Paul Schockemöhle (born 22 March 1945) is a German former

showjumper Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes s ...

. He was a successful international show jumping

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

in the 1970s and 1980s at individual and team events in

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. He was three times European Champion on his best horse

Deister The Deister is a chain of hills in the German state of Lower Saxony, about 15 mi (25 km) southwest of the city of Hanover. It runs in a north-westerly direction from Springe in the south to Rodenberg in the north. The next in the chai ...

. He is the brother of Alwin Schockemöhle, another leading German rider. After competing as a rider Schockemöhle became both a breeder and trainer of

sport horse A sport horse or sporthorse is a type of horse, rather than any particular breed. The term is usually applied to horses bred for the traditional Olympic equestrian sporting events of dressage, eventing, show jumping, and combined driving, but ...

s. According to an interview in 2011, he estimated he owns 3,500 horses, including 35 show jumping and dressage stallions. In October 2010, it was announced that he had purchased Moorlands Totilas, a champion

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined by ...

stallion shown by

Edward Gal Edward Gal (born 4 March 1970 in Rheden) is a Dutch dressage rider. He and the stallion Totilas (nicknamed "Toto"), were triple gold medalists at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games, becoming the first horse-rider partn ...

, from Moorlands Stables. In 2016, Paul Schockemöhle became the registered owner of all horses of Ukraine's Olympic Show Jumping team when their owner Oleksandr Onyshchenko was indicted for embezzlement before the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Controversies

In 1990, Schockemöhle was secretly recorded poling horses, a practice which involves hitting a horse's legs with a pole to train it to jump higher. Poling is forbidden by the International Equestrian Federation, and spot checks were subsequently carried out at several other German training establishments. In 2012, PETA filed charges against Schockemöhle and Totilas' co-owner Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff alleging cruelty, claiming the stallion was kept in isolation from others and trained using the controversial method rollkur, which involves hyperflexion of the horse's neck. German authorities opened an investigation, but dropped all charges in 2013.

Major achievements

*1976: Silver medal in team at the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

with ''Agent'' *1981: Gold medal in team and individual at the European Championships in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

with ''Deister'' *1983: Individual gold medal at the European Championships in

Hickstead Hickstead may refer to: * All England Jumping Course at Hickstead The All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, known widely as Hickstead, is an equestrian centre in West Sussex, England, principally known for its showjumping. It hosts two int ...

with ''Deister'' *1984: Bronze medal in team at the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

with ''Deister'' *1985: Bronze medal in team and individual gold medal at the European Championships in Dinard with ''Deister'' * Hickstead Derby ** 1982: Winner with ''Deister'' ** 1985: Winner with ''Lorenzo'' ** 1986: Winner with ''Deister''

References

External links

Paul Schockemöhle official website

Paul Schockemöhle and Deister in Gothenburg 1986 (Video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schockemohle, Paul 1945 births Living people People from Vechta (district) German male equestrians German show jumping riders People from Oldenburg (state) Olympic equestrians of West Germany Equestrians at the 1976 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for West Germany Olympic medalists in equestrian Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Horse trader Sportspeople from Lower Saxony