Annabella Pidgley Buys Half Ownership of Proud James
World champion and breeding stallion Proud James will continue his breeding career in Denmark at Helgstrand Dressage following a successful stay with Helgstrand’s German partner, Isabell Werth. At the same time, it has now been announced that British top rider Annabella Pidgley has purchased a 50% share in the stallion.
Proud James has already established himself as one of the world’s most used breeding stallions while also demonstrating exceptