Mar. 4, 2026
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Isabell Werth begins the next stage of her life with horses in a month preparing to focus on development of horses for when she decides to quit competing, though there’s no hint she’s giving up that pursuit just yet.
Her new venture is likened to a hedge fund centered on horses to be developed for owners and for sale, with riders she has helping at her barn.
As the most decorated equestrian in history whose international championship career began in 1989 and is No. 2 rider in the world 37 years later and at the age of 56, Isabell has created her own legend.
Six Olympics, seven World Championships, 26 World Cup Finals and 17 European Championships with 14 different horses. And the sixth ranked of all athletes in the modern history of the Olympic Games.
There’s no letting up for now as she looks to ride her 2024 Olympic gold medal mount Wendy de Fontaine at the World Championships in Aachen, Germany in August, as she’s doing this week at the top rated CDI5* in Herning, Denmark.
She rides up to 10 horses a day and is helped out by Grand Prix riders Lisa Wernitznig of Austria and Niklas Feilzer of Germany that she describes as a “lot of fun to have a good team going in the same direction.”
Isabell spoke to DRESSAGE-NEWS.com after riding at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida, her first non-championship competition in the United States since 2010.
But it wasn’t just a competition–her impact during a week in Wellington was like nothing previously seen in what has become the center of dressage in the Americas as well as home of the world famous Winter Equestrian Festival of jumpers and hunters.
In addition to private clinics, she rode horses and gave lessons at the American base of Helgstrand Dressage that she has partnered with in Germany, and never seemed to tire of answering what appeared to be unending questions.
Most impressive was Isabell’s entry on Special Blend for the Friday night Freestyle–it totally silenced the 2,000 spectators and ended with clapping timed to the steps on the final centerline. Although typical in Europe, the experience displaying such respect is unusual in Wellington since the Friday night Global has become a social gathering for many as much as a horse show.
“As long as I’m competitive and as long as I have great horses, I will keep on going and for sure I will stay in the business to build up horses and this is my passion, this is my profession,” Isabell said of her riding plans.
“This is what I love to do, independent from the competition part, and of course there will come a time where I say, ‘Okay, now it’s enough, we have enough competitions’. There are a lot of other things to do and a lot of other challenges I’m really looking forward to.”
A good friend of her love partner, Wolfgang Urban, came up with the proposal before Wolfgang died last October.
The idea was to give Isabell more financial freedom and more opportunities to find the right horses and to improve them.
Wolfgang, a prominent retail executive, “always tried to give me some different and special input and even though he was not a rider he had a really good eye for the situation and a really good feeling for the atmosphere so that that’s something what I’m still thankful for and taking with me.
“Even I’m then not a competitor for myself, just for also for improving and of course for sale and to create something new without giving up the passion and the vision of each horse,” she said.
Isabell sees so many more things next to competitions and her active career.
“I will have a lot of fun later without competitions and then, of course, also I can really say my opinion. Then I can be really free.
“I have such privilege that I can live what I love and that I can do what I can do best.”
Part 2: Isabell’s observations of US dressage, and immediate future of sport
