
An annoying mistake…
Tatjana and «Jaspi» start their second Swiss championship in three categories. Elite western ranch rail, ranch trail and ranch riding. “We really screwed up ranch riding yesterday,” Tatjana takes it sporty and can already half laugh about it. It was her own fault anyway. You miscounted the spin. She and Jasper have turned on themselves three times instead of twice. An annoying mistake afterwards, but which is quickly forgotten by the next day. Things are going really well for the two of them at the Ranch Rail.
The two take first place in the Elite Western Ranch Rail.
“I didn’t really expect such a good placement,” admits Tatjana. Her “opponents” were incredibly strong. The joy was all the greater. And Tatjana started early. Because in the announcement of the ranking, every placement is called. All twelve. With every new name, the tension increases. It is visibly difficult for the last five to remain seated on the horse. Tatjana is already cheering and praising Jasper as they finish in the top five. Among the top four. The three best placed shake hands and wait together for the third place to be announced. When there were only two of them in front of the judges, the good news came: Second place was Bettina Galle with “Pistolero Bo Sun”. That makes Tatjana and Jasper Swiss champions in the “Elite Western Ranch Rail”.
Joy reigns after receiving the gold medal.
“Roping” is part of the Western Ranch Trail exam.
2023-07-23 10:06:52
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