At a young age, I already realized how much I was fascinated by horses.

"On horseback is where I truly felt alive."

At 9 years old, I was riding at the stables of Roger Bourquard in Glovelier. He was my first trainer and insisted on me taking the license test at an early age. I succeeded on October 27th, 1993 and was not even 11 years old at the time

Thanks to Mr. Arthur Schmid who let me ride Lampire, which was an exceptional horse and great teacher for a young rider, I was able to progress quickly and competed at the RI, RII, RIII, JIII and MII level. This was under the guidance of Roger Bourquard who remained a loyal supporter.

In 1994, I qualified for the finals of the Swiss Junior Championships. At the end of the year, I joined the A-level of the Swiss Juniors team.

When I was 14 years old, I returned to the stables in Bassecourt and worked with my father, who was just taking a break from his athletic career.

I spent all my vacations with Beat Mändli, who taught me a lot and who helped me quickly get integrated into the professional riding world.

In 1996, I debuted in my first S class and finished in 5th place in the Swiss Junior Championships in Dagmersellen. I was 14 years old and from then on my only passion in life was horses.

In 1997, I won my first bronze medal at the European Junior Championships in Morsele. From there I went on to compete at the Le Grand Prix de Reims / Valbonne and then won a bronze medal at the Swiss Junior Championships in Giubiasco and then enjoyed three victories at the CSI Rosenthal.

In 1998, I won the title of Swiss Juniors Champion and had celebrated several victories at the Grand Prix level at the CSIO Reims, CSI Pisa, CSI Neuendorf and CSI Vienna.

On January 15th, 1999 I won the Audi Championships in Leipzig and got my first car, an Audi A3. I was not even 17 years old at the time and sold the car right there on the spot. Then I also won twice at the CSIO St. Gallen.

In the summer of 1999, I finished in the top 3 and won a bronze medal at the Swiss Elite Championships. One week later, I won 4th place at the European Championships in Münchwilen.

During the 2000-2001 season, I won various Grand Prix events and also won in Ascona, Neuendorf, Vienna and at the European Young Riders Championships I placed 4th, all under the guidance of my father and Jürg Notz from Gijon.

2002 was a transitional year

The season started off with several victories, three of these at the CSIO Kerzers. At the European Young Rider Championships in Copenhagen I won a bronze medal. In this time I was under the guidance of my father and Jürg Notz.

The season ended on a somewhat less glorious note – I gave up the Swiss Championships and changed horses.

The season ended on a somewhat less glorious note – I gave up the Swiss Championships and changed horses.

As I was getting in the truck to drive to Zagreb, the phone rang. Jan Tops was calling to make me an offer to ride for him as the top rider in Valkenswaard.

With this piece of good news, “the dream of every rider”, we went on to win the la Coupe des Nations de Zagreb. It was literally inevitable what would happen next. Within less that two weeks after Jan Tops’ phone call, I signed my first contract.

It was the beginning of a new adventure. I was just 20 years old and had already signed my first contract.

In the course of the first year, I was able to slowly settle into this new position. This was a long-term contract which allowed me to refine my apprenticeship as a professional rider without being under too much pressure. With Jan Tops I was able to proceed step by step. I think it was a fantastic opportunity to get into the professional riding world under such optimal conditions.

It was this weekend in the middle of February that Steve left the stables of Jan Tops and left Holland after 41 months in Valkenswaard. The departure of “Tijl” (the number one Swiss horse in 2005 with CHF 207'985 of prize money) was the impetus for Steve to leave as well. “Since 2003, Jan Tops gave me the chance to compete at all the big championships and to win two medals. However, I was at a point in my career where I wanted to work on other things and with horses that would stay at the stables and not with those belonging to a horse dealer”, says Steve (23 years old). Monday, February 20th he arrived at Vejer de la Frontera, where he would stay for several weeks for the Sunshine Circuit. Steve added, “I will ride for Alexander Onischenko, who has given me a dozen horses to ride”. This wealthy Ukrainian, who rides from time to time and is based in Liège, wanted to put together a team. The German rider Katerina Offel and the Belgian riders Vangeengerghe and Wathelet were already riding for the Ukraine and therefore he asked Steve if he would consider doing the same. He responded, “It is not an issue at the moment. I will ride for Switzerland and in the upcoming events as well”.

Upon my return to Switzerland, after leaving Holland, I went back to Chiètres to Jürg Notz where I started riding again.

Here I would take the time to think about my situation and hope to make a good decision for the future. I wanted to take on something new, but did not yet know what.