Brand new chief German team trainer Monica Theodorescu has been interviewed by local German equestrian publication Reiterjournal on her new position as well as her opinion on one of Germany's A-team riders training in The Netherlands.
Rath and Totilas were briefly trained in The Netherlands by Sjef Janssen in the spring of 2012 until the news broke that Janssen had become Rath's official new trainer. The Dutch equestrian federation intervened and ordered Janssen not to train the pair until after the 2012 Olympic Games due to a conflict of interest with his contract as Dutch team trainer.
Rath will return to Erp, The Netherlands with Totilas and several upcoming youngsters in the autumn and the rider has received the blessing of German team coach Theodorescu.
"Every rider can choose his own home trainer. Sjef Janssen is a very successful trainer, one of the most successful in the world. I don't have a problem with him," Theodorescu told Reiterjournal. "I don't think training debates can be reduced to the theme of rollkur. Twenty years ago Rembrandt was also ridden with a deep neck position. Nobody was against it. Any form of aggression and exaggeration in training are wrong. It's no part of dressage training. Sometimes one has to be firm and tell the horse 'you have to do this.' We're dealing with performance sport. However, there are rules about it in our sport. I'm sure that Matthias and Sjef will stick to those rules. He now has this very special horse and I understand that they want to get the best out of it. Maybe Sjef Janssen is the key to succes. I would be happy about it. He has also trained Totilas under Edward Gal and nobody thought something was wrong with that. I assume that everything is horse friendly."
Source: Reiterjournal
Photo © Silke Rottermann
(Eurodressage Editor's note: Edward Gal and Totilas were never trained by Sjef Janssen. Gal trained Totilas on his own and was only assessed by Janssen at two mandatory team training sessions for Windsor and Kentucky)
Related Links
Monica Theodorescu Appointed New German Team Trainer
Matthias Rath and Totilas Withdrawn from 2012 Olympic Contention
Matthias Rath to Train with Sjef Janssen