Lena Waldmann Leaves Gestut Bonhomme

Dressage

Germany

German professional Grand Prix rider Lena Waldmann has decided to leave her employer of five years, Gestut Bonhomme, to go independent.

Waldmann gave up her career as a flight attendant to began working at Gestut Bonhomme in Werder, Germany, in 2017 and was able to work herself into the German B-squad.

Thriving Collaboration

The collaboration between Waldmann and the Gutmann family was a thriving one. In the years before Lena's arrival, quite a few trainers came and went, but with Waldmann it was a match and both flourished from the partnership. Waldmann finally got high quality horse stock to train up the levels and she had the hunger to go out and compete, a lot. St. Georg reported that she achieved no less than 113 S-level victories. She brought name and recognition to Bonhomme's breeding stallions.

Aboard the Oldenburg licensing champion Morricone, Waldmann rode the 2019 Nurnberger burgpokal finals and 2021 Louisdor Cup finals, twice entering the finals after another combination dropped out. In 2020 she rode stallion Grey Flanell in the Louisdor Cup Finals. With Fiderdance she was a B-squad member.

Independence

Waldmann has now followed her boyfriend, show jumping rider Felix Hassmann, to Lienen (GER), where she will begin her own independent business.

"It was an incredibly difficult decision, because the time at Gestut Bonhomme was grand," said Waldmann. "Together we achieved so much and I'm very proud, happy, and incredibly grateful for what I got to experience the past five years."

Bonhomme is now in search of a new head rider to lead the time alongside assistants Katharina Heine and Peggy Nears.