Biography

Hartwig Burfeind was born in 1966 and grew up at his parents' stables and yard in Sandbostel. When he was small, not that one can really use the word small to describe him, he always had a lot of contact to horses and started riding at an early age. As a junior rider he went on to take part successfully in both dressage and jumping competitions.

As a young rider he specialised in dressage and celebrated, with his legendary mare 'Waldfee', double victories, not only at National Championship level but also team gold and an individual bronze at European level.

In 1988 Hartwig took over his parents Equestrian Centre and made it into one of the top equine addresses in Germany. Parallel to doing this he worked hard on his career as a dressage rider and added over 300 victories at the highest level to his name, an achievement to be proud of. During the next few years, Hartwig concentrated more on his job as trainer both nationally and internationally. However recently he has started competing again and quickly proved his quality as a rider by winning the German National Championships for Professional Riders.

Hartwig Burfeind runs his well know stables together with his partner Juliane Brunkhorst.



Training

Hartwig Burfeind rides and trains according to the basic principles of classical dressage. It is particularly important to him to train the horses with a lot of care and consideration. "I prefer daily training at a lower gear, riding well is all a question of the right dosage". This is the essence of his training philosophy and enables his horses to have a long and healthy career. There is nothing spectacular about his methods, it is far more the meticulous fineness of the concentrated and accurate training work which makes Hartwig Burfeinds methods special. The fact that it is possible to ride all his horses with a light and fine hand and still achieve convincing, elastic forward movement in the dressage arena, proves his philosophy.



Successes

Hartwig Burfeind rightly belongs to the group of top professional dressage riders in Germany. He proved this by clearly winning the Professional Riders Championship in Hagen in 2009, the first time he has ever taken part in this event. Also the fact that he has won the North German Championship for Professional Riders, three times in a row, endorses this fact. Last year alone he won 14 Grand Prix competitions and collected so many points that he will finish 2nd in the FN ranking list. Where ever he competes either nationally or internationally, whether he is riding a young hopeful or a successful routinier, you'll find his name high up on the list of results.



USA

For many years, Hartwig Burfeind gave monthly trainng courses to a number of dressage riders in Millbrook, New York and Stockton, New Jersey. These courses proved to be a magnet for ambitious dressage fans and were always booked out well in advance. This positive and frequent contact to the States regarding the training and the sale of horses still remains today.