Richard VogelOlympian

About Richard Vogel

Richard Vogel (born 24 March 1997) is a German showjumper from Binzwangen in Baden-Wuerttemberg, the reigning individual European champion, world No. 2, and — after consecutive Rolex Major wins at The Dutch Masters and Aachen in 2026 — the live contender to become only the second rider in history, after Scott Brash, to complete the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping.

He was taught by his mother Ursula, who died when he was twelve; he has said horses remain his connection to her. At seventeen he left school a year before the Abitur for a Pferdewirt apprenticeship with Bernd Herbert — a man he calls a second father — then spent two and a half years inside Ludger Beerbaum's Riesenbeck operation learning championship-level detail. Three German U25 titles at Aachen (2018, 2019, 2021) bridged his move to independence: in 2020 he founded V&W Equestrian with David Will, starting from eleven boxes and no groom and growing to a reported hundred-plus horses under saddle at Pfungstadt.

Everything changed when he took over United Touch S in 2022. The enormous-striding Westphalian stallion, bred and owned by Julius-Peter Sinnack, won the Stuttgart World Cup that November, the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva in 2023 on his first appearance there, and anchored Germany's wins in the 2023 Nations Cup Final and the inaugural 2024 League of Nations Final. At A Coruna in 2025 the pair won the European title on 0.01 penalties without touching a rail in five rounds. Vogel manages the horse sparingly — flatwork, hacking, few shows — a welfare-led model in which groom Viola Felicia Wallin's judgement carries real weight.

The depth behind the star is the system's proof: Gangster Montdesir won a 1.60m Grand Prix in their third competition together and sits eighth in the world combination rankings; Cloudio won at Spruce Meadows and anchored Germany at Ocala; Phenyo dominates speed classes; and Cepano Baloubet and Cydello both won at five-star level before moving on — horse development and trading are the business. Mentored informally by McLain Ward and once helped to a World Cup win by Julien Epaillard's borrowed hackamore, Vogel treats outside expertise as a resource, not a threat.

He enters August 2026 nominated with United Touch S for Germany's home World Championships at Aachen, with the Spruce Meadows Masters — and the Grand Slam — waiting in September. By 29 he has three Majors, a European title and two team-final victories; what remains are the accolades that only time allows: an Olympic or World medal, a World Cup Final title, world No. 1, and the Slam itself.