26 SIDELINES MAY 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Bernie Traurig
Moving in New Directions
By Carrie Wirth
Bernie Traurig is perhaps the only athlete to excel in
equitation, hunters, jumpers, eventing and dressage.
In his early years he rode at the Meadowbrook Pony
Club then trained with the renowned Capt. Vladimir
Littauer. When he was 16, Bernie won both the AHSA
(now USET) Medal Finals and the ASCA Maclay
Finals. He became a working student of Frank Chapot
and trained out of Gladstone, New Jersey, with the
United States Equestrian Team. In 1964, Traurig was
second at the Olympic Trials in eventing in 1964.
“I started my career in the hunter/jumper world at the
age of twenty one and the rest is history,” says Bernie.
“My eventing career abruptly ended when my horse
bowed a tendon one week prior to shipping. I moved
on to the show jumping squad and had the opportunity
to train with the incredible Bert Denemethy,” he
remembers.
His career was illustrious indeed: Bernie represented
the US Equestrian Show Jumping Team several times
including the 1982 World Championships in Dublin. He
competed in eight World Cup Finals. Among his best
horses were Corsair, Maybe Forever, The Cardinal,
Jet Run, Eastern Sunrise and Edenvale.
In dressage, Bernie continued his winning ways,
with 15 Grand Prix and Grand Prix special classes
under his belt. He was short listed for the 1986 World
Championship Trials and 1988 Olympic Games and
won the High Point Dressage Award in 1988 at the
Olympic selection trials.
Bernie represented the United States Equestrian
Team and reached the top of the sport in three of the
International Equestrian Olympic disciplines: show
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jumping, dressage and eventing. In 2009, he was inducted
into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame. In 2010, the
California Professional Horsemen’s Association honored him
with their Lifetime Achievement Award.
Teaching and Coaching
As a horseman, Bernie is one of the most sought after
clinicians in the country today. He is currently the West
Coast’s Associate Chef d’Equipe to George H. Morris, the
Chef d’ Equipe of the United States Equestrian Team.
With 53 years of training and riding techniques and
experiences with thousands of horses, Bernie is giving
back to the sport that has given him so much fulfillment and
success.
In June of 2010, he founded EquestrianCoach.com, a
subscription education service that provides systematic,
online “lessons” presented by him and a host of world-class
trainers and competitors, including Rodrigo Pessoa, Eric
Lamaze, Laura Kraut, Missy Clark, Peter Pletcher, Louise
Serio, Julie Winkel and many more. High quality, dynamic
content is constantly added providing the ideal learning
portal for novice through advanced riders.
“Our mission is to make quality education accessible
and affordable to every equestrian, regardless of their
background, their level or their geographic location,” said
Bernie.
Bernie and Cait editing
Photo by Tish Quirk
Bernie Traurig and Corsair on course in a World Cup
class in Arizona in 1990
Continued on page 36