Main image: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB at the 2019 FEI European Championship in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Image by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images for FEI.
Olympic dressage champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl has today announced the retirement of her gold medal winning mare, TSF Dalera BB, at the age of 17.
Jessica made the announcement via a video on social media, paying tribute to her equine partner and the glittering career they have shared together.
“Now some time has passed, I am slowly starting to realise what happened over the last few weeks,” said Jessica. “To be honest, I’m only just beginning to realise what has happened over the last few years.”
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB at the Paris Olympic Games. Image by FEI/Benjamin Clark.
Together Jessica and Dalera have become four-time Olympic gold medallists [team and individual gold at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024], FEI World Championship gold medallists [team gold at Tryon 2018], six-time European Championship gold medallists [team gold at Rotterdam 2019; team, Special and Freestyle gold at Hagen 2021; and Special and Freestyle gold at Riesenbeck 2023], seven-time German Champions, CHIO Aachen winners, and two-time FEI World Cup Final winners [Leipzig 2022 and Omaha 2023] as well as notching up ten FEI World Cup qualifier wins.
“Dalera came to me when she as eight years old. It has been an incredibly beautiful journey with her. Together with Beatrice [co-owner Béatrice Buerchler-Keller] and our family and trainers, we have decided that Dalera will no longer take part in competition,” said Jessica.
“This journey has been something so special for me and fortunately it is not over yet. We can keep Dalera here in Aubenhausen [Jessica’s training base with brother Benjamin Werndl in Germany] until her last breath and I am already looking forward to many more wonderful years with her,” she continued.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB at the Tokyo Olympics. Image by FEI/Shannon Brinkman.
On the topic of any farewell shows or future public appearances, Jesscia said: “What else will we do: I wouldn’t call it farewell shows, but a few joyful appearances… so far we have planned to come to Neumünster to celebrate with the Trakehners at the end of November [Trakehner Hengstmarkt 28-30 November] and to Basel in January [Longines CHI Classics Basel 9-12 January]. “I know that Dalera loves her stage so much, and that’s why it’s important to me that she gets to do this a few more times.”
“Dalera has been so much more to me than just my sport partner over the last few years” reflected Jessica. “I’ve never experienced anything before like connecting with a horse on such a soul level that we didn’t need words… we just understood each other. I always knew what she needed, and she always knew everything; she just understood me, and she still understands me today.
“That is the beauty of it. I simply love spending time with her…. it’s like no era I’ve ever experienced before in my life, and I don’t know if I will experience it again in this same way.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB at the 2022 World Cup Final in Leipzig. Image by FEI/Richard Juilliart.
“I am just so, so, so grateful to all the people who have accompanied us on this journey. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful time and I am now looking forward to giving Dalera the best years of her life here in Auberhausen… she deserves only one thing, and that is the very best.”
Happy retirement, Dalera!
