He lives life at full speed: Speed limits are nothing for Richard Vogel. Not on the road, and certainly not in the course. With plenty of horsepower and supersonic speed, the 26-year-old has rocketed up the FEI rankings. Just recently, the current number twelve in the world rankings, riding United Touch S, sensationally won the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva. Even colleagues are amazed and pay the greatest respect to the king of the show, as on this weekend European champion Steve Guerdat.
I meet Richard Vogel for an interview, and from the planned 15 minutes, it ends up being a more than two-hour intensive conversation about his impressive career, the early end of his childhood, his philosophy in horse training, his not entirely safe favorite hobby, and his risk-taking attitude. And Richard Vogel reveals why for him self-responsibility is important and that he is now involved in the board of the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC).
Richard Vogel stands firmly on the ground with both feet. Despite his recent major successes, the Baden-Württemberg native does not let up. „Always stay on the ground,“ is his motto. Even though he is still young, he has learned one thing: Resting on success, taking everything lightly, does not work in the world of ski jumping.
„That is the advantage of our sport, and sometimes the disadvantage: you always quickly get back to the facts. After the Nations Cup victory in Barcelona, a weekend that I will never forget and that was an incredibly great experience, we flew to Mexico. There I rode Cepano Baloubet in the first jump and another horse that was only nine years old. It went, in quotes, only over 1.45m. I may have taken that a bit too lightly and got one immediately stained. Then the first jump went straight into the pants. But that’s also good, then you’re immediately woken up a little and back on the ground, and you know that the Nations Cup final was great, but that’s over and it won’t bring you anything anymore for the next few weeks. Every tournament starts from scratch and you have to keep giving your best again and again.“
Of course, he enjoys the current success: „But the rise only came with a lot of hard work, and maintaining this level will only be achieved with a lot of hard work.“ Vogel is realistic; he knows that every wave eventually breaks, and that one learns not from successes but rather from defeats.
At the moment, success is dominating. Just at the beginning of the year, Vogel finished the World Cup final with United Touch S at Omaha in eighth place as the best German rider. Soon after, he won the Rolex Grand Prix in Wellington with Cepano Baloubet. He followed up with victories in Hohen Wieschendorf, national team appearances in Rome and Calgary, successes in Aachen including a place with United Touch S in the Grand Prix and the icing on the cake with the national team victory in Barcelona as well as the victory in the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva. „It was a really great year for me. It was certainly good that I had a successful season in Wellington at the beginning of the year and that Cepano from the Tracy family was secured for me there. Knowing that independently of any success, you have a nine-year-old young horse that is secured and you can plan for the future is great for me. It’s not something that comes naturally,“ knows Richard Vogel.
He and his business partner David Will finance themselves primarily through their company VW Equestrian with horse trading. „This is our business; that’s how we make a living; that’s important to us. But in order to be able to continue this sport in the long term, it’s also important to have people like the Tracy family behind us. Or also Julius Peter Sinnack, who has already received quite tempting offers from United; fortunately, he remains very calm and is going the long way with us, and wants to keep United as well. Only then can such goals be realized. You can’t thank the people enough for that.“
The next big goal is the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
„Of course, it is also my absolute dream to ride at the Olympic Games. It is of course still a long way to go. First of all, to be in the Olympic team is something I am very proud of. The path to get there involves a lot of hard work and dedication. Now it is up to me to develop a good plan so that the horses are in good shape at the right time,“ summarizes Richard Vogel.
In order for that to work, for the horses to retain the fun of the sport for a long time, one has to be able to listen to them, Vogel finds. Maybe it would be nice to ride smaller jumps again: „Cepano and United Touch are totally different. Cepano always has to stay in a bit of tournament mode. He does have a longer break now, but he’s generally a horse that stays in motion for the rest of the year after one or two longer breaks. Once he has relaxed a bit, it takes him a little longer to get back in shape. He needs an incredible amount of confidence and support for his self-confidence. United naturally has much more of that. United can handle that quite well when he doesn’t have a tournament for five to six weeks; he doesn’t mind that. I don’t ride United that much at tournaments. He has no problem with high jumps; he never fails on the money side. We have to work hard at home and do good gymnastics, then it will work out at the tournament as well. If we don’t do our homework well, if the riding isn’t at the same level, then sometimes there are problems at tournaments.“
The great development of the great dark-brown Untouched son has also surprised Vogel. When he was asked at a tournament in Lier whether he would ride the stallion, Vogel first looked at the results list. A second place at the Bundeschampionate and a start in Aachen did indeed give hope for more, but the imposing Westfalen with the big gallop often also came out of the course with time errors. „Too much gallop, too much power,“ was the opinion of some colleagues. Vogel recalled the words of Hugo Simon. „He said there is no such thing as too much gallop or too much power,“ laughs Vogel today. And the Austrian apparently was right.
