Everyone who has a house or a shop in Isabell's home town Rheinberg had decorated it in black, red and gold today as Isabell Werth's (and Claudia Schiffer's) home town on the Lower Rhine welcomed the "Queen of Dressage" back home.
Everything that had feet (or hooves) was there to cheer Isabell, whose middle name very appropriately is Regina (which is the Latin word for Queen).
A good five or dix dozen horses followed the carriage which drove Isabell through part of the town to the stable of her home club, RV Graf Schmettow Eversael, where a reception had been prepared for her.
The most touching moment came when Dr. Uwe Schulten-Baumer, Isabell's discoverer and long-time coach, made his way quietly through the crowd and stepped up to the podium to hug her.
She acknowledged the gesture in her speech, but also made sure to offer her thanks to Madeleine Winter-Schulze "who stood by me in times when just about everybody else had pretty much pronounced us dead".
All photos copyrighted Barbara Schnell - No Reproduction Allowed without Permission/Payment
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