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108 SIDELINES FEBRUARY 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE D R E S S A G E

Walter Zettl’s book “Dressage In Harmony,” is a staple in many dressage riders’ libraries

By Jan Westmark

Chatting with dressage coach Walter Zettl is like visiting with your favorite uncle, the one who calls you “sweetheart” and “dear” and tells amazing stories of the old days and what it was like growing up in Czechoslovakia. When talking to Walter, it’s almost easy to forget that you are talking to one of the world’s most accomplished and revered masters of classical dressage, until he begins talking about his passion for horses and the sport.

Walter has been on the forefront of the dressage world for most of his life, and his impact ranges from coaching Olympic riders, to training and giving clinics, to writing books and producing DVDs. With all of his success, it wasn’t a surprise to his family, friends or current and former students when he was recently inducted into the Canadian Dressage Owners and Riders Association (CADORA) Hall of Fame. During his induction, CADORA said they considered Walter to be a valued contributor to the evolution of the sport of dressage.

Behind Every Great Man

Although he is now in his 80s, Walter still helps dressage riders achieve their dreams. “I never slow down, in fact I just taught a clinic two weeks ago,” he says, adding with a laugh, “Well, I will slow down when I am in the ground.” Walter lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, near Niagara Falls, with his wife, Heide, whom he married in 1999. “I am not a rider, but I am involved in horses since I accompany Walter to all his clinics,” Heide says. “My two daughters from my frst marriage used to ride hunters and jumpers until they went to university.”

Walter is quick to heap praises upon his wife, and added

that she is the computer guru of the family. “I don’t have any clue about the computer, so Heide does all that,” he explains. “I have the best wife in the world. Heide has a lot of patience with me.” Born in Czechoslovakia in 1929, Walter became the youngest person ever to be awarded the German Federation Gold Riding Medal at the age of 21, an award given for success in upper level dressage and jumping for a single competitive season.

Walter then spent years racking up accomplishments in Germany, before being recruited in 1981 to move to Canada to coach the young riders dressage team in Ontario followed by coaching dressage for the Canadian eventing team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Walter has a few funny stories about arriving in Canada, including fnding out that the team “wasn’t any good.”

He Wrote the Book

“The team would follow me through the snow and sit in freezing temperatures to learn, because they really wanted to learn, and I knew from that moment on that I needed to do something to help them,” Walter says. “In fact, I started to write books - not to make money - but to help the Canadian riders. I saw that there wasn’t a lot of good teaching, so I wrote it to teach them.”

It took Walter 10 years to write Dressage In Harmony , a book that is a staple in many dressage riders’ libraries. “That book is still a bestseller with my publisher,” Walter says. ”I am now on my third book which has just been sent to my publisher and will be translated into English.”

Walter is also well known for his DVD series “A Matter of Trust” which covers classical dressage techniques from training level to