Nicola Ahorner Declares for Israel

Dressage

Israel

Austrian Under 25 Grand Prix rider Nicola Ahorner has declared for Israel and will compete for this nation in the future.

Austrian Champion and Youth Team Rider

The 22-year old Ahorner began competing internationally on ponies in 2012. She has represented Austria at the European Pony Championships in 2013 (on Nice Blue Eyes) and 2015 (Dynasty), the European Junior Riders Championships in 2016 and 2017 (on Robbespiere), European Young Rider Championships in 2019 (on Lezard).

The Vienna based Ahorner was also the Austrian national dressage champion on ponies in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and as a Young Rider in 2019. A student in medicine at the Vienna University, Nicola made the transition to Under 25 Grand Prix level in 2021.

She is currently competing horses Foco Loco W and Belstaff at national Grand Prix level in Austria. She also owns the Danish team horse Marshall Bell.

Riding for Israel

Ahorner has decided to declare for Israel in honour of her family's country.

"Being Jewish, it is an honour for me and to represent Israel feels right in my heart," Nicola took to Instagram. "I want to thank the Austrian Federation for their support over the past ten years; I have been proud to represent a country I love… and thank you to the Israeli Federation for the incredibly smooth transition. I can’t wait to start this beautiful new chapter and work towards our shared goals."

To Eurodressage Nicola added, "Because I’m Jewish I’ve always had a deep connection to the country. Both my brother and uncle live in Israel and being in Israel has always been a huge part of my life."

When asked what her future plans are, Nicole replied, "we’ll see what the future brings, but I’ll hopefully still compete my first international Grand Prix this year - otherwise we’ll see how it goes and go from there."

Ahorner is the second dressage rider this month to declare for Israel. Russian Anna Guseynova preceded her.