Young Sam was the last horse to enter the sale ring, and most of the people at the auction had already left because nobody was really interested in him. Ultimately a young woman by the name of Sabine Kreuter purchased him for the
Michael and Sam in their early years together.
reserve price of roughly $10,000. His breeder, who still believed in
Sam, recommended Michael Jung as a trainer for her new young prospect. This was the moment when the tables turned for Sam. Not only was the young horse quite ugly by the breed
commission’s standards, his new owner and his new trainer quickly learned that he was also unruly and naughty. But Michael realized that Sam was simply a late bloomer, and worked to carefully develop the young horse, by now a gelding. He was able to qualify Sam as a five-year-old for the German National Young Horse Championship (Bundeschamp- ionat). Originally entered under the name Sam the Schwäbisch Man (Schwaben is a local region in Michael’s native Baden-Württemberg), he placed fifth in the cross country division. This was respectable, but still a long way from international fame. Michael remembers that the biggest difficulty he had with
Sam in the beginning was in the dressage. “The horse was tense and spooky,” Michael says, “and had problems with his concentration in the arena. This became worse when Sam figured out that the dressage was only the prelude to the cross country course, which caused his adrenaline to skyrocket as soon as he arrived at the show grounds.” Michael figured out that it helped a lot if Sam tagged along with other horses to some shows where he was not competing. This gave Michael and Sam the opportunity to just play around at the show grounds. Once Sam realized that not every show meant action, he started to calm down. As an accomplished dressage rider, Michael always takes
the flat work very seriously. “I trained Sam—as I do all of my horses—in accordance with the classical training scale. My most important goal is to have the horses subtly and correctly on the aids, so that I have the best possible control even in difficult situations,” he explains.
International Fame When Sam arrived in Kentucky in 2010 to compete at the Alltech World Equestrian Games, he had been renamed to La Biosthetique Sam FBW, and he had matured into an impressive eventing horse. He and Michael took the lead from the beginning with their dressage score of 33.0, and won the individual gold in spectacular fashion with no faults in both cross country and show jumping.
32 November/December 2012
However, this victory at the WEG nearly destroyed the
partnership between horse and rider. Suddenly everyone wanted Sam, and almost obscene amounts of money were offered for him. What a change from the auction eight years prior! Although Michael and his parents had already bought a percentage of the horse, they were not able to come up with the money needed to secure the ride on Sam for Michael. At this point the German Olympic Equestrian Committee
sprang into action, and together with another sponsor, Erich Single, they managed to return Sam into the Jung barn in Horb near Stuttgart. They would not regret it: he went on to take the 2011 European Championship, winning once again on his dressage score of 33.30. The following year at the Olympics Games in London, initially things didn’t look so promising. Very atypical for the pair, they were in eleventh place after the dressage with a 40.60. The chances for earning a medal appeared slim. But when Michael analyzed his competitors’ scores, he realized that all of the dressage scores were very close together, offering them the opportunity they needed. With renewed determination, he and Sam flew through the cross-country course and topped everything with a clear go at the first round of stadium jumping. This result was essential for the Germans, since it confirmed the team’s gold medal, but the competition was not yet over for Sam and Michael. Another round of stadium jumping would determine the individual medals. The pair’s second clear round secured them the silver medal. In the end it was the bad luck of Swedish rider Sara Algotsson-Ostholt, who knocked down her last rail, that turned Michael and Sam’s silver into yet another gold.
Sam’s Breeding Sam is a Baden-Württemberg horse with interesting bloodlines. His sire Stan the Man xx was an Irish Thorough- bred that was purchased by the Principle and State Stud Marbach in 1993. Before Sam, Stan the Man had already sired another international eventing horse by the name of Scampolo who competed on the Russian team. Interestingly, Scampolo’s dam was the mother of Sam’s dam, owned by Günter Seitter who is also Sam’s breeder. Other successful offspring from the statuesque chestnut are Dirk Schrade’s mount Sindy out of a Tassilo mare, and Leslie Law’s 2004 Olympic gold medal horse Shear L’Eau.
Above: A painting and historic studbook entry of Stan the Man xx at the State Stud in Marbach.
Photo courtesy of the Principle and State Stud Marbach
Günter Seitter
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