In an interview with German equestrian magazine ST.GEORG, Helen Langehanenberg's lawyer Helmut Eisner clarified the ending of the partnership between Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill's owners, the Becks family, about her ride on one of the world's most successful dressage horses ever.
In an article titled "Nobody says the truth about Damon Hill" by German journalist Dieter Ludwig, the author quotes a letter from Helen's lawyer in which it was supposedly written that she ended the contracrt for the ride on Damon Hill in a legal letter on 12 September 2014 and not the other way round as Becks' attorney seemed to have suggested in their public statement last week.
Lawyer Eisner clarified to ST.GEORG that this letter was indeed written but not to suggest that Langehanenberg was no longer interested in the ride, but to put pressure on the negotiations which were fruitless. Langehanenberg and the German Olympic Equestrian Committee (DOKR) attempted to reach a deal to extend the contract until the 2016 Rio Olympics but those talks failed.
The past year and a half Helen Langehanenberg was not paid boarding fee, nor riding fees for taking care of Damon Hill or competing him. She did not receive any of the prize giving money she earned with this stallion, who she rode to the the World's number 2 position on the FEI Dressage Ranking. She also had to pay her own way to the shows.
"No progress was made after a first meeting (between Langehanenberg, Becks, and the DOKR)," Eisner explained. "Afterwards we formulated in a letter that a potetential picking up of the stallion from Stable Langehanenberg was possible, but when this is taken out of context it could generate the impression that Helen Langehanenberg was no longer interested to ride Damon Hill. On the contrary! It was more our intention to precisely define for all partiers the circumstances of the intended future cooperation."
Eisner also added that Helen was never after getting "a royal fee for riding" the horse as has been suggested. "She was after a very clearly defined contract about the future, so that all parties involved would have security about the mutual road ahead of Damon Hill and Helen Langehanenberg."
Langehanenberg has refrained from commenting on the situation to any of the German or international media. The only words she has been repetitively stating to the press is that "I love Dami like a god and that will always be so. I owe him everything I accomplished."
Source: ST.GEORG - Photo © Astrid Appels
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