On 26 June 2025 retired dressage judge Uwe Mechlem celebrated his 90th birthday. A business graduate, Uwe lives in Mittenwald, Germany.
Through his father Franz, a freight forwarding entrepreneur from Murnau in Upper Bavaria, Uwe Mechlem came in contact with horses and celebrated his first successes in the saddle at an early age.
Even as a youth, he was multi-disciplinary, skilled in dressage and show jumping. He was a six-time Bavarian jumping champion and two-time Bavarian dressage champion.
In the early 1960s, he passed his judge's exam, judged internationally from 1974 onwards, was admitted to the circle of "O" judges in 1988-1989 and subsequently sat at the judge's table at numerous championships: countless German Championships, three European Championships, four World Cup finals, and the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.
From 1981 to 2002, he was a member of the Dressage Committee of the German Equestrian Olympic Committee (DOKR), serving as its chairman for two years although his resignation at the time was highly controversial after a crisis in German dressage sport. From 1994 to 1998, he was member of the FEI Dressage Committee and played a key role in developing a new championship format, including the freestyle.
For his services to equestrian sport, he was awarded the German Equestrian Cross in Gold in 2000.
At the beginning of 2015, Uwe Mechlem was appointed for the second time to the FEI's Judges Supervisory Panel (JSP), a panel of distinguished dressage judges tasked with correcting controversial judging decisions at championships.
Mechlem celebrated his 90th birthday in the presence of some close friends.
Related Links
Uwe Mechlem Returns on Judging Supervisory Panel
Uwe Mechlem Resigns as Chairman of German Dressage Selection Committee