Canadian 2022 WEG Team Rider Ryan Torkkeli Moves to Meggle

Dressage

Canada

Ryan Torkkeli, a Canadian 2022 World Championship team rider, has left his employer of six years, Ingetraud Bolz for a riding position at Meggle stable.

In February 2019 Torkkeli and his husband, American Grand Prix rider Thomas Walker, relocated from the U.S.A. back to Germany after receiving an offer from Bolz they couldn't refuse. At her yard near Cologne, Germany, they were allocated a set of her horses as well as able to develop their own business and horses. They both trained under the supervision of Dieter Laugks.

Torkkeli had his big international break through in 2021 on Laugks and Bolz' Rhinelander gelding Sternenwanderer (by Lord Loxley I x Ragazzo) and ended up representing Canada at the 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark. In 2024 he made a run for a Canadian Olympic team spot, but the 18-year old "Sterni" could not match the scores of his younger team candidates.

At the end of August Torkkeli and Walker have left Cologne for the south of Germany for the next chapter in their professional life.

Thomas and Ingretraud Bolz at home in Cologne

"It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to leave Ingetraud Bolz‘s stable after so many amazing years," Ryan told Eurodressage, "but Thomas and I are looking forward to the future at the Meggle stables. I was there for several years so it’s also like coming back home for me. We are very grateful for the opportunities that Ingetraud provided us with and the excellent collaboration for the past six years."

Torkkeli had worked as an assistant rider at Meggle's from 2006 till 2010 before moving to the U.S.A. with husband Thomas. His return to Meggle has been in full agreement with Bolz and the left on the best terms.

"Ingetraud is absolutely amazing and we will stay in close contact," he said.

The vacant rider spot at Bolz has been filled in by Dominique Bunse.