German Equestrian Federation in Turmoil - Resignations Put Secretary-General Lauterbach Under Pressure

Dressage

Germany

Things are rumbling inside the German Equestrian Federation (FN) and several resignations have put the board on edge. It all started when secretary-general Sönke Lauterbach announced his separation from his wife Nina and his current involvement with FN lawyer Constanze Winter.

This announcement prompted Martin Richenhagen to resign immediately as as spokesperson on the board of Trustees of the German Top Horse Sport Foundation. Richenhagen emailed his decision on 5 November 2023 to most important members involved, as well as a select group of journalists.

German Top Horse Sport Foundation

The German Top Horse Sport Foundation (Stiftung Deutscher Pferdesport) was founded in 2013 to maintain and develop Germany's status as a horse sport nation.

The Board consists of Jochen Kienbaum (Chair), Tanja Traupe (Deputy Chair), Prof. Dr. Dietrich Baumgart, Hans-Joachim Erbel, Peter Hofmann, and Gerhard Ziegler. The Board of Trustees consists of Prof. Martin H. Richenhagen (spokesperson), Graciela Bruch, Ullrich Kasselmann, Michael May, Gerhard Müter, Astrid Schulte, and Rainer Schwiebert.

Richenhagen's Position

Richenhagen wrote in his email of 5 November that, "in any normal company this would result in a resignation."

He further added that "the FN's large financial loss also points to Mr. Lauterbach's dramatic performance problems. Due to fundamental, substantial differences of opinion in the areas of compliance and corporate governance, I hereby terminate my membership in the German Equestrian Sports Foundation with immediate effect and hereby resign from my position as spokesman for the board of trustees."

Richenhagen is a former international 4* dressage judge, former German dressage team chef d'equipe, the publisher of equestrian magazine Reiter Revue, and the retired ceo of the multinational AGCO/Fendt. In an interview with St. Georg, Richenhagen further disclosed that he "included the foundation in his will, but will change that paragraph.

Fendt has been the title sponsor of the German Equestrian Federation for 13 years. In September Fendt announced it will stop its sponsorship as of 2024. On 3 November FN found a new titlesponsor in insurance company Agria.

Governance

Following the announcement of Lauterbach's personal relationship with Winter, the board of the German FN met and made a change.

On 10 November 2023 the FN announced: "The FN's code of conduct contains a passage that explicitly regulates situations like this. Transparency is required here and demands that officials and employees of the FN and DOKR must not allow their decisions to be guided by personal interests. In order to consistently exclude any potential risk, the Board decided (..) to remove the legal department from under the direct assignment of the secretary-general and to place it in the area of the Managing Director for Human Resources and Finance."

FN President Hans-Joachim Erbel comented, “I am convinced that we have found an appropriate solution with today’s decision. We have created the organizational conditions to continue our successful and trusting cooperation. Sönke Lauterbach behaved in accordance with the governance rules. He acted transparently and initiated the necessary steps without being asked. Together with the Presidential Committee, we then initiated the organizational measures to minimize future governance risks. The Executive Board confirmed the change. We express our complete confidence in General Secretary Soenke Lauterbach and the FN’s legal counsel.”

Not Everyone Agrees

Julia Becker has withdrawn from her position on the board due to a different opinion on the new structure.

Becker has been a member of the board since 2021 succeeding Madeleine Winter-Schulze,

Julia Becker is the chairwoman of the supervisory board of the Funke Medien Group since January 2018 and is also a shareholder in the company. She is married to the show jumper and German team trainer Otto Becker.