To fulfil her dressage dream, Polish Beata Stremler traveled far. In 2003 the young Polish rider decided to learn from the best and move to Germany. Polish O-judge Wojtek Markowski recommended her to meet up with Belgian born German Jan Bemelmans
, who was at the time based at Gestut Wiesenhof in Krefeld, Germany. Without speaking a word German, Beate left Warsaw behind her and ventured west.
As a junior rider Stremler had competed at the 2000 and 2002 European Junior Riders Championships with Idealist. In 2004 she was a young rider and showed the same horse at the European YR Championships in Vilhelmsborg (DEN) with one year of German training experience in her pocket.
After three years with Bemelmans, Stremler moved to a different Rhinelander based dressage center: Jan Nivelle's stable. It was a match made in heaven because with Nivelle young Beate made giant leaps forwards and joined this Belgian born German as well when he moved from the Pannenbeckerhof in Kaarst to a new facility in Duisburg in 2010. Guided by Nivelle, Stremler produced her first self-trained Grand Prix horse: Martini.
"Martini is a 10-year old Polish warmblood by Deryl x Madryt. I've owned him since he was three and Jan has helped me to go all the way with him," Stremler explained. "Where this road will lead is, is far from clear to me."
At the beginning of 2011 the 26-year old Stremler switched trainers for the third time and moved to Ton de Ridder's barn to help her break through at international Grand Prix level. "Ton de Ridder took us by the hand to focus on the competition aspect," Stremler stated. "Already last year Martini did the Grand Prix and won an Intermediaire II class, but for the sport that final impulse was still missing and then through Ton de Ridder we discovered that it would also be possible at the highest level." Stremler still has her horses based in Duisburg and remains closely connected to Nivelle on a friendship level.
End March 2011, Beate traveled to South France to attend the Riviera tour in Vidauban, where she could train freely and compete while the rest of Europe was still covered by frost. In two weekends time, Stremler and Martini achieved the qualification scores for the 2011 European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam. Four weeks later in Achleiten (AUT), they were third in the Grand Prix and fourth in the Kur. It was certain then that Beate Stremler became the third Polish team rider next to Michal Rapcewicz and Katarzyna Milczarek.
"It's was Ton's plan to do it like that," the Polish rider admitted. Her bright future competing at her first European Championships does not bring her off balance. "We'll go to Rotterdam as third team member and hope to leave a good impression there. I just want to produce good work there."
Her "good work" became more obvious at the 2011 CDIO Aachen, to which Stremler got invited to compete in the CDI tour. Competing against the world's elite, she finished 12th in the Grand Prix (66.383%) and 6th in the Special (68.104%). It was Beata's first Special ride ever.
"I was supposed to ride the CDI freestyle and it was the plan to focus on the Special in the weeks between Aachen and Rotterdam," she explained. "Then after the Grand Prix Ton decided that I'd do the Special instead. What a decision it was. That was the ride of my life. I'm so grateful that I can be here, Aachen is just unbelievable," said an overwhelmed Stremler.
Also several of Stremler's clients are extremely happy about the good job she does with their horses. For three years she has been riding the now 8-year old Rhinelander Rubicon D (by Rubin Royal x Larome) with whom she was second in the Intermediaire I at the CDI Vidauban and won both small tour tests at the CDI Achleiten. "He's a sweet horse, very sensitive and willing to learn, and photogenic all the time," she said.
Stremler is extremely level-headed and knows the cracking of the whip. "It is nice to see that years of work now pay off. I have infected my parents with the horse virus, but they will not buy me a ready-made horse. That's not my wish. The best investment is what you achieve yourself. Otherwise you get too dependent on money and not on your own abilities. Of course it's fun when you find people like Rubincon's owner (the Loose family) who offer me a horse to ride and help me along the way without adding pressure. Rubicon did his first A and L-test as a six-year old, M-dressage horse tests as a 7-year old and then he has his first S-level victories. Now he wins internationally."
Stremler has her focus fixed on the future. "At the end of the year I'm going to get my trainer's licensed in Poland. I do feel at home here in Germany and will stay here in any case."
Text and Photos © Barbara Schnell - No Reproduction allowed
First published in Rheinlands Reiter + Pferd. Reproduced and adapted by Eurodressage
Related Links
Scores: 2011 CDIO Aachen - 2011 CDI Achleiten - 2011 CDI Vidauban
La Lopez and Del Primo In the Lead at 2011 Langenfeld Bundeschampionate Qualifier
Damon's Divine, Rigoletto and Schickeria Ace 2011 Borken Bundeschampionate Qualifier
