news

Pepo Puch: Overcoming The Odds

With the splendid surroundings of Al Shaqab, and the supremely skilled manner in which riders and horses compete as one, it would be easy to imagine that equestrianism is an effortless pursuit. But, as the inspirational story of Para-Dressage competitor Pepo Puch demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth.

“It’s only the horses that have brought me back in this life.”

 

With the splendid surroundings of Al Shaqab, and the supremely skilled manner in which riders and horses compete as one, it would be easy to imagine that equestrianism is an effortless pursuit. But, as the inspirational story of Para-Dressage competitor Pepo Puch demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Pepo was born in Graz, Austria in 1966, and took up the sport of equestrianism at the age of 15. His talent soon became obvious and he began competing for his country, with his first international appearance coming at just 21 years old. For Pepo, it was to be the first of many. “I did a lot of big competitions in eventing, among others,” he recalls. “I did the Triple Crown and the Olympics.”

 

And, following Pepo’s appearance in the Athens Olympic Games of 2004, a gilded future seemed assured until, on 31st August 2008, fate dealt him a devastating blow.

 

It was a day like any other, one of hundreds where he and his horse had trained together. However, this training session was to have dramatic repercussions for the equestrian, when he was thrown from his mount. “I used a safety jacket, and the jacket broke my neck when I fell.”

 

In an instant, Pepo’s career was over - or so it seemed, as he suffered life-changing injuries. As a result, he says, “I have incomplete paraplegia from the neck down, and I have no feeling in my body.”

 

Yet to his credit, Puch, whose sporting motto is “What is conceivable is possible,” refused to let this traumatic event affect his relationship with horses, or with the sport in general.

 

“I always felt that my accident was due to a technical problem, not a problem with the horse,” he reasons. “Yes, I fell from the horse, but it was the horse that I used for the four star, and it was my reserve horse for the Olympics, so it was a sensitive thoroughbred.”

 

Pepo underwent a particularly physical form of hippo-therapy, a treatment that utilises horses as an aid to patient rehabilitation. Remarkably, he remained philosophical throughout a long and tortuous recovery process. “Before I trained horses, and now the horses are training me,” he says. “It is a different life entirely now, but it is a good life.”

 

While many of us could not imagine getting back in the saddle after an accident that resulted in a six-month hospitalisation, Pepo could not imagine anything else. “I am really a lazy guy, and without a goal I cannot train enough. So it was important for me to set a target and say, ‘Okay, I want to go to the next Europeans and I have to train six hours a day for this.’ And to do this, especially in the beginning, it was not possible for me even to sit. If I were to sit on a chair, I would fall from it, so I started training, and now I can walk around and drive a car. And it’s only the horses that have helped me to reach this point. It’s only the horses that have brought me back in this life.”

 

According to Pepo, there are many commonalities between Dressage and Para-Dressage. “It’s the same judges, they count the same things, a medium trot is a medium trot, a good height is a good height. It’s not different. The only difference is that they count how we are to the horses, not if we shake more or less - that, we cannot control. But the influence from us on the horse is what counts. It’s the only difference, so it’s a true sport and that’s why I like to do it.”

 

Pepo’s positive approach to his sport has brought enormous reward in recent years. At the London 2012 Paralympics he won bronze, before gaining two gold medals at the following year’s European Championships in Denmark. He is now one of the world’s leading Para-Dressage riders, and is currently ranked third in the world.

 

Reflecting on his experience so far at CHI AL SHAQAB 2016 where, on Thursday, he was victorious in the first event of the day, Pepo says: “It’s amazing to be here. These facilities are at Olympic Games standard, they are really, really, really good. It was an amazing feeling to win, especially after a long winter break. You never know how a horse will be by the next year, and so I was really happy.”

 

“I was really a little bit scared for how it would be, but it was good,” says Pepo, looking back on a memorable victory, although the same words could easily apply to his incredible journey.

Back to News listing