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About Us:
 A
veteran competitor and trainer at the FEI levels, Flettrich was a
four-time participant in the North American Young Riders
Championships (NAYRC). Flettrich won the Individual Gold Medal and
helped his Region 1 squad win the Team Silver Medal at the 1991
NAYRC. As a trainer, Flettrich annually brought students to compete
in the NAYRC from 1988 through 2005, and served as Region 1 Coach
and Chef d’Equipe through 1994. During Flettrich’s stint as Region 1
coach, Lea Anne Neal won the Individual Gold in 1994 and his student
Catherine Malone won the Individual Gold in 2005.
A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Flettrich began riding at age
12, initially aboard trail horses and Quarter horses at neighboring
farms. At age 14, dressage rider Sue Malone Casey hired him for
weekend work, which led to a position as a working student. “I loved
horses and Sue Malone Casey was a very good teacher and very
enthusiastic about dressage,” noted Flettrich. “As a teenager, I
dabbled in Western, eventing, and hunters and jumpers, but from the
beginning, I was dressage – and that was because of her. I rode her
dressage horses and soon lost interest in the other disciplines.”
During high school, Flettrich worked for the English Riding Shop and
took lessons from owner Vicky McGowan. He reached Fourth Level
working with Diana Christenson and her Andalusian, Argentino.
Flettrich spent summers as a working student for Gwen Stockebrand in
California in 1986 and for Casey at her new farm in Atlanta in 1987.
After graduating high school in 1988, Flettrich went to train with
Jessica Ransehousen in Pennsylvania. Riding mounts owned by
Ransehousen’s clients, Flettrich qualified for NAYRC four
consecutive years, 1988-1991. He also won the Young Rider
championship at Dressage at Devon in Pennsylvania twice.
In 1992, at age 22, Flettrich began competing in the Open FEI ranks
with three Prix St.
Georges horses. He took charge of training three youngsters aged
two, three and four years old and formed a syndicate to buy Alex, a
former jumper, that he showed in the small tour. Success in the ring
brought media attention and Flettrich appeared in many publications
including on the cover of the legendary magazine Dressage & CT. From
1993 to 1999, Flettrich concentrated on training and coaching
students and bringing young horses along. Continuing his education,
in 1999 Flettrich spent the summer riding with Kathy Connelly in
Massachusetts, and in 2000 he took four horses to train with Steffen
Peters and Christine Traurig in California.
In 1999, with a string of three young FEI horses he’d trained up the
levels, Flettrich renewed his focus on competing. At Dressage at
Devon in 1999, Flettrich placed first, second, and third at Fourth
Level – he won with his own stallion Kinnaras; placed second with
Iron Spring Farm’s Juventus; and took third with Infinity. An
experienced in-hand handler, Flettrich also won the stallion
championship in the Devon Breed Show in 1999 with Juventus. In 2002
at Devon, Flettrich won the Prix St. Georges with Char An Ireland’s
Notorious, another horse he’d trained to FEI. Flettrich made his
Grand Prix debut in 2004 with three mounts – Jaguar, Kinnaras, and
Notorious. In 2005, Flettrich got the ride on Amadeus, a
seven-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding and competed him in
Intermediaire I. He trained him to Grand Prix and Amadeus is now
Flettrich’s primary Grand Prix mount. Highlighting Flettrich’s 2006
season was a double Grand Prix victory weekend at Dressage at the
Park in New Jersey, when showed Amadeus and Donner, both owned by
Cherry Knoll Farm, to first place.
 In
Germany with seven horses ranging from FEI Five-Year-Olds to Grand
Prix, Flettrich is benefiting from training with Hubertus Schmidt.
Flettrich rode Amadeus at the prestigious CDI3* in Verden, Germany,
August 2-5, 2007, and notched a respectable 62.25% in a class of 65
topnotch horses. “It was a lot of fun,” Flettrich said. “It was the
horse’s first show in almost a year and I did it at Verden because I
wanted to have help from Hubertus while I was over here. We had
mistakes, but the horse looked very good.”
“In addition to the Olympics, my goals are to continue having horses
to bring along, to continue with my education, and to continue to
bring other riders along, whether it’s Young Riders or adults, so
that they can reach their riding goals,” Flettrich said. “I’ve
enjoyed bringing young people to the Young Rider Championships and
adult amateurs to the Grand Prix level, and I want to continue to do
that.” Flettrich has also coached professionals including Silke
Rembacz and Lauren Sammis. Sammis trained with Flettrich in Florida,
which included the qualifiers for the 2007
Pan American Games Selection Trials. She ultimately was named to the
U.S. team and earned a Team Gold Medal and Individual Silver Medal.
 Flettrich described his training philosophy stating, “I like to
train my horses and ride in a daily manner the same way that I would
want to compete them. I don’t use methods that are not acceptable in
the dressage ring. My job as a trainer is to bring the horse out to
want to do it for me. It has to be a team effort. My objective is to
make the job easier for the horse by finding that horse’s natural
balance and self-carriage. I’ve always been impressed to see an
animal move in such a powerful manner, with such grace and control.
It requires a lot of self-control for the rider because part of the
horse’s strength is its balance and self-control. Dressage is such a
powerful, but yet graceful sport.”
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