The Horse Whisperer

Spending a day with an equeStrian champion at hiS Sprawling StableS near Zürich waS an unforgettable experience for Amit Dixit

- Amit Dixit

It’s a glorious day, even by Swiss standards, bright rays of morning sun bouncing off the pine forests, the meadows a trippy shade of green, the sky blue enough to drive the blues away. I’ve always admired the fairy-tale geometry of Swiss chalets, and even had occasion to stay in them. But never have I had the privilege of seeing a handsome horse peek out of one. That will remain my abiding memory of visiting a very distinguished rider—one might argue, the most distinguished of them all—at his home in the Swiss countryside; someone who, reputedly, preferred the company of horses to humans.

“Blood. That’s what I look for in a horse,” says the slim, mild-mannered man, a gleam in his eyes. That’s a somewhat sanguine word to describe that elusive quality that distinguishes an ordinary horse from a winner. “Pedigree is not so important,” he adds. Advice worth filing away if you have equestrian ambitions, for Steve Guerdat knows what he’s talking about. Mildly contrarian advice, too, considering the current World No. 1 in equestrian show jumping and the 2012 Olympic gold medallist in individual jumping hails from a venerable riding family.

Showing us around his sprawling estate in Aadorf, an hour out of Zürich in the blissful countryside, Guerdat seems unaffected by his stature. It’s just one of the many things that makes this dashing and slightly shy man so endearing. Another is his unequivocal love for horses, manifesting in everything from his insistence on straw for their stalls (as opposed to the less comfortable but easier-to-maintain wood shavings) to never pushing them unduly, the casual nuzzles and the passionate way he holds forth on them. He, quite literally, shares his home with them, for it was in the small stable on the ground floor of his house that I had glimpsed that horse. In show jumping, timing is everything.