Newsletter Equi Pages June 8, 2026 - DM Balve Dressage: Isabell Werth names "less control" as the recipe for success, Dante's Pearl in the fast lane

“Less control” – this term in a headline of the German Equestrian Federation (FN)/Pferdesport Deutschland success announcements makes people sit up and take notice. The two words come from a quote that Isabell Werth made to the press after winning her 19th title at the German Championships in Balve last weekend. It was just a continuation of what had already been much discussed in Hamburg during the Dressage Derby, and which the twenty-time German champion had already told us in an interview yesterday. Namely that her first reaction to the increasing number of mistakes in the series changes (especially with Wendy) was to want to have “more control”. A concept that did not bring the desired success.

New approach for Werth

That’s why Isabell Werth has flipped the switch. It is now all about “less control”. More “Légèreté”, as Werth says. It would be a little too free an interpretation to say that the Olympic champion is acting like the Disney classic Jungle Book, “Try it with ease”, but in Balve you experienced a different Isabell Werth. There have always been moments in her career when horses have made her change her mind, she says, summing up.

“Less control” – more harmony

Wendy, with whom Werth won her 19th national title in the Grand Prix Special, is one of these horses. The desired lightness – no longer ridden one-handed in Balve, by the way – is not only transferred to the series changes, i.e. the lesson that triggered the (re)thinking process, but also to other moments. In nuances, less is more. A little less steam on the boiler makes the back work better, the tail swings more calmly and … voilá: There is the harmony that is talked about so much. It has arrived in the test arena.

Everyone loves Forster

That was perhaps one of the key moments of these German Championships. Also that this point of view is reflected in the judges’ decisions. This is demonstrated by the placement of a pair from the “second row”: Tobias Nabben and Forster have a horse that my colleague Dominique Wehrmann has had a crush on since the final of the Louisdor Prize 2025. (But not in such a way that she would throw her journalistic values overboard in love with shock). Forster is a horse that nobody wanted because he was difficult, about to be “disposed of”. We already wrote about his story two months ago. The Hanoverian is a rather inconspicuous horse. When he starts to move, you can recognize his good training.

Why Forster is setting an example

To be honest, it didn’t give me palpitations at first. I can get excited about well-ridden horses. Even in eventing dressage, there are moments of wonderful riding when you realize how beautiful a horse that has not been bred exclusively for dressage can look in the arena. Not that I think Forster belongs in the bush, but it took me a while to get really excited. At the latest after the first piaffe and the first passages, I suddenly looked differently. This lightness. Dancing. This unity of horse and rider. This – here we go again – harmony. Simply beautiful. And even more beautiful that such a horse under the saddle of perhaps not a no-name but at most a local hero can then finish fifth in the DM final.

DM Dressage: Cancellations before and on site

It can now be argued that the starting field was decimated by absences in the run-up(Katharina Hemmer Denoix) and on site – fever and quarantine for Quick Decision and box neighbors – and that new faces therefore have a better chance. That may be the case, but Forster received 77.5 percent from the Olympic judges. And there’s nothing to argue with that.

Bronze for Dante’s Pearl OLD and Charlott-Maria Schürmann

Keyword new faces: Dante’s Pearl OLD and Charlott-Maria Schürmann are already old acquaintances for regular readers of our newsletter. The pair had their big moment at the DM: Bronze in the Grand Prix Special, one point behind team Olympic champion Frederic Wandres with Bluetooth OLD in the Grand Prix, fourth in the freestyle. The pair were then nominated for the Nations Cup in Hagen. They have now joined the ranks of those who can hope to be nominated for the World Championships. (If you would like to get to know them better: We had a long chat with Charlott-Maria Schürmann and compiled 10 facts about the new dream couple ).

Raphael Netz sets an example

One rider – and this concludes my rather extensive personal analysis of the championships in Balve – who did not make the Nations Cup team in Hagen should not be written off just yet: Raphael Netz. He had two horses in the top 10 in the Grand Prix Special, both of which improved in many ways. He won bronze in the freestyle with Great Escape Camelot. I could well imagine him in Aachen at the World Championships. But it’s still a few weeks until then.

With this in mind, best regards and see you next Monday!

Jan Tönjes

jan.toenjes@equi-pages.de

This text was first published on May 18, 2026. Every Monday, Jan Tönjes comments on the events of the previous week in our newsletter on EQUI PAGES.

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