Katharina Hemmer

Sometimes it’s the smallest actions that reveal the most about a person. One such moment occurred at the 2025 Louisdor Prize Final, when Katharina Hemmer dismounted to face the mandatory interview after each ride. While many riders simply give their horse a quick pat on the neck before handing the horse over to the groom and turning to the interviewers, she took the time for a brief exchange with her stallion Special Gold PCH, aka “Spezi,” whom she had just guided through the first Grand Prix of his life. It was as if the two of them were briefly reminiscing about just how long the journey had been—from those first young horse classes all the way to this very moment.

“If you want it to turn out really well, it has to be a team effort,” says Katharina Hemmer. For her, these aren’t just empty words.

A horse girl since birth

Katharina “Katha” Hemmer was born in 1994. She grew up on her family’s farm in Erwitte, not far from Borchen-Etteln, where she now works at the Fleyenhof—owned by her instructor and mentor, Hubertus Schmidt—as his designated successor. Horses have been a part of Katharina Hemmer’s everyday life since her earliest childhood. As she herself says, “I’m a horse girl.” And she has remained one to this day, even as a championship rider who rides about twelve horses every day.

Katharina Hemmer got her first horse at the age of eleven. The mare was three. Together, they worked their way up to Class M. In addition, Katha Hemmer rode “anything that needed riding” at her local riding club. A job without horses? She found that hard to imagine when, with her high school diploma in hand, she faced the task of setting the course for her future. But her parents were rather hesitant about the idea of her training to become a horse manager. They thought she should do something “sensible” instead. Katha did as she was told and completed an internship at the Westphalian Horse Stud Book to find out if there might be other horse-related professions besides riding that she would enjoy. “In the end, I spent most of my time in the saddle,” says Hemmer.

A twist of fate

Katharina Hemmer simply couldn’t find any other activity that filled her with as much enthusiasm as horseback riding. One day, she came across an ad online—Hubertus Schmidt was looking for an apprentice. There are those moments in life when you just know: This is the right thing! That’s exactly what happened when Katha Hemmer read that ad. She called home to ask if she could apply. Her parents had probably long since realized that all their good intentions weren’t enough to dissuade their daughter from her calling. They gave their permission, and Hemmer sent off her application. Shortly afterward, she spoke personally on the phone with the riding instructor, who invited her to a trial ride. “I drove there filled with awe,” Katharina Hemmer recalls to this day. That was in 2013. Since then, the Fleyenhof has been the center of her life.

Hubertus Schmidt hasn’t competed in tournaments himself for quite some time. And after a riding accident involving a younger horse, he no longer rides at home either. But he has always been a trainer through and through, and says himself that it is a “gift” to be able to work with such talented riders as Katharina Hemmer or U25 European Champion Anna Schölermann. He has transformed Katharina Hemmer, a rural S-level rider, into a Grand Prix trainer and championship rider who has succeeded him as head trainer at his farm in the beautiful Altenautal valley.

Schmidt had the help of one horse in particular—one of the last he himself had trained all the way to the top level: Denoix PCH, the horse on which Katharina Hemmer won team gold at the 2025 European Championships in Crozet, her first senior championship. The horse that gave national team coach Monica Theodorescu her “Horse Moment of the Year 2025” in the Grand Prix Special at those European Championships, because he and his rider delivered a performance there that made them, if nothing else, medal winners in the hearts of the audience, even though their score in the end was “only” enough for fourth place.

Denoix is Katharina Hemmer’s favorite. However, the Destano son goes by that name only at competitions. At home, he’s “Purzel” or sometimes “Schatzi.” Her workday begins and ends with him. He’s the first horse she rides in the morning (after grooming and saddling him herself) and the last one she takes out of his stall in the evening to graze or go for a walk. Once a horse girl, always a horse girl.