Harry Boldt celebrates his 80th birthday with judges and riders in WA
Harry Boldt's 80th birthday party |
On 23 February world renowned Dressage trainer Harry Boldt celebrated his 80th birthday.
The West Australian Dressage Judges Taskforce held a party for Harry on the Friday night, and 40 of Western Australia’s Dressage judges shared in the fun and celebrations with Harry at Swan Valley Equestrian Centre. West Australian judges and riders have always felt very honoured that Harry chose to live in Perth, Harry has always been generous with his knowledge, and Dressage riders and judges in WA have benefited immensely from his contribution to our sport over many years. Harry is fit and well, and full of energy, he regularly trains top Eventers in WA, as well as many of the most successful FEI Dressage riders in the state.
Harry has devoted a lifetime to working with horses, and because of his passion for horses and his unique talent for understanding horses, each new turn in his life has been filled with success. He has become one of the most successful dressage riders and trainers the world has ever seen. People recognised very early that Harry Boldt had an innate gift for riding. Heinrich Boldt, his father, was a highly respected rider and trainer, he supervised the famous competition stable "Verein für Reitsport" in Essen, so Harry’s life was always intertwined with horses. Harry's father was his first instructor, and he moulded Harry into a promising rider.
Initially Harry was a successful showjumper to S Level – Schwer (Advanced), later Harry's focus shifted to Dressage. Legendary German Trainer Käthe Franke developed Harry’s talent, and he began participating in international dressage derbies.
Harry’s career started as a rider, competing amongst the very best, including other world reknowned German riders like Reine Kilmke, Herbert Rehbein and Joseph Neckermann, who were all part of the elite circle of German Dressage which Harry joined.
At the beginning of the 1960’s Boldt made his international break through, and in the 1960s & ‘70s, riding Remus, Golo and Woyczek he won -
· The German National Grand Prix champion title three times
· As well as 7 individual medals at European and World Championships and
· 8 team medals at European and World Championships.
His crowning achievement was at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 where Harry won a Team Gold and Individual Silver Medal on Remus, the Westphalian-bred horse.
At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, he rode Woycek in Bromont to again win Team Gold and Individual Silver Medals, for West Germany.
By 1980, there was nothing left for Harry to prove as a rider, and he exchanged his competition career for a position as Team Coach of the German Dressage Team. He was based at DOKR in Warendorf, the magnificent Olympic German equestrian training centre in northern Germany, a mecca for ‘Dressage tragics’. Because of his incredible record of success with German Dressage Teams in this role, he held this highly prestigious position as Trainer for 15 years - from 1981 to 1996.
Under his guidance, the German team gathered a total of 50 medals at Olympic, European and World Championships. 31 of them were gold!
No other sport trainer in Germany has matched this achievement, and in recognition, Harry was awarded the German Riders' Gold Medal of Honour (Deutsche Reiterkreuz or Rider’s Cross in Gold).
In 1996, he moved to friendly, sunny Perth, continuing to travel overseas to fulfil many coaching commitments around the world, something he continues to do today.
Harry’s career started by mixing it with those who love to jump fences, and he has now come full circle. With the advent of the new short format for 4-Star Eventing, Dressage has become much more influential in eventing, and the pessimists predicted this would significantly impact on Australia’s success as an international eventing force.
However, what the pessimists forgot was, Australia had a secret weapon – Harry Boldt! Harry has made a huge contribution as the official Dressage trainer of the Australian Olympic and World Championship Eventing Teams, who have continued to win medals consistently. This year , Harry is again working with Wayne Roycroft (Australia's Head Coach of Eventing), preparing the Australian team for the World Championships to be held in Kentucky later this year.
We all feel confident that, with the benefit of Harry’s wonderful training over the year, we will see more Aussie eventers win medals at Kentucky!!
