Sophie Hinners

About Sophie

"I would never have left Hendrix if it hadn't been for Richi." This is what the current German champion announces with a smile right at the beginning of our interview.

Richi" of course means her boyfriend, Richard Vogel. The two have already been a couple for 4 years. How did they get to know each other? "Through riding, of course!" laughs Hinners. At the beginning of their relationship, the two had a long-distance relationship. Sophie was employed at the Hendrix family's stable in the Netherlands, whereas Richard was still riding in Riesenbeck at Ludger Beerbaum's stable at the time. When asked how such a long-distance relationship is managed, Sophie says: "Of course, it's not always easy. We always tried - when one of us had time off - to visit each other or to book a vacation together. Sometimes we also had tournaments together. And of course a lot of FaceTimen. That makes things a lot easier!"

After Richard teamed up with David Will together in Dagobertshausen, it was slowly becoming clear to Sophie that a change was coming. "Richi and I have been together for four years now. Because of the distance, we have of course not seen each other as often as would be the case now, for example, with normal couples. At some point, I thought to myself, you have to find out now sometime, whether this really fits. And then I took the plunge."

The 23-year-old knew that such a decision also involves many risks. "Of course, there was also a risk involved in leaving such a stable as Hendrix. To be honest, I had prepared myself at the beginning to really only ride young show jumpers and then to have to work my way up again. I would never have expected that it would turn out like this," Hinners says, beaming.

The amazon almost has a family relationship with the Hendrix family. After a long collaboration and many international successes later, she is very grateful to the family. "I really owe so much to the entire Hendrix team. Together with them, I was able to collect my first world ranking points and have been able to celebrate so many great successes."

For Hinners, it was initially unclear whether she would be able to continue riding her top horse, Vittorio. But for Emil Hendrix, her former boss, it was a matter of course. Sophie is incredibly grateful to him.

At the beginning of Sophie's riding career, a career in the dressage saddle was actually more apparent. She herself rode dressage up to elementary level. But since she only took over jumping ponies from her cousin, she then switched to the jumping saddle. Here she also found her great passion.

To this day, Sophie is one of the best U25 riders in Europe. In training, she places very special emphasis on dressage work. "If the basics in dressage work already don't work, how are you supposed to be able to implement that in the course?", the 24-year-old concludes. She always alternates between row-jumping, outside canter and travers.

Together with her partner, she is always on the lookout for young talent. "We definitely pay attention to character. For example, we always try to be present at a trial when the horse is getting ready, so that we can get an overall picture of the horse. At the jump, of course, we look at the quality and how the horse takes off. Thank goodness we often have the right nose."

In the future, Sophie would like to establish herself further in international sport together with her partners Richard Vogel and David Will and hopes for good results.