Equestrian sport and horse breeding mourn the death of Breido Graf zu Rantzau. The Honorary President of the German Equestrian Federation (FN) died on 6 November 2022 as a result of his cancer. He was 73 years old. "The news of his death has shaken us all very much. With Breido Graf zu Rantzau we lose an outstanding personality who has shaped equestrian sport and horse breeding in the last decades. Our sympathy goes to his family and relatives," said FN President Hans-Joachim Erbel.
Graf zu Rantzau was the third President of the FN since its re-organisation in 1968. In 2001, he was first elected Vice-President Sport and four years later succeeded Dieter Graf Landsberg-Velen and Jürgen Thumann. "Graf zu Rantzau always put his life and work at the service of others, be it with us in equestrian sport and breeding, be it in the church or in community work. With him we lose a role model, a friend and a unique human being," said FN Secretary General Soenke Lauterbach.
In his person, Breido Graf zu Rantzau combined many of the facets that make up equestrian sport and horse breeding. He was highly successful as a rider until he was 60 years old. As early as 1965, he came third in the German Junior Championships. And not in show jumping, as one might assume on the basis of his later sporting career, but in dressage. However, the Holstein-born rider quickly switched to show jumping and won the silver medal at the German Junior Championships in 1967 and gold at the European Championships in the same year. Even after his youth, Graf zu Rantzau remained faithful to show jumping and celebrated a very special success in 1985: he came fifth in the German Show Jumping Derby in Hamburg Klein-Flottbeck, commonly known as the most difficult show jumping competition in the world. This was followed in 1986 by a gold medal at the German Team Championships in Show Jumping as well as numerous successes in international show jumping competitions and three entries in Nations Cups.
Breido Graf zu Rantzau was no less successful in breeding. His breeding has produced more than 60 registered show horses, some of them with international success. He was also very involved in horse breeding on an honorary basis. From 1986 to 2007, he was the first Chairman of the Holstein Breeders' Association and from 1999 to 2005 Vice-President of the WBFSH, the World Federation of Riding Horse Breeders' Organisations.
When the graduate business economist Breido Graf zu Rantzau was elected President of the FN in 2005, he took over this office in a situation that was by no means easy for the federation, as at that time there were various and not insignificant differences of opinion between the umbrella organisation and the member associations at state level. He showed great commitment to finding consensual solutions for all parties involved and demonstrated the ability to discuss even controversial issues at eye level.
His term of office was eventful and marked by change. The highlights certainly include the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in 2006 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Hong Kong in 2008, in the aftermath of which, however, the sport was thrown into severe turmoil both nationally and internationally due to the doping and medication cases. A neutral investigation commission was set up, all federal squads were disbanded until the events were dealt with and a package of anti-doping measures was put together. At the international level, it was thanks to his intervention at the 2009 General Assembly that the FEI withdrew an initially planned watering down and weakening of the very strict doping and medication rules in equestrian sport.
Even more than his predecessors, Graf zu Rantzau as FN President had to face questions about the future development of sport and breeding, but also social and political issues. Thus, he was one of the founding fathers of the German Top Horse Sport Foundation in 2013, for which he was also able to actively win donors and supporters. From the beginning, Graf zu Rantzau stood up for popular sport, campaigned against the introduction of a horse tax and was one of the first to warn against the consequences of an uncontrolled spread of the wolf in Germany, but also had to deal with issues such as the prevention of sexualised violence and alcohol excesses. During his term of office, the campaign "Pioneer Germany" was initiated, which had the future of the clubs and associations in mind, as well as the first Parliamentary Evening in Berlin. Under his leadership, an FN capital office was set up in Berlin in order to be able to recognise important political decisions in time and act accordingly. The good contact with politics paid off at the latest at the beginning of the Corona crisis, when it was possible to obtain a special regulation for equestrian sport in no time at all. Even though the emergency movement of the horses was certainly only an emergency solution, the riders and drivers fared better than millions of other athletes in Germany who had to completely forgo their sport for months.
In 2020, Breido Graf zu Rantzau fell so seriously ill that he did not stand for re-election in 2021. However, it was very important to him to place his office in good hands. Already at the end of 2020, he presented Hans-Joachim Erbel to the Association's committees as his preferred candidate, half a year later he was elected as his successor at the FN Conferences in Fulda.
Graf zu Rantzau has received many awards for his services, including the Prize of the City of Aachen (2013), the Peace Rider Prize of the Westfälischer Reiterverein von 1835 (2013) and the Meteor Prize (2017). At FN meetings in Fulda, the Federation thanked him for his 16-year term of office and his services to sport and breeding with the highest award it has to bestow: the German Riders' Cross in gold with diamonds. In the same context, the then DOSB President Alfons Hörmann awarded him the DOSB Badge of Honour in Gold, and he was also appointed Honorary Member of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) and Honorary President of the FN.
