Dressage-News

FRANKFURT, Germany, Dec. 18, 2017–Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has been successful on the international stage since dominating the European Young Rider Championships in 2004, but her performances sweeping the CDI4* and triumph in Germany’s developing Grand Prix championship at the Frankfurt Christmas show were remarkable. All the more so in that the 31-year-old Jessica has been back in the competition arena just four months since giving birth to her first child.

Since returning to competition after the six-month baby break, she has won three of six starts on Unee BB, her German team European Championship and three-time World Cup final mount–twice capturing bronze–before the Frankfurt success. Until now, Zaire-E had been her backup Big Tour ride, while on TSF Dalera BB, a 10-year-old Trakehner mare, she took the Louisdor Prize to spark the headline, “Frauenpower.”

The final of the Louisdor Prize for developing Grand Prix horses is paired at Frankfurt with the longer established Nürnberger Burg-Pokal for young small tour horses as German championships.

“I don’t know why I have such a run since I got my baby boy,” said Jessica of the birth of Moritz on Aug. 14. “Maybe I’m even cooler (calmer) or I have an even better feeling?

“Anyway, I love my new life as a mummy.”

Jessica is known as a fierce competitor in a nation where being selected from one of the most crowded fields in the world for a championship team is a high honor and most years guarantees gold medal. She narrowly missed out on the 2014 World Equestrian Games that did win gold, but made the 2015 European Championship team that took bronze.

Motherhood has changed her focus; she says she is more grounded now.

“I used to get up and think,  ‘it’s the World Cup right now’.” she laughs. “Today I get up and think, ‘what about Moritz’.”

“Of course my big goal would be the qualification for Tryon,” she told dressage-news.com about aiming for the World Equestrian Games in North Carolina in September.

“I will focus on all three horses to keep them fit and and try to get the best with them.”

Jessica said she has no plan yet for Dalera’s first international Grand Prix but has next March in mind for the horse that she describes as “always wants to do everything right and so can.”

Although both Unee BB and Zaire are experienced Big Tour horses, history shows that success can come quickly for winners of the Louisdor Prize.

Dorothee Schneider and Sammy Davis Jr. took the title in 2016 then were selected for Germany’s European Championship gold medal team this year. Weihegold OLD was ridden by Beatrice Buchwald when assistant trainer to Isabell Werth to the Nürnberger Burg-Pokal title in 2013 and the Louisdor championship in 2014 then, with Isabell in the saddle, made the 2016 Olympic and 2017 European Championship gold medal teams as well as capturing the Omaha World Cup title.

As summed up by Dr. Dietrich Plewa, a FEI 5* judge at Frankfurt after Dalera received two marks of 10 for passage-piaffe-passage transitions in the Louisdor final, the quality of the mare’s movements has her “definitely tapping on the Olympic team.”