Isabell Werth


Isabell Werth is a German equestrian and world champion in dressage who competed in the Olympics five times winning ten medals, six of them gold. She holds the record for the most Olympic medals won by any equestrian athlete. In 2009, she was suspended from all tournaments by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports for six months for horse doping.

Career

Werth rode Gigolo, owned by Uwe Schulten-Baumer, her coach from 1986 until 2001. On Gigolo, she won all her championships between 1992 and 2000, save for the 1999 European Championships in Arnheim, where she rode Anthony FRH. In 2006, she started riding Warum Nicht FRH at the international level and with him won the 2007 World Cup in Las Vegas. Warum Nicht retired in 2012. Werth competed at the Olympic Games with Satchmo, who subsequently retired in November 2011. In 2010, Werth started riding El Santo at the international level until the horse was transferred in 2016 to Spanish rider Jose Antonio Garcia Mena. In 2016, Werth secured the ride on Weihegold Old, with whom she won the team gold medal and a silver medal in the Individual Dressage at the Rio Olympics.
Isabell Werth worked alongside Bates Australia to develop the Isebell Dressage Saddle available in Bates and Wintec.

International championship results

Notable horses

On 24 June 2009, the forbidden substance fluphenazine was found in the A-sample from Werth's horse Whisper at a Whitsun tournament at Wiesbaden. She was suspended from all tournaments by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports. On 2 September 2009, the suspension was set by the FEI to six months from 23 June.
Werth subsequently stated that the drug was given to the horse to treat equine shivers—mainly for the safety of the horse's handlers—and that she does not believe the drug influences a horse's ability to compete.

Computer game

In 2007, a PC Game was released called "Isabell Werth – Reitsport". Made by French company Dancing Dots / German publisher Frogster Interactive, it is an Equestrian Simulation with 3-day Eventing, Show Jumping and Cross-Country Riding. Isabell Werth takes a part as an on-screen trainer, giving advice and pointers on how to ride and handle horses during training and eventing. Now out of print, the original websites can be seen at the Internet Archive Wabac machine, and the game itself is now available at Big Fish Games retitled – "Ride! Equestrian Simulation", with a french-man replacing Isabell as the trainer. Isabell's game character file is still in the data structure of the game, and using a patch still available, the game exe can be overwritten, converting it to the original German version, except for the German instructional audio which is missing.