Western riding

Enja Libor is a Western rider with heart and soul and highly decorated with the European Championship title

Buffy and Smilla, two Australian cattle dogs, follow Enja Libor wherever she goes as we walk around her riding facility in Leversum. We are on our way to the riding room to talk about Enja Libor's great passion: Western riding. The 49-year-old has won almost everything there is to win in Western riding in Europe: She is European champion, German champion, international German champion. The list is long.

Dogs always with her

Once in the riding room, Smilla snuggles up on a blanket, Buffy sits next to Enja Libor and lets herself be cuddled. "Cattle dogs are actually bred for driving cattle," explains the 49-year-old. She used to have cattle herself for the cutting discipline, in which a western rider has to separate a cow from the herd, but then gave up keeping them. Now the two cattle dogs run around the farm all day, keep watch and are on their owner's heels 24 hours a day. "They need that too," says Enja Libor. Otherwise they are not fully occupied."

Further training throughout Europe

Enja Libor has been riding since she was a child and bought her first quarter horse in 1993. This breed of horse is particularly suitable for western riding because they are small and agile, with a stature of 1.40 to 1.60 meters. She has been hooked on western riding ever since. She continued her training with renowned trainers and spent her vacations at the Rainbow Valley Ranch in Hungary until she moved there with her dog and horse in 1996 to work for a year with Bozo Rogers and another year with Vern Sapergia as co-trainer. In 1999 she came to the Sebbel riding stables, set up her own business and helped build up the riding operation. Six years ago, she leased the entire farm and turned it into Reiterhof Libor.

Enja Libor has 65 to 70 stable horses on her farm, she gives lessons (her oldest riding pupil is 81, the youngest start at 7.8 years old) for leisure riders and competition riders and trains horses. "I do everything from breaking in to competition horses," she says. The aim of her work with the horses is to train them so that you can't see the rider's aids in the saddle.

From the wild west

Western riding has its origins in the "Wild West" of America. Here, cowboys had to look after their herds of cattle and keep them together and needed fast, agile, sure-footed and strong-nerved horses to do so: The Quarter Horses. There are various disciplines in western riding today. Enja Libor's special disciplines are "reining" and "ranch riding". In reining, the horse has to perform a sliding full stop from a full gallop or turning maneuvers up to 360 - techniques that were once used when working with cattle.

In ranch riding, you have to present a horse that is fast, can change pace and can also jump over poles - a horse that is suitable for ranch work.

Why western riding?

Why does she love western riding so much? "The way of handling a horse is beautiful. The horse and I have many more options than in classical riding. And you are flexible in your training. It doesn't matter how you reach your goal with western riding. The main thing is that the horse can do what it's supposed to do in the end." Her own six horses are her hobby, she owns two retired horses, two broodmares, a foal and a riding horse. Western riding horses have special names, often consisting of several words. Her breeding stallion is called "The Sharpshooter" and one of her show horses "Three times a holly", called Buddy. All western horses have a nickname.

Million dollar rider

Enja Libor usually goes to tournaments with client horses. "The season lasts from March to November, with the important shows always taking place at the end of the season," says the 49-year-old. You can't get as rich here as in the USA (where there are sometimes prizes of 500,000 dollars at tournaments). "In Europe, there are perhaps around ten million-dollar riders, i.e. riders who have already won a million euros in prize money." Nadine Wenge