Daniel Deusser has taken the Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT) by storm this season.
The 37-year-old German won the Hamburg Grand Prix to book his place in the year-ending Prague Playoffs and is riding high in the standings.
But what are the secrets of his success?
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Building a rapport
Deusser has ridden Calisto Blue for much of the season and his success depends very much on that relationship.
Like many other riders, the German says building a rapport with your horse takes years to perfect.
“It’s a very long term project. It never ends. The animals always learn and we can learn from them,” he told CNN Sport’s EQ equestrian show, saying his main challenge is trying to slow his ride down.
“He is very motivated, he knows what to do in the ring but sometimes wants to do it faster than I want to do it.”
READ: Global Champions 2019 — Schedule and results
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Always learning
Once you have that relationship in place, managing and maintaining it becomes even more crucial, he says.
To do so, Deusser allows his horses to break away from competing and takes them to environments different to the show ring.
Such diversity allows both horse and rider to continually develop.
“A great rider is one who always wants to learn, who never sits still, who never thinks that he is finished with his career, one who always tries to get better,” he said.
Watch the video at the top to see Daniel Deusser reveal the secrets of his success.
