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Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and her Trakehner mare, TSF Dalera BB, are one of the embellished mixtures ever to compete in dressage. Collectively they’ve received gold medals on the Olympic Video games, European Championships, World Championships and World Cup Finals.
The names they’ve overwhelmed alongside the way in which learn like a Who’s Who of recent dressage greats – together with Weihegold OLD, Bella Rose, Glamourdale, Showtime and Imhotep.
Nonetheless, regardless of the convenience and concord Jessica and Dalera can current between the boards, none of their victories have come simply. As an alternative, their continued success is a narrative of continuous enchancment, psychological fortitude and years of onerous work – with some spectacular comebacks thrown in for good measure.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Dalera’s beginnings
Dalera (Straightforward Recreation x Handryk) was bred by the late Silke Druckenmüller, a two-time winner of the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses (WBFSH) Dressage Breeder of the 12 months.
Owned by Jessica’s long-term sponsor Beatrice Bürchler-Keller, Dalera has been ridden by Jessica all of her aggressive life and is the principle successor to her breakthrough companion Unee BB who retired in 2018.
In these early years collectively, Jessica defined on The Horse & Hound Podcast that Dalera might be somewhat tense however already confirmed a lot potential within the piaffe and passage. “She’s all the time had a variety of power and she or he’s very, very good, in order quickly as she understood find out how to use her physique and she or he bought extra energy, it bought very easy for her.”
The pair made their worldwide debut collectively in 2016 when Dalera was 9 years outdated at Lamprechtshausen CDI3* in Austria, the place they had been second within the prix st georges (PSG) on 72.28% and first within the inter I on 71.92%.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl using TSF Dalera BB throughout the Longines FEI Dressage World Cup Closing 2022 in Leipzig, Germany.
Their worldwide grand prix debut got here two years later in 2018 at Ebreichsdorf CDI3* the place they received the grand prix on 75.06% and the grand prix particular on 76.21%.
A championship debut got here as a part of the German gold medal-winning workforce on the World Equestrian Video games in Tryon, the place they got here ninth within the grand prix on 76.67% and sixteenth within the particular on 73.87% – the freestyle was cancelled resulting from hostile climate circumstances.
Extra championship medals got here in 2019, as Dalera and Jessica received workforce gold with Germany on the European Championships in Rotterdam. Individually, the pair had been left upset with their 76.89% in grand prix – an indication of how far they’d already come by that time.
Jessica had imagined the freestyle was out of her attain, not to mention a person medal. Simply three riders from every nation had been in a position to progress via to the freestyle and this was a German workforce together with Isabell Werth on Bella Rose, Dorothee Schneider on Showtime and Sönke Rothenberger on Cosmo.
However they had been in a position to flip it round and pipped Sönke and Cosmo by simply 0.42% to be the third highest positioned German. Within the freestyle they received their first particular person medal collectively, claiming bronze on 89.10% and scoring nines for the half-passes which had tripped them up within the grand prix.
“Within the particular, I wished it an excessive amount of, and we had too many errors and it was only a large, large portion of luck that we made it into the freestyle as a result of Sönke additionally had errors,” says Jessica. “It was the primary day in my life the place I realised every little thing is feasible.”
Chatting with Horse & Hound on the time she added: “On the primary day I shed tears of unhappiness, in the present day it’s tears of happiness. It’s been exhausting for my feelings, this was the happiest finish I may want for – Dalera felt terribly good in the present day, and there was no second of the check that we misplaced each other.”
Dalera’s rise to greatness
Rotterdam proved to be considerably of a watershed second for Dalera and Jessica as they’d go on to be virtually unbeatable for the subsequent 5 years.
In 2021, Jessica made her Olympic debut on the delayed Tokyo Video games, with Dalera this time popping out on high over Showtime and Bella Rose within the grand prix, the particular and the freestyle, to win each workforce and particular person gold.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl using TSF Dalera BB on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games
Her La La Land freestyle scored 91.73%, the second highest-ever recorded at an Olympics after Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro at Rio in 2016.
“What I felt was that from very first second to the final second she was 100% with me and attempting her coronary heart out for me to carry out,” stated Jessica, who completed her check with a one-handed centre line. “She was so listening to my aids that I couldn’t do an excessive amount of or too little. She was unbelievable tonight.”
The mixture had been tipped to do nicely, with Dalera having already overwhelmed Showtime at Munich CDI4* earlier that 12 months. Jessica admitted that she felt appreciable stress within the run-up to the Video games.
“However I all the time informed myself that Dalera doesn’t know the distinction between the German championships and the Olympics, so why ought to I make a distinction? The one factor we are able to do is to provide our greatest,” she informed Horse & Hound. “However the worry of not performing knocked on my door daily.
“I bear in mind the sensation once I realised that I might be particular person Olympic champion, although it wasn’t positive but, and that feeling was so emotional,” she provides, describing the second she watched Isabell’s rating of 89.6% flash up on the display and realised she was nonetheless holding the highest spot with simply two riders left to go.
“I didn’t anticipate it to be that emotional, nevertheless it confirmed me how a lot I actually wished it. The second you recognize you may obtain your dream is so unbelievable. There was a variety of stress inside me and at that second every little thing simply fell down. It was unbelievable.”
In a bumper summer season, the mixture was again out simply two months later to win workforce and particular person gold once more this time on the European Championships in Hagen.
“It was excellent for me to need to carry out once more [so shortly after the Olympics], to point out that we’re not a one-hit marvel,” Jessica informed Horse & Hound on the time. “It was very emotional – I didn’t anticipate her to be that good once more. That was the very best feeling I’ve ever, ever had. She’s unbelievable.”
She scored 91.02% to win the freestyle, with the judges awarding her 27 10s in complete for his or her piaffes, halts and piaffe-passage transitions – with a lot of these watching, together with Jessica herself, anticipating a good greater rating.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB win particular person gold on the 2023 European Dressage Championships in Riesenbeck.
From Tokyo onwards, Dalera was unbeaten barring a loss within the grand prix qualifying spherical on the German Championships to Sönke and his rising star Fendi in 2023 – a blip she corrected within the grand prix particular to win her third German nationwide title.
That unbeaten, two-year run included two World Cup Closing wins in Leipzig in 2022 and Omaha in 2023 in addition to a European Championship particular person gold and workforce silver medal at Riesenbeck in 2023.
Her European Championship showdown with Lottie Fry and Glamourdale had been billed as a conflict of the titans, with some suggesting beforehand that the then-16-year-old Dalera could have already reached her peak.
That was to not be the case as Jessica and Dalera retained their European title on a private greatest rating of 92.82% – regardless of errors within the one-time tempi adjustments, with out which they may’ve scored much more.
“The most effective phrase to explain my complete week right here is grateful. I’m so grateful to have such an exquisite dancing companion in Dalera, and to have her proprietor right here and my household, my children and all my workforce at house,” stated Jessica on the time. “It’s very particular, and this by no means turns into regular.”
“Each time I’m allowed to enter the world, it’s a present,” she added. “She all the time tries her easiest. It’s simply as much as me. If I’m centered and on level, then she is as nicely. She’s my mirror.”
Jessica places Dalera’s continued success down to a few key components: “Enjoyable, motivation and actually listening to what she wants, and that is what I’m getting higher and higher at.”
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Credit score: Peter Nixon
Credit score: Benjamin Clark
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