German Young Rider Selina Söder Secures Zaire-E as U25 Schoolmaster

Dressage

Germany

German aspiring Under 25 rider Selina Söder has secured the ride on Jessica von Bredow-Werndl's second Grand Prix horse, Zaire-E.

Zaire-E is a 17-year old Dutch warmblood mare by Son de Niro out of Tara (by Jazz). She is bred at Stoeterij Empelaer in The Netherlands.

Zaire-E and Jessica

Under Jessica von Bredow-Werndl the elegant bay mare made her international show debut at Developing Prix St Georges horse level in February 2013 at the CDI Vidauban. She went on to compete in Hagen at small tour two months later.

In 2014 she moved to international medium tour level at the CDI Perl and in October 2014 she did her first international Grand Prix in Kaposvar, Hungary.

In the Wake of Dalera

Since 2014 Werndl and Zaire-E have consistently competed at international Grand Prix level at numerous high profile competitions across Europe.

As Jessica's career took flight aboard her number one in the barn, Dalera BB, the scores for Zaire-E profited from this increasing fame. In Dalera's wake, Zaire's scores also moved up to unprecedented levels. As of 2019 her Grand Prix horses were boosted to a consistent level of 75 and 77% with Werndl capturing trophies in Ebreichsdorf, Munich, Mariakalnok, and Doha, amongst many other top placings.

This year Zaire-E was short listed for the German Olympic team and considered Jessica's reserve horse for Tokyo.

Schoolmaster for Söder

Jessica and Zaire at the 2018 CDIO Aachen

With the mare turning 18 in 2022, a new path in her life has been chosen.

Selina Söder, who was selected on the German team for the 2020 European Young Riders Championships in Budapest but had to withdraw due to an injury of her top horse Rendezvous, has received the ride on Zaire-E as her Under 25 hopeful.

The mare will stay at Jessica's farm in Aubenhausen, Germany, where Söder will be trained on Zaire-E. She used to train with Oliver Oelrich.

"She will now pass on her experience in a new way," said Jessica. "We are very happy to support Selina Söder in the U25 tour. With Selina we have found a very sensitive rider and the two harmonized incredibly well right from the beginning. As the current No. 9 in the world, World Cup winner and ideal teacher, Zaire has accompanied me for the past 12 years and will continue to live her life in Aubenhausen in the future. The same loved ones around her (including me), the same field for her daily routine and complete management remain. We find it exciting to pass on our philosophy and to accompany them and we look forward to spending time together."

Selina Söder is the daughter of Markus Söder, the president of the province of Bavaria in Germany. Selina began her international dressage career on ponies in 2014 (Schapur) and made her international show debut in 2019 on Scuderia. In 2020 she successfully competed Luca Michels' Rendezvous.

Selina’s last competition start dates back to October 2020.