‘He will always be my North Star’: farewell to classical trainer, mentor and horseman

Charles de Kunffy, the classical trainer, respected horseman, judge and author died on 14 April.

Mr De Kunffy was raised in Hungary during World War II and the Soviet Union’s occupation of the country. His parents were horse and dog breeders, and he learned to ride as a child.

In 1952 he joined the National Riding Academy in Budapest, the sister school to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, where he was mentored by classical trainers including Olympian Pal Kemery, Jeno Kosa-Reznek, Imre Bodo and Geza Hazslinksy-Krull.

The emphasis was on developing diverse riding skills, including cross-country riding and showjumping, and he was schooled with the “strictest adherence to classical training traditions based on scholarship and a profound respect for the horse”.

Mr De Kunffy escaped Hungary during the 1956 revolution and ultimately came to the United States as a refugee. In 1962 he graduated from the University of California and became a philosophy and psychology teacher in San Francisco. He shared stories of his life training horses in Hungary with his academic students and through this he began helping people with their horses.

He introduced many riders to the art of classical dressage, and became an FEI judge. He wrote seven books including The Ethics and Passions of Dressage, and his autobiography A Rider’s Survival From Tyranny. His wisdom and knowledge was in demand worldwide, and he frequently delivered clinics, demonstrations and lectures in the US and abroad.

Mr De Kunffy was a mentor to many and taught riders of any level. He believed that “the honour of teaching the traditions of the great equestrian arts commands an instructor to perform with equal dedication and thoroughness whether teaching a beginning or coaching an Olympic gold medallist”.

He touched the lives of thousands of equestrians and their horses through his knowledge, intellect and extraordinary body of work found in his books.

Dressage rider Jessica Jo Tate, a long-term pupil and friend of Mr De Kunffy, who opened her Team Tate Academy under Mr De Kunffy’s guidance, said “he will always be my North Star”.

“Even in just one lesson, he could inspire you to teach and ride your horse differently, better by connecting to your true self. He was more than a riding teacher and I am so grateful to have called him my mentor for the last 36 years of my life,” she said.

In 2013 Mr De Kunffy was inducted into the United States Dressage Federation hall of fame in recognition of his contribution to the development and promotion of classical dressage in the United States.

He is survived by his niece Zsuzsu Illes, his younger brother Anthony, and further family.