"I've been lucky enough to ride many good horses in my life, but of course Cornet was a very special horse. I had a lot of fun moments with him, although it was sometimes less fun as well... " We talk to Marco Kutscher, who for many years was a partner of one of the world's most influential stallions. Time to find out more about him!
Impressive
" Cornet was already famous at the age of 2.5 .. He then took part in the stallion approval in Westphalia and actually even non-horse people there could already see that he was in a class of his own. The way he could finish his jumps, the ease,... That was just abnormal. Many breeders knew him immediately and even most riders already knew him from his performance there. When he came to our stable at the end of the four year old, Ludger (Beerbaum) wanted to ride him himself. He presented him at the stallion show in Münster-Handorf. Then I took it over," says Marco Kutscher. "He was a big-framed horse, a beautiful type. A real stallion! He was not so easy to ride at first and he had a hard time carrying himself but what was great from the first moment on was the feeling on the jump. That was really a thrill. At home he was really like a lamb, quiet, well-behaved, no stallion quirks at all, but if he wasn't at home, he was a bit unpredictable. Then he was really fresh and wanted to assert himself! "
Our first competition
"I will never forget my first competition with Cornet... We went to a show in Isterberg at the Heckmann family. It was our first competition and it was a qualification for the Bundeschampionat. As a Belgian stallion he could not participate in the Bundeschampionat, but he needed at least an 8.0 to maintain his recognition as a stallion. It was two rounds, a round L and a round M and that round M counted for the result. You see, I remember it well. (laughs) We had already started training in foreign places a few times before that first show, but so many new horses and trucks turned out to be a different story for Cornet... We had already deliberately put Cornet as an only horse on a large truck. That way we had enough space to prepare him upstairs and to tack him up at ease. After unloading, we hung the lunge on him and I said to my groom, "When I have my foot in the stirrup, you have to let go of the lunge." I had already learned that from the previous times that I was training him in new places. Once I got on him, he got so fresh, that it just was easier if he could run free. If you tried to hold him, he just got more annoying, so there was no point. But unfortunately, during this first competition it didn't go so smoothly. I just had my foot in the stirrup and then Cornet reared up, while my groom obediently did what I said: let go. So unfortunately he let him go while he was prancing, so I was not sitting very tight in the saddle. I tried to hold on around his neck as Cornet walked about 10 yards on his back legs. Sheep wire stood at the end of that 10 meter, which neither Cornet nor I had seen. So when he came down he got stuck with his front legs and we went on the ground together. Fortunately, we both weren't injured, but it wasn't long before Cornet decided to get up and run in full gallop across the site before jumping over a 1m50-high fence between the truck parking and a field. Then he galloped away from all the horses, with his tail up, through that heavy field. In the meantime my mobile phone rings: Kai Ligges calls me where I am because I have to go into the ring. All I was able to say is, "Kai, we have a very big problem, because at the moment I see Cornet from behind as he gallops towards the federal road in full gallop." Fortunately, there was another stable along this site where two mares were in the pasture and we could catch Cornet while he was trying to get to the mares in the pasture. In his journey he had of course destroyed most of his tack... The saddle was still on, but the martingale, the bridle,... they were scattered everywhere. After we caught him, we lunged him a bit and I asked to have a starting number a bit later. Once I got on him, I immediately decided to just sit on him for two hours, instead of getting off and on between the two classes. Oh well, there was nothing bad to say about his jumping: he won the walk-in class (L) and he also easily achieved his 8.0 in the second test. "
And further..
"After such a start, I knew what to expect in the future (laughs). I had to be very careful with getting on him for a long time, I can tell you that... We often lunged him before the show, in order to keep it safe. Only when he was about 7 to 8 years old he calmed down. At home he was exemplary. He could sleep in the stable for hours and was really sweet. He could easily distinguish the covering mares and going to competitions. "
Strong character
"From his first year on, there was a lot of interest in Cornet offspring," Marco says. "Still, there were a lot of people who didn't want to use him at the beginning because they found him too difficult. But many of them later had a Cornet in their stable as well. It was somehow understandable. He is a brilliant show jumper, but he has a strong character. However, he also has very easy offspring, but it is something to take into account. I'd be lying if I said he never gave me a headache or sleepless nights! He was not so programmable so to say. It was hard to say in advance what he would be like that day. Before the course it was always a bit of a guess how he would react that day.The older he got the better it got, but even in the end it was never a horse that was 100% programmable. If I compare that with Cash (by Carthago Z) it was a world of difference.With Cash I knew: if the distances are like this, then I have to do like that and then Cash did the rest. He knew his job and did what had to be done. This was not always the case with Cornet. But he was able to solve a lot because he had so much quality. "
The most special memory
"I have been able to travel around the world with Cornet, but for me the European Championship in Madrid was the most special. Gold with the national team, with our Mannschaft. The goal with Cornet has always been to do special championships and win medals. In 2010 we still had to contend with a serious injury that he suffered in Zurich, where we won the World Cup two years later. "
The lowest point
"Hong Kong was undoubtedly the lowest point in our career... I try to think about it as little as possible if I can be honest. It has been in my head for a long time, but at some point I was done with it. " What happened there?
"Cornet was 9 years old and jumped very well that year. Our federation decided to let the horses travel to Hong Kong very early to get used to the climate. Before that we had had regular meetings in Warendorf and finally the horses went to Hong Kong 6 weeks in advance. In hindsight, that was the stupidest thing we did with Cornet, because that also meant that he had been out of active sport for 6 weeks. He was young, not 100% calculable, .. It would have been better for him to compete one or two weeks before the Olympics, so that he was in the rhythm. Anyway, that's no excuse... It was planned that way and we all agreed. Anyway, I think at the time 3 of the 4 German team members (ed. The team then consisted of Ludger Beerbaum, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Christian Ahlmann) were part of the top 10 and we were really a favorite to win gold, but in Hong Kong that was far from the reality ... "
Merely a rider
You might think that as a rider you are afraid that Cornet will end up with another rider or be sold. How did you deal with that? "Gosh, I didn't really have those headaches. Everything about Cornet was well and clearly arranged. It was assured with the owner that I was allowed to continue riding Cornet. As a 13-year-old he said goodbye to the sport and entered his stable in Kiev. There he stands in great luxury and he even was still ridden lightly. All he has to do now is cover and laze around, so I think Cornet certainly agrees there is no better life!
