The Olympic, world and European medal-winning stallion Damon Hill has died aged 24, after a happy retirement.

The Donnerhall son, who with Helen Langehanenberg was on the German team that won silver at London 2012, and team European gold a year later, had spent his twilight years with his owner Christian Beck’s family.

“Farewell to a very special horse,” said Christian’s daughter Jil Marielle Becks.

“Sadly, we had to say our final goodbyes to our beloved Damon Hill. Dami has had a fulfilling and successful life, characterised by big moments in the dressage quartet.”

Damon Hill was trained to grand prix level by Ingrid Klimke. When Ingrid was injured in 2005, Damon Hill and Helen won the five-year-old young horse World Championships title.

In 2006, the stallion won the six-year-old title with Ingrid, but the ride went to Helen in 2010.

They became stalwarts of the German team, who also won two individual silver medals at the 2013 European Championships, team gold at that year’s World Cup final and team gold and two individual silvers at the 2014 World Equestrian Games.

They were among the few who could challenge Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro in their heyday, beating them at Aachen in 2014.

“Every time you think with him that things are already perfect, he gets better again,” Helen said after the 2013 World Cup Final.

Their partnership came to an end in 2014, when Christian said Damon Hill would stand at stud. He also competed internationally with Jil.

“Dami was allowed to spend the last years of his life with us, where he could enjoy his well-deserved retirement in the best attention and care,” said Jil. “His expression, his personality, his offspring and the memories he gave us will stay with us for ever.”

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The top German duo have parted company after negotiations to extend the partnership until the 2016 Olympics failed

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Teenage rider Jil-Marielle Becks will be making her grand prix debut with dressage star Damon Hill this winter.

The stallion was on the German silver medal-winning team at London 2012 with Helen Langehanenberg. The pair also won team and individual medals at the World Equestrian Games in 2014.

Helen, who stood as world number two behind Charlotte Dujardin, lost the ride on Damon Hill in November last year. He remained at the yard of his owner, Chris Beck.

Chris’ lawyer said an agreement for Helen to stay under contract until the 2016 Olympics could not be reached.

Jil, Chris’ daughter, took on the ride and presented the horse in public for the first time in a demonstration on 15 March at Equitana, a high profile German show.

The 18-year-old went on to produce top scores with the Westphalian at their first few shows earlier this year. However, Damon Hill sustained an injury that stopped the pair competing.

“I am glad that he is fit again and we can focus on the next task,” said Jil.

Jil and Damon Hill made a winning international debut earlier this year as last-minute entrants to the Horses And Dreams show in Hagen, Germany (22-26 April).

They won the one-star prix st georges (PSG) class with 79.21%. The five individual judge’s marks ranged from 77.23% to 81.71%, with both the highest and lowest scores from the two German judges.

The new partnership’s score in Hagen easily exceeded the 64% target to qualify for potential nomination for the young rider European Championships.

Helen and Damon Hill’s career highlights

• 2012: team silver London Olympics

• 2013: team gold and two individual silvers European championships

• 2013 team gold FEI world cup final

• 2014: team gold and two individual silvers World Equestrian Games

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Once again, with the news Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill are nolonger a partnership, we have an illustration of how precarious a situation riders can be in with owners. I can’t stress enough the importance of having a watertight agreement from the beginning. Possibly a good arrangement is for riders to work towards a share in the horse, which not only gives a rider a leg to stand on if something goes wrong, but also illustrates the rider’s commitment to training the horse.

That this top pair, so harmonious and lovely to watch, will no longer be seen together is really sad. They’ve given us so much excitement, especially over the past two years. I feel for Helen.

Still the epitome

Questions on the relevance to dressage of the Spanish Riding School are still making their way into print I notice. Maybe in terms of their performance compared to the power and impulsion of competitive dressage, we could say not as much as we would hope. However, as far as correct riding and presentation go, the Spanish Riding School is still the epitome. Granted, the Lipizzaner as a breed and type does not have the scope of its warmblood friends, but I still think we need to go back to the overall terms of good riding and good training, not labels like “classical” and “competitive”, as there are good and bad points on both sides.

After six days of touring with the Spanish Riding School and plenty of talking in the evenings with these great guys, it became clear they have their hands tied in being wedded to tradition.

Very proud of it they are too, but not too proud to discuss their fears for the future of the school and the huge economic strain they’re under now that they’re responsible for their own funding.

The Spanish Riding School still produces a wonderful spectacle, and if you didn’t see them this time round, do try and get a seat for the next tour — which, bearing in mind the above, probably won’t be too far in the future.

I really enjoyed watching the performances, although I admit the in-hand work is not really appealing to me. Not least when one handler was nearly flattened by his horse. As he rose to his feet in true stiff upper lip fashion as the spotlight was quickly trained off him, I could feel his pain. Anyone who has had a horse stand on your toes can still only imagine what it’s like to have a horse land on you from a courbette!

