Christian Kukuk

Christian Kukuk didn’t really want to ride, but a career in the saddle seemed predestined. In 1990, Christian was born into a family that was a household name in the equestrian scene. His grandfather Franz Kukuk was the head saddle master at the North Rhine-Westphalian state stud in Warendorf. And it was there, in the “equestrian capital”, that Christian Kukuk was born.

His father rode, his mother Ingrid worked for the German Olympic Equestrian Committee (DOKR). And the son? He wanted to become a professional footballer, but also accompanied his father Norbert to tournaments. At some point, the genetic predisposition prevailed. Or was it actually the much-quoted and much-used “horse virus” that caught him? We don’t know. What is certain is that he had talent and after completing a commercial apprenticeship, the young Christian Kukuk did not go straight to any stable, but to Riesenbeck to Beerbaum Stables. Olympic champion Ludger Beerbaum hired the slim rider from Warendorf straight away.

That was in 2012 and Christian Kukuk dedicated the next few years primarily to working with young horses. At the same time, he was also able to celebrate success in 5* show jumping competitions. He was awarded the Golden Riding Badge in 2016. Connected via the video screen: national soccer player Thomas Müller, who was to play an important role in Kukuk’s career in the future.

The first time went down the drain

In 2016, Kukuk received permission to compete at the CHIO in Aachen for the first time. Every rider remembers the premiere in Aachen. For Christian Kukuk, however, the memories are rather clouded. In the Prize of Europe, his horse forgot to extend his legs in time after the water ditch. The two fell and debutant Kukuk had to go to hospital. However, he won again at the end of the year. In Frankfurt, in the Festhalle, an early Christmas present.

From 2018, Kukuk rode in Global Champions League teams. Since then, Team Riesenbeck has continuously scored points, winning the overall ranking in 2023 and also the “Play-Offs” in Prague – both of which are endowed with several million euros in prize money.

White horse rider and Olympic champion

In 2019, Christian Kukuk was given the gray stallion Mumbai to ride. He rode the Diamant de Semilly son into the final at the World Championships for Young Show Jumping Horses at Zangersheide Stud in Lanaken, Belgium. Two years later, the pair were named to the team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Although the games under pandemic conditions were anything but glorious for the German show jumping team, the combination from Riesenbeck was able to prove their international class a few weeks later: At the European Championships “on Home Turf”, i.e. in the Riesenbeck International stadium, the pair helped the German team to a silver medal and finished fourth in the individual classification. Two years later, the pair also reached the final at the European Championships in Milan (14th). At the beginning of 2025, the stallion moved to the livery of Kukuk’s then boss Ludger Beerbaum, then went under Philipp Weishaupt and from April 2025 under Marco Kutscher. He has since been sold to Mexico.

Christian Kukuk already had three young horses in his stable in 2021 whose qualities were beyond doubt for the makers at Beerbaum Stables: Chageorge, Just be Gentle and Checker. All of them made the headlines. Chageorge and Just be Gentle initially made headlines in Austria because they were allegedly owned by the “Laura Foundation”, which is backed by billionaire bankrupt René Benko, and Checker mainly because of his prominent owners. The gray horse was sold to Beerbaum Stables by national coach Otto Becker. Later, Madeleine Winter-Schulze, long-time patron of Ludger Beerbaum and Isabell Werth, and FC Bayern star Thomas Müller acquired shares in the Westphalian. Müller said that he wanted to “still have something to cheer about in the evening” at dressage competitions where his wife Lisa has to be in the arena early in the morning or after soccer matches.

The calculation worked out. And the fever curve was probably at its highest on August 6, 2024: The pair Christian Kukuk/Checker won the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the jump-off in the Palace Park of Versailles. It was a particularly emotional moment for Kukuk, not only because the title of Olympic champion is an award for eternity, but also because he had a special relationship with his mother and family in Paris. Christian Kukuk’s mother was unable to witness her son’s triumph because she died of cancer in 2017.

In 2025, the pair won a 5* Grand Prix in Wellington, just a few hours after Kukuk’s US partner Veronica Tracy gave birth to their daughter Lilah Katherina. In August, Checker won the LGCT Grand Prix of London. Two weeks earlier, Christian Kukuk and Just be Gentle had won the team bronze medal at the European Championships in La Coruña. A few days before leaving for London, Christian Kukuk announced that he would be leaving the Beerbaum Stables at the end of the year to set up his own business. Ludger Beerbaum announced that he would continue to work with the Olympic champion.

Kukuk criticized

At the beginning of November, Christian Kukuk took third place with European Championship mare Just be Gentle at the World Cup tournament in Verona in the most important jumping competition of the weekend, the World Cup stage. What hardly anyone knew at the time was that he had previously been filmed in the warm-up arena working the mare on bare reins, i.e. without additional snaffle reins, first in canter and then when he parried through, the mare was clearly unclear. This video caused a wave of outrage on social media, partly because none of the stewards responsible on site apparently saw any reason to intervene.

The FEI stated that they had not yet received the stewards’ reports. The FN saw no breach of the rules, despite Article 257 of the FEI Jumping Rules:

Reins must be attached to the bit(s) or directly to the bridle. A maximum of two pairs of reins may be used. If two pairs of reins are used, one pair must be attached to the bit or directly to the bridle. Gags and hackamores are allowed.

In an interview with ZDF on the matter, FN President Martin Richenhagen explained that what happened in Verona “definitely does not constitute cruelty to animals” and that it couldn’t have been that bad, “after all, the horse came third in the World Cup show jumping on Sunday”.

Christian Kukuk explained a few days later at the World Cup tournament in Stuttgart that he had made a mistake, which he now understood. He apologized for it.

New home, new title

After Christian Kukuk announced that he would be setting up his own business at the turn of the year 2025/26, he first took his leave for the USA, the home of his wife Veronica Tracy. He rode here throughout the spring and introduced a number of new horses, such as the mare Viki van Gogh and the gelding Akarad Tivoli Z.

Christian Kukuk did not return home until the green season had begun in Germany. The self-confessed family man, who is very attached to his home in Münsterland, has now stabled his horses at Karin Ernsting’s stables.

From here, it was only a stone’s throw to Bave for the German Championships in Sauerland, where he jumped to his first German Championship title with the aforementioned Akarad Tivoli Z 2026. That was a special moment, even for an Olympic champion. The last time he had it in his hands to win the title in Balve, his mother was still alive and was there. Balve was her declared favorite tournament and her son would have been only too happy to make her happy. But it was not to be. He dedicated this victory to her.