Totilas headlines German dressage team for Europeans
Totilas and Matthias Rath have been selected as part of the German dressage team heading to the European championships in Aachen next month
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl is a German grand prix dressage rider and European medallist, who won team and individual gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 with TSF Dalera BB.
Jessica was born on 16 February 1986. Her mother Micaela was a member of the German junior ski team for seven years, and her father Klaus is a German national sailing champion. When the family moved to Aubenhausen in southern Germany in 1993, Jessica and her brother Benjamin Werndl took up riding, as did their mother.
Building a senior career
Jessica had a very successful dressage career as a junior and young rider, winning six gold medals in youth ranks with Bonito and Duchess. After university she spent three months living in the UK, basing her horses with Emile Faurie, in order to improve her English.
She and Benjamin took over the running of Aubenhausen, and developed it into a dressage training and competition yard. In 2012, Jessica was given the ride on the Gribaldi stallion Unee BB, owned by Beatrice Bürchler-Keller. Jessica’s successes with Unee include:
• 7th, World Cup Final 2014
• 3rd, World Cup Final 2015
• Team bronze and individual 7th, European Championships 2015
• 3rd, World Cup Final 2016
• 3rd, World Cup Final 2018
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s horses
Jessica’s current top horses are Zaire-E, a 17-year-old KWPN mare by Son De Niro x Jazz, and TSF Dalera BB, a 14-year-old Trakehner mare by Easy Time x Handryk. Her recent achievements include:
• Team gold and individual 9th, World Equestrian Games 2018 (TSF Dalera BB)
• Team gold and individual bronze, European Championships 2019 (TSF Dalera BB)
• Team and individual gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (TSF Dalera BB)
Jessica also headed the Western European League for the FEI World Cup in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, but the final in both seasons was cancelled.
Personal life
Jessica is married to German national eventer Max von Bredow, and they have a four-year-old son, Moritz. Jessica and her husband are vegan, which Jessica says has helped boost her health and her riding.
Alongside her brother Benjamin, Jessica has launched a fitness programme for riders, called DressurFit, and Abenhausen Acadamy, a dressage training programme. She has also written a book, Das Glück der Erde (the Happiness of the Earth), which was published in 2020. An English translation is set to be released in 2021.
