Over 80 Percent Victory in the Ising Grand Prix Freestyle for Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Kismet

The Grand Prix freestyle at Gut Ising wasn’t the first one Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s Kismet had ever performed, but it was the first one she won. The judges awarded a score of 83.750 percent; however, only three judges were seated in the national arena, rather than the five typically required for international competitions. The judges and spectators were treated to a beautiful freestyle performance by Kismet.

The Ampere daughter would have preferred to skip the holding-back at the beginning and end, but in between she had many truly beautiful moments, such as the traverses at a trot along the center line, the walk—especially the collected walk—and the pirouette-traverse sequences at a canter. The mare also showed significant improvement in the piaffes, cooperating willingly, especially in the piaffe pirouettes. The double changes were executed confidently, though somewhat wobbly, while the single changes worked out on the second attempt.

“You can tell you’re a good team,” commented Christoph Hess. He couldn’t have paid Jessica von Bredow-Werndl a better compliment, because that’s exactly what she’s been working toward ever since she took over Kismet 2024—now 11 years old—from Charlotte Dujardin. Jessica von Bredow-Werndl said, “I’m so grateful. Well, during the first halt, she was a little impatient. We were lucky to have that brief moment when she really held her ground, but then she wanted to move off—which is, of course, a positive sign.” Above all, however, she is grateful for the mare’s progress over the past few weeks. “I think we’re now fully on the right track. The break we took was exactly what we needed, and I think she’s really gaining strength now. I’ve really been able to let go, and now she’s starting to carry her weight properly—and from here on out, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning for the next, hopefully, eight years.”

Quick Decision in second place

The second-ranked championship rider in the freestyle lineup was Benjamin Werndl with his German Championship horse, Quick Decision. The pair began with a fantastic piaffe-passage sequence—one that was truly well-executed, with good weight distribution, steady rhythm, and lively movement. In fact, it seemed as though “Quick” was really in the mood for the freestyle last night at Gut Ising. He was full of energy and drive, so much so that the 2022 World Championship fourth-place finisher had him firmly under control for much of the test and was able to present him in textbook-perfect contact. Only the flying changes didn’t go their way on the first attempt, and on the second, they were only successful with some tension. In the end, they finished in second place with 80.040 percent.

Christoph Hess pointed out the horse’s positive body language, and Benni Werndl was pleased with the praise. “I’m very satisfied. Quick piaffed better today than he has in a long time, and that was my main goal.” As for the problem with the single changes, he explained: “He fell a bit behind me there. That was already the case in the pirouettes, but I was still able to salvage it then. But if you want to ride flawlessly, you shouldn’t have to salvage anything—you should always keep your horse in front of you,” he analyzed self-critically. Nevertheless, this was once again the Quick Decision who was celebrated last year in Frankfurt as one of Germany’s best young horses and who, especially in the piaffe and passage yesterday, showed himself in a way that puts him in contention at the international level.

Class S Dressage Horse Competition, also in Aubenhausen

Before the Grand Prix Freestyle, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl had already won the

Class S Dressage Horse Competition

. There, she rode her seven-year-old Hanoverian Singleton, a son of Secret, to a score of 79.750 percent. The judges awarded the gelding 87.2 percent for basic quality (E) and 72.307 percent for technical execution of the test (C).

That was exactly the score that Uta Härlein also gave to Victoria Nielsen and her Bavarian DSP gelding Blasius, who is also only seven years old. Combined with the 85.8 percent scored by her colleagues in Group E, this totaled 79.050 percent for Nielsen’s Benicio son from Franz Galneder’s successful breeding program, securing second place.

Benjamin Werndl and Embolo finished in third place with 78.250 percent (83.3/72.692), making them, so to speak, the winners of the technical test.

Carla Süß, a student of Werndl, celebrated a fourth-place finish (75.010/80.4/69.615) with Del Sogno, a son of Dante’s Junior who came to Aubenhausen from the Rothenberger stable. Not only has Del Sogno found a new home with the Süß family through the Werndls, but 18-year-old Carla has also taken over Got It—a Danish Louisdor Prize qualifier—from Jessica von Bredow-Werndl.

You can find all the results from Gut Ising here.