Bronco NRW – My Mom Played Badminton

Bronco NRW and Arne Bergendahl—this is a story about a special family bond, a unique friendship, and the Wesel District Environmental Agency. It’s also about energy, a world-class horse that sometimes joins in on “club hour,” and Road2LA.

If he were a person, Bronco NRW—who is supported by the Road2LA initiative —would probably have been a bit shy in kindergarten when it came to talking about his parents’ jobs. It is kind of embarrassing, after all, when your own mother has completed the world’s toughest eventing competition. But Bronco NRW, born in 2016 to Heinrich Bergendahl, is long past the phase where parents are embarrassing. Now he’s following in his mother’s footsteps. She is the gray mare Luthien by La Calido. Before she made her big break in competition, she was bred once and foaled a colt by Blockbuster in 2016: Bronco NRW.

Bronco NRW: Following in the Footsteps of Mother Luthien

Luthien NRW introduced Arne Bergendahl, born in 1991 and the grandson of Heinrich Bergendahl, to the heights of the sport that many can only dream of: the five-star level. The gray mare, “Lucy”—known for the fact that dressage is definitely not her discipline, but who seeks out anything she can jump over—has completed five-star competitions at three different venues. She placed 13th in Pau, 14th in Luhmühlen, and 35th in Badminton, the world’s most difficult competition.

Her show jumping record is incredible: in the 38 international competitions she has completed, the mare has not knocked down a single (!) rail. She has only recorded obstacle faults in three cross-country rounds. Two were at the three-star level, plus one missed jump and one broken pin at Badminton in 2026. In short, she is a mare cut from the same cloth as the top eventing horses. We’ll also discuss the genetic influence of Bronco’s grandmother later on (see below).

Family Stories—Two-Legged and Four-Legged

The Bergendahl family has always lived by the principle borrowed from Goethe: “Why wander far away? Look—the good is so close at hand.” Grandpa breeds the horses that his son and grandson ride. It’s actually quite simple. Arne Bergendahl knows the advantages: “I’m used to riding my own horses—ones I’ve raised myself—and knowing them from the time they were foals. And by now, I usually know their parents, too—the mother, the aunt, and even the great-uncle. But to have two horses at once that are so closely related and perform at this level—that’s really something special.”

Like mother, like son

Anyone who has ever seen Luthien flying at full speed over an off-road course will no longer claim that public administration is populated solely by people for whom the phrase “willingness to take risks” would ruin their peaceful office life. Because Arne Bergendahl is a true amateur. A graduate in industrial engineering with a focus on environmental technology, he works 35 hours a week at the Wesel District Environmental Office. There, he is responsible for emissions control and the permitting of wind turbines.

It’s all about energy

Wind—wind energy—is a good analogy for “Lucy’s” behavior on the trail. You can channel wind into specific paths, and then you can put that energy to good use. Perhaps the expertise Arne Bergendahl gains from his daily work comes in handy when he’s in the saddle. Because when it comes to energy, Luthien and her son are extremely similar. “They both just have this extreme desire to jump,” says Arne Bergendahl. Except that Bronco isn’t quite as wild as his mother—he’s “easier to control.”

Bronco—you can slow him down. But if he somehow gets close to a jump, he’ll take off no matter what’s in his way.

In mother-child gymnastics, the two of them would be way ahead—or so it seems—when Arne talks about Bronco with a twinkle in his eye. “They’re actually very similar. He’s naturally a bit easier to ride, a bit more agreeable. On the other hand, though, he’s also very cautious when jumping. I don’t think you see that combination very often, and it was somehow exactly the same with both of them.”

Broncos Career: Step by Step

Anyone who thinks the world was just waiting for Bronco is mistaken. The gray horse was trained consistently. He competed in many show jumping competitions time and again—and still does today. In 2022, he qualified for the National Championships. There, he completed one round and received a 7.6 as the first starter. In 2023, now seven years old, he finished 13th at the World Championships for Young Eventing Horses in Lion d’Angers. That was his first long course at the three-star level. Incidentally, Kiarado d’Arville, who placed fourth at the 2026 CCI4*-S in Luhmühlen, was the World Championship runner-up at that time under Lara de Liederkerke-Meier (BEL).

In 2024, they competed in their first CCI4*-S events, and in 2025, the pair made their debut in a CCI4*-L competition. In Boekelo, the Netherlands, they finished fifth in the Nations Cup as the top German pair.

Strength lies in calmness

In 2026, Bronco will be ten years old. Arne Begendahl, who has already broken him in, says: “Now you really get the feeling that he’s truly come into his own. Before that, he just kind of made up for everything with his attitude and quality—but now you get the feeling that he’s really arrived.”” And that “presence” is sparking new ambitions. “Sure, the medium- and long-term goals are, of course, to somehow qualify with him for championships. We’ll see how quickly that happens.”

