Where are They Now? Whisper

Focus

Where are They Now

By Silke Rottermann

Sometimes I get this feeling, which seemed lost many moons ago, that feeling you get as a child shortly before Christmas Eve. That tingling in the tummy, like bursting with happy anticipation inside. Today is such a revival because I know I will meet an old campaigner, who delighted me and others over many years in the dressage arena: Whisper, that bright chestnut of German national dressage coach Monica Theodorescu. He always seemed to have a smiling face and completely at peace with himself.

It is not the first time I was lucky to meet Whisper since he retired in 2012 because his rider became the German national coach and finished her long and distinguished competition career in the saddle. Admittedly then his stable mate Balagur always took my attention and this is the only sad moment of the morning: When I enter the stable section at the German Olympic Center, where Monica Theodorescu’s horses live now, there is no white head peaking out of his stall.

Balagur’s last rider, Italian Dania Mattaliano, who has been working for Monica for over five years now, can hardly talk about the severity of that loss, when we walk in brilliant sunshine towards the fields behind the big indoor arena.

Dania getting Whisper ready to come in from the
field

Whisper occupies the last field and for a moment I feel ashamed that I expected to see an aged horse. I should have known better. Instead the 22-year-old Württemberger gelding looks fabulous, still well muscled, round and hardly aged in his face. Just a bit dusty compared to his prime time…and indignantly swooshing his tail to whisk away the pestering bugs.

Dania is well prepared to make a happy field horse shiny again, carrying brush, towel and spray all the way to the field.

My temptation to cuddle this cute friendly face that is Whisper’s becomes too strong and he patiently receives my affection while Dania polishes him. He is the last of Monica’s German team horses and not one second would he dare to leave the field through the now open gate or shove us aside to get to the greener grass outside his field.

„Whisper is so friendly and kind, he would never run further away to the next tuft of grass," Dania smiles. "When I bring the horses to the field in the morning, I can lead another horse with Whisper and it is no problem."

Once arrived at the stables, Dania puts Whisper under the solarium to tack him up for Monica who is training another horse outside. There is not the slightest bump or filling detectable in his dry clear legs which carried horse and rider to remarkable success when perhaps the majority of his contemporaries had more natural abilities than the diligent, good natured and hard working Württemberger.

Bred by Welt Hit I out of the mare Widney (by Weltstar x Elfenglanz), Whisper was bought as a foal by Monica’s friend and former team-mate Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff. He was prepared to be licensed as a breeding stallion, but after not being approved the chestnut got castrated and broken in.

When he was 4,5 years of age, Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff decided to send him, along with another Welt Hit I-son, to her friend Monica. Although the other grey, Welt Hit son was expected to stay for further training, instead Monica finally decided she wanted to keep the chestnut after a trial phase. A decision neither she nor Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff probably ever regretted.

Born in 1998, Whisper joined Theodorescu’s stable "Lindenhof" near Warendorf at a time when his rider had to endure a kind of lean period in the sport. Monica was constantly on the Olympic teams from 1988 to 1996. With the retirement of her double Olympic champion Grunox, she was without a top horse at that time.

Not meant to be degrading or respectless, but Whisper was not such a natural high-flyer that it was obvious from the beginning he would be the one bringing his rider back onto the German team. While his walk was very good, his trot was supple, but not breathtaking and he was pretty much still on his forehand at the beginning. But Whisper could not have gone to a better place than Theodorescu’s stable, where classical principles determined the individual training schedule of each horse and the needed time was allowed to each horse to mature.

Three years after his arrival, Whisper, Monica and her late father George gave a memorable demonstration at the 2005 Bundeschampionate in Warendorf as well as at the Global Dressage Forum, demonstrating the fruits of this training approach and partnership and three months later the horse won the renowned Nürnberger Burgpokal final in Frankfurt.

What followed was a long and remarkable international career at Grand Prix level in which the horse twice competed on the medal winning German team at European championships (2007 and 2009). He was also twice nominated as reserve horse for the Olympic Games (2008 and 2012).

Horses & Symphony at 2015 CDIO Aachen
Photo © Digishots

Even after his retirement in 2012 when his rider finished her career in the saddle in favour of the trainer’s job, Whisper rose to the rare occasion. He lead the quadrille of 12 riders in 2013 in celebration of 100 years of German Equestrian Federation and had a glorious solo display during the „Horse and Symphony“ evening at the CHIO in Aachen, where he enthused the audience in the spotlights despite heavy rain.

Now in 2020 Whisper is tacked in a snaffle and struts out of the stable with ears pricked. His relaxed attitude is undeniable. Several horses are out there in the big arena, which is usually the warm-up arena during the Bundeschampionate. It is a hustle bustle, but Whisper keeps his cool. On long reins he walks next to a dressage horse who gets a little help from Monica with the whip to find the rhythm in his piaffe. Nothing unsettles Whisper who now picks up a trot as clear as a bell and is warmed up in a long outline. Each step like the other, no stiffness or problem visible.

Finally he changes lead in canter with an ease that is peculiar to little girls skipping in the street. He floats sideways in a canter half-pass and canters so relaxed and supple over the back into the hand that one could record a training film. Whisper truly seems to enjoy the little gymnastics with the expression in his face so typical for him: At peace with the world and himself. This is such fun to watch and immortalize in photos!

Success is first and foremost measured in medals, wins and high placings, but riding a 22-year-old horse that has done so much in his life, even though carefully trained and managed, yet still looks and apparently feels as well like Whisper does: What bigger achievement can a rider obtain?

Text and Photos by Silke Rottermann