FOUR-time Olympic champion TSF Dalera BB, wearing a Micklem bridle, got a standing ovation from the St Jakobshalle crowds, when the Trakehner mare made her farewell appearance at Basel last Sunday.

She and Jessica von Bredow-Werndl performed their Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien Freestyle together, in front of an audience including her family, Dalera BB’s owner Beatrice Bürcher-Keller and the mare’s grooms, Anna Liebing and Franzi Leonhart.

Also watching on was German equestrian journalist and family friend Sabine Neumann, who had first spotted Jessica’s talent “at a small horse show when she was a child, riding little ponies. She qualified one pony for the Bundeschampionat and, when Jessica was about four years old, she said, ‘I want to be an Olympic winner!’. She worked very hard for this, now she is 38 years old but still, she’s a little bit like a pony girl!

“It was a wonderful journey, she was very good with Unee BB, but it was such a pleasure to see her growing with Dalera. Now the journey is over, but Dalera will remain at Aubenhausen (the von Bredow-Werndl farm, near Munich) and they will still be a team. She loves her horses.”

There was another reason for Neumann’s interest. “The Trakehner population comes from the eastern part of Germany that was lost after WWII. My grandfather was a breeder of Trakehners and they saved so many during the Great Trek [westwards to safety]. In a way, I think the spirit of this might be in the background her, because the Trakehners are so special.”

‘Hunted’

Young members of the Swiss Equestrian Talent programme had a unique photo opportunity with the German dressage champion at last Saturday’s meet and greet session, arranged by the Media Centre team.

“One of the first highlights definitely was to win the LouisDor final [with Dalera BB] in 2017. Two years later, after the Freestyle at the Europeans in 2019, I knew everything is possible, that I can really get to the very top. And two years later, we made it in Tokyo,” von Bredow-Werndl told The Irish Field.

“Then there were three years of being hunted, not being the hunter. The pressure in Paris compared to Tokyo was completely different; it was actually horrible. Everyone thinks now, ‘She has no horses coming up!’ But it’s good, I wanted to take the pressure off. I didn’t want a smooth transition. I see it as an opportunity for myself to just take a deep breath,” said the mother-of-two about building up a new team of horses, including Discover and Charlotte Dujardin’s former horse, Kismet.