Yara Reichert Severely Injured in Trailer Accident

Dressage

Germany

German FEI dressage rider and stallion owner Yara Reichert got severely injured in an accident at a local competition in Eggenfelden (GER) on 11 June 2023.

Yara's son Taran competed his horse Levisto's Erbe at this show and the accident happened afterwards near the trailer, where Yara was standing with her two children.

Trailer Accident

"The horse kicked the trailer open, everything was closed. He kicked the whole back open. He was in a panic. He kicked the whole back open. Luckily it got me and not my daughter," Yara told Eurodressage.

Yara was immediately transported to the emergency room of the local hospital for a diagnosis. She underwent surgery to stabilise the fractures and was hospitalised for more than a week. She only just returned home to begin the long road of recovery from her injuries.

"I have seven broken ribs, shoulder dislocated and broken, the femur is broken," Yara explained. "It's a tough time. I'm in a valley of pain and not feeling well at all," Reichert. "It's a hard time at the moment."

This major health set back has made her realise that you have to "be very careful when handling horses with children. That's the only message I can give. We underestimate the will power horses have. They are so gentle and so wonderful, but when they are in a panic it comes as a surprise how much force there is."

Yara Reichert

The 53-year old Reichert (née Wortmann) was born into a horsey family. Father Claude and mother Ragnild were avid eventing riders and she grew up around horses. The family owned a small farm where they kept and bred their horses while they ran a big shoe production company.

After high school Yara studied communication, law, and politics at university in Munich and spent seven years abroad. Horses were put on the back burner. She started the next chapter of her life building her professional career first as a model and then as a CEO of multiple companies, beginning in the early 2000s with online betting and gaming agencies (Alloo, WinUnited, Wettstar). She also headed a communications company (Publicia International) and a consultancy agency (TML).

She married Olivier Reichert, the former CEO of Birkenstock, and started a family. Her interest in horses never disappeared and in 2008 her passion was rekindled when she received the horse Schwarze Perle (by Sandro Hit x Rohdiamant) as a present for the birth of her first son in 2008.

Her international show career began in 2018 at small tour level with Schwarze Perle and Shiva (by San Schufro x Dresemann). Three years later, in 2021, Reichert has shifted her dressage career into a higher gear by buying stallions Springbank II and Valverde, which she both competed at the 2021 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, and Furst Bayram and Special Diva at Hof Kasselmann.

At the 2022 CDI Hagen at Hof Kasselmann she received her Golden Rider's Badge from the German Equestrian Federation for 10 S-level victories achieved. She has also been competed Damora (by Don Juan de Hus x Don Bedo), Ferromir (by Feedback x Laureus) and Force Majeure (by Furstenball x Sir Donnerhall) alongside the four horses she bought in 2021.

Since the spring of 2022 she runs her own yard, Gut Erlbach, near Landshut, Germany.