The Schockemöhle era comes to an end for Isabel Freese; her new home: Martin Determann's stallion farm

Isabel Freese is about to move, though it will be within Lower Saxony. In early December, the Norwegian-born rider will move from Mühlen to Vechta. Her collaboration with the Schockemöhle stud farm is coming to an end. Isabel Freese is striking out on her own. Her new home will be Martin Determann’s stud farm in Vechta.

Isabel Freese is looking forward to her new workplace: “Martin’s facility offers ideal housing and training conditions for horses in training and for sale. And, of course, for stud stallions as well. I’ll be joined by my longtime groom, Christin Geske, and my students—the two up-and-coming riders Martha Raupach and Paul Jöbstl. It’s simply wonderful to be able to tackle these new tasks and challenges with such a well-coordinated team.”

And Total Hope? It remains to be seen whether—and in what form—she will continue to ride her winning horse.

Isabel Freese’s Career

Total Hope, a son of Totilas, has been Isabel Freese’s most successful horse in recent years. As a six-year-old, this strong-willed Oldenburg, out of Weihegold OLD, had competed at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses while still under Swedish training. A year later, Freese rode him to a bronze medal at that same event. They won both the Nuremberg Burg-Pokal and the Louisdor Prize finals before going on to compete internationally. The pair competed in two World Championships and two European Championships, as well as the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2025 World Cup Final, where they finished in a strong third place.

When it came to championships, it worked in Isabel Freese’s favor that she is Norwegian and by far the most successful dressage rider in her home country, which she left at just over 20 years of age to put the finishing touches on her riding skills here in Germany. As a rider, she initially worked at the stables of Roger Seegert and Holga Finken. The latter became her most influential mentor.

Vitalis and others

Isabel Freese wasn’t just highly successful with Total Hope. When she joined Paul Schockemöhle’s stable in 2014, she began riding, among others, the KWPN stallion Bordeaux, who had already been trained by Eva Möller up to the Grand Prix level. Riding him, Freese competed in the first championship of her career, the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg.

She rode Fürsten-Look, a son of Fürstenball, first to the Bundeschampionat title in the dressage arena and later to a bronze medal at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. She also guided the mare Fasine to the title of National Champion before she was sold. Freese’s performances with Vitalis, with whom she won the 2016 final of the Nuremberg Burg Cup, also remain unforgettable.

However, the son of Vivaldi was—and still is—in such high demand as a stud horse that juggling both competition and breeding would be too much for him, Isabel Freese explained in the past to EQUI PAGES, explaining why Vitalis no longer competes.

The Determann Family Looks Forward to

“We can hardly wait to get started,” says Martin Determann, full of anticipation for his new colleague at the stable. “With Isabel Freese, we can offer our clients one of the most distinguished trainers around for the training of their breeding stallions. This perfectly rounds out our services in the area of stallion care and management.”

He says, “The collaboration with Isabel should be of great interest to our clients and other stallion owners. Not only can they have their studs perfectly managed through our station and made available to breeders, but they can also have Isabel Freese provide them with the very best training.”

For more information, visit www.hengsthaltung-Determann.de