Richard Vogel inherited his horse genes from his mother. „She was a horsewoman; she went horseback riding with us children. My grandfather also bred horses,“ recalls Vogel, who was born near Ulm. When Richi was just twelve years old, his mother died. His childhood came to an abrupt end. To relieve the burden on his father with his carpentry business, he had to grow up quickly and take on responsibility for his sister and his two younger brothers. This has shaped him.
Today, Richard Vogel is someone who likes to question everything, who sometimes goes against the flow, and who likes to take matters into his own hands. „For example, I never had a real coach. “I like to make my own decisions and plan my own things,„ he says. Of course, he completed a good apprenticeship as a groom under Bernd Herbert; he learned a lot during his time as a groom at Ludger Beerbaum’s stable. “When I started out on my own, many people considered me crazy, including my friends,„ recalls Vogel. Fortunately, the concern was unfounded. Vogel trusts his instincts and often has the right idea. He is passionate about the sport; he looks right and left, loves observing people: “If the trainer gives you a plan for the course and it doesn’t work in the end, you don’t know whether it was the trainer’s plan or whether you were riding poorly.” Of course, he also discusses things with colleagues and then does things his own way. „If 39 riders say they’re doing seven galloping jumps, and then you come along as a rookie and say I’m doing six, that can sometimes come across as arrogant,“ laughs Vogel. Not so if the plan works, as in the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva. Then everyone will find it brilliant.
„I’m a total risk-taker, but not when it comes to money,“ reveals the frugal Swabian, who is against waste. This is also evident in his favorite hobby. „I have already ridden 15 horses this year.”. That might be unreasonable, but I have a great deal of fun with it; I love it, and if you approach the matter with patience and feeling, it’s not even that dangerous,“ Vogel says. Even though he fervently refuses to do it right away, he wouldn’t hesitate to give the young horses away if necessary to minimize the risk to himself. But then he wouldn’t know if the horses are trained in his own interest. „Nothing bad should happen. The horses must have confidence,“ Vogel explains. Every year, he and David Will buy around 15 foals, so there are plenty of new offspring in their stables in Dagobertshausen and Pfungstadt. „When buying the foals, I look at the maternal lines, see how many successful horses have already come from those lines,“ he explains his passion.
His role at the International Jumping Riders Club is entirely new. In the equestrian association, Vogel is new to the board, succeeding Ludger Beerbaum. „I think it’s important that riders get involved and fight for our interests and concerns,“ says Vogel, who describes himself as a „team player.“ Only then would the team around him, David Will and Sophie Hinners, work well. „The team concept is extremely important to us. We’re about to add a very, very good rider to the team.”. You are stronger as a team than when you are going solo.“
16 employees are part of the Will and Vogel team. They are assembling a large wheel. That brings with it a lot of responsibility.
And what does he wish for in 2024?
„I’m actually not someone who wishes for much in life. Because I learned early on that if I want something, it’s usually also attainable. But I also have to do something about it myself. If I have a wish now, then I would argue that there is usually also a solution or a way to achieve its fulfillment. I am not someone who is now expressing any wishes and expecting other people to fulfill them.“
And what about Christmas wishes?
Richard Vogel smiles: „I am a bad wisher and an even worse giver, to the detriment of Sophie.”. We can’t complain. We have everything we need; we’re healthy. It could have been worse for us. Therefore, at the moment, we have few wishes left.“
Richard Vogel is on a roll. In everything he does. He’s also quick with his Mercedes. He even got his driver’s license for that reason. „Hopefully it was the last time, but I wouldn’t put my hand in the fire for that,“ laughs Richi Vogel. Slowly, he has no option left.
Text and interview: Corinna Philipps