Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann leaves Iron Dames team
Janne Meyer no longer an Iron Dame – “There are different opinions”
from Dominique Wehrmann 
Janne Meyer-Zimmermann has had some great successes this year with Iron Dames High Level, like here in Doha. Photo: Lukasz Kowalski At the beginning of 2024, Swiss rider Deborah Mayer, who has made a career as a racing rider herself, founded the Iron Dames team, the first all-women’s team in the Global Champions Tour. She recruited the three German show jumpers Sophie Hinners, Katrin Eckermann and Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, among others. She invested heavily in top horses and the team was extremely successful. For example, she acquired Dubai du Cedre by Julien Epaillard for Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann and the highly successful Cydello under Richard Vogel for Katrin Eckermann. However, both Cydello and Dubai du Cedre were sold again last fall, Cydello to Edwina Tops-Alexander and Dubai du Cedre to Abdullah Al Sharbatly. At the same time, it became known that a whole series of luxury cars owned by Deborah Mayer were auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Separate paths
Now Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann explains on her Instagram page that the two remaining Iron Dames horses from her stable, Just a Dream and High Level, have left her stable. She writes:
“I am very attached to the two horses, as we have invested a lot of time and heart and soul in the partnership and our future together over the last few years and have carefully worked towards great goals.
There are differing views on sport planning and the handling of horses, including whether a horse should take part in competitions if the attending vet specifies that it should only be allowed to do light, non-strenuous dressage work or when a horse has competed in enough competitions and won enough prize money.
My philosophy and idea of horsemanship is different …”
The JFMZ philosophy of horsemanship
In a second post, Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann explains what horsemanship means to her:
“Especially in top-class sport, it is important to be aware of your role model function, to take responsibility and to give horses the time they need for their development and health, as well as to take regular breaks and necessary rehabilitation phases.
Of course, everyone who goes to a show wants to do well and be successful, and of course you and the horse owners are happy when the horses achieve many successes through victories or placings or win prize money.
But success must never come at the expense of the horses!
Horses are not racing cars.
Horses are our partners, friends or even part of the family.”
It’s fair to say that the horses are part of the Meyer family. Her Aachen winner Lambrusco stands in the pasture with her parents and is in excellent health at the age of 28. Her first great success horse, the home-bred Callisto, died in 2025 at the age of 31.