A gifted child who should not be overwhelmed

The current strategy is not geared toward short-term success. “Although he is, of course, in my eyes, already quite gifted in his own way,” says Reiter Bergendahl, the focus remains on “not overwhelming him or expecting too much from him.”

This is definitely a horse that could finish in the top three in a five-star competition.

The prospect of riding Bronco—just as I did with his mother, Luthien—at five-star level is tempting. But it’s something that needs careful consideration. “The problem, of course, is always that every five-star event poses its own risks, whether it’s the entire preparation process—which is, of course, simply different from that for a four-star short course— And who knows what can happen on a five-star cross-country course!” So ideas like that have to take a back seat to a potential championship nomination. Road2LA is, after all, mandatory too …

Arne Bergendahl knows this, but his unshakable faith in Bronco still lets him dream: “Well, he’d definitely be a horse that, I think, could compete for a top-three finish in a five-star competition.”

“Weltpferd” During Club Hour

Unlike many of the horses that Arne Bergendahl has successfully competed with internationally, Bronco is no longer owned by his family. Dr. Susanne Dörner is the proud owner, training rider, and “head groom” all in one.

Bronco isn’t the first horse Arne has ridden for the Dörner family. The name Bronco comes from Susanne Dörner’s husband, Martin, who is an amateur pilot. The term comes from aviation and is therefore a fitting name for the “airplane.”

Arne Bergendahl had ridden the Irish horse Down to the Wire, which was owned by Susanne Dörner. She was also a big fan of Luthien’s full brother Lamango, who is now ridden by Antonia Baumgart. When the Irish horse “was slowly nearing retirement, she really wanted to go back to Ireland to buy a new Irish horse. That’s when my father stepped in and said, ‘Why don’t you take a look at this one from Luthien? He’s a bit like Lamango, and he jumps.’”

After a free-jumping session with the still-young gray, the sale was sealed. Bronco moved to a new stable. He’s still there today. The wind power coordinator for the Wesel district rides him there, about “five or six times a week.” “Most of the time,” Bergendahl adds, “or almost always, Susi gets on him first and takes him for a walk around the arena. If I can’t make it or am at a competition, she also rides him during the club’s riding session. That’s real teamwork.”

Mom’s genes…

Bronco’s training went smoothly. He took after his mother in terms of quality, but was more open to dressage than his mother. “As a young horse, he was very, very calm, and I thought: Yes, perfect! He’s just as ambitious in jumping but much calmer in dressage—truly the perfect horse.” But then came that pesky seventh year. “That’s when he became more excitable and had gained strength. Things started to lean a bit more toward his mother’s side. For a moment, I thought, ‘Oh, we need to calm him down quickly and establish a system so he doesn’t turn out like his mother.’ I think we’ve managed to do that by now.”

In the end, the German riding philosophy prevailed. Lots of half-halts, basic work. It paid off. Anyone who saw Bronco in dressage at Luhmühlen in 2026 witnessed a horse that left the arena with 32.2 penalty points but is far from reaching his full potential. In the cross-country section, there was a stumble followed by a fall. But the pair still made a strong impression—even on the key decision-makers: Bronco NRW and Arne Bergendahl were subsequently nominated for the long list for the World Championships in Aachen. A first step on Road2LA…

A Look at Bronco NRW’s Breeding Background

Success rarely happens by chance. Many of the eventing horses bred in Germany have pedigrees that reflect as much passion as they do breeding expertise. After all, breeding is rarely lucrative—and eventing breeding even less so.

Bronco NRW not only has a special dam, but also a granddam with outstanding breeding achievements.

• Luthien, out of La Calido, traces her paternal lineage back to Ladykiller xx; her dam, Taramanga, is a mare with 85 percent Thoroughbred blood. Her sire, Templer xx, represents the male line of Nearco xx (grandfather of Northern Dancer xx, among others). In addition to Luthien, her offspring include:
• Lamango by La Calido, placed in the CCI4*-L class with Antonia Baumgart
• Cascamara v. Cascasdello II, World Champion in the Young Eventing Horse category under Ingrid Klimke, successful in CCI4*-L competitions, and now based in the United Kingdom
• CoolTonic by Crusoe (by Comme il faut), Reserve National Champion under Julia Krajewski, is now enjoying success in the U.S. under Amanda Boyce.
• Carmango by Chirivell, ridden by Dan Kreitl in the U.S., has been successful up to CCI4*-S and Intermediaire I

The bloodline maintained by the Bergendahl family originated in Hanover. The foundation mare, born in 1928, is named Sportsmama—did the breeder know back then that, 100 years later, the Olympic Games in Los Angeles would be a topic of conversation for one of this mare’s descendants?