Nicky needs bottling

Nicky Chapman, who presented the Spanish Riding School tour, is a truly wonderful lady. Not only is she a huge TV and radio star in her own right — she was one of the first judges of Pop Idol — but she’s a keen amateur rider.

You may remember poor Nicky getting trampled during the Only Fools on Horses series. And somehow we managed to flatten her here during a dressage lesson too, but apart from these minor accidents she remains as passionate as ever about her riding — and she has got bottle to get back up and back on!

Her hosting of the Spanish Riding School shows is a fantastic way of helping the public understand what’s going on. Nicky was also an ambassador for dressage during London 2012.

British Dressage should not miss a trick with this lady; she is willing and able to help promote equestrian sport at every opportunity. After our return from the Spanish Riding School tour, Nicky called and said she was in Gloucestershire filming Escape to the Country, and had just finished, so could the team pop round and film a five minute slot with us?

She did, and it aired last week. She could make our sport more understandable to a non-equestrian audience at our national championships or another big show. Let’s not miss a chance to engage Nicky — she holds the key to a lot of TV!

This column was originally published in H&H magazine on Thursday 27 November, 2014

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The competition career of Germany’s top dressage duo Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW has come to an end.

The popular pair were part of the silver medal-winning German Olympic team and took team gold and two individual silvers at this summer’s FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games (pictured top).

Although Helen — who is currently world number two behind Charlotte Dujardin — has lost the ride, the stallion will remain with his owner Christian Beck and will not be sold.

Now 14 years old, Damon Hill left Helen’s Munster stables over a month ago, but it wasn’t until two days ago (Monday 10 November), that it was confirmed the partnership was over.

Helen’s contract to ride the grand prix star finished on 31 October. Christian Becks said the stallion will now remain in his ownership and will stand at stud.

Earlier this year (September) Mr Becks’ lawyer said that despite rumours, the horse was no longer for sale and that there were ongoing discussions to extend the partnership with Helen.

But a statement from lawyer Andreas Kleefisch this week said an agreement for Helen to stay under contract until the 2016 Olympics could not be reached.

“The successful collaboration between Helen Langehanenberg and their successful horse Damon Hill is over. Negotiations on an extension finally failed, the ideas about the conditions were too far apart,” read the statement.

Damon Hill: dressage star

Damon Hill (Donnerhall x Rubinstein) started off his career with Ingrid Klimke — Helen’s former trainer — who trained him to grand prix level.

In 2005 Ingrid broke her shoulder, so Helen, then 23, competed Damon Hill at the World Young Horse Championships. The pair won the five-year-old section.

A year later he won the six-year-old championship with Ingrid. In 2010 the ride transfered to Helen, after it was reported an agreement couldn’t be reached between the owners and Ingrid regarding his breeding and competition schedule.

The duo have become very popular and the news will be a huge disappointment to dressage fans. They were one of the few partnerships to challenge Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro and we were one of the few to beat the British pair when they had a dip in form at Aachen in July 2014.

“Every time you think with him that things are already perfect, he gets better again,” Helen said of him after winning the World Cup final in 2013. 

Helen and Damon Hill’s career highlights

• 2012: team silver London Olympics
• 2013: team gold and two individual silvers European championships
• 2013 team gold FEI world cup final
• 2014: team gold and two individual silvers World Equestrian Games

Helen Langehanenberg wins Reem Acra FEI World Cup dressage final

The German rider produced a personal best with Damon Hill to claim the title from former World Cup champion Adelinde

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Germany is sending a highly competitive dressage team to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Normandy next month.

After their dual wins at Aachen last week (17-20 July), Totilas and Matthias Rath (pictured top) spearhead the team.

The pair won the Nations Cup grand prix and the grand prix special, in a shock defeat of Olympic gold medal winners Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro.

Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW, Kristina Sprehe and Desperados FRH and Isabell Werth and Bella Rose (reserve horse Don Johnson) complete the team.

Reserves are Fabienne Lutkemeier and D’Agostino, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Unee BB) and Dorothee Schneider with Forward Looking.

Stay up to date with the latest news in the run-up to, and during, WEG on Horseandhound.co.uk

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German eventer and dressage rider Ingrid Klimke has lost the ride on her grand prix stallion Damon Hill NRW.

The horse is currently standing at the Ruscher-Konermann stud.

A statement on Ingrid’s website said the horse would not return to her yard as no agreement could be made between herself and Damon Hill’s owners, the Becks family, regarding the management of the stallion with respect to the scheduling and coodination of his training and studwork.

Damon Hill has been with Ingrid for six years and won the World Young Horse Championships in 2005.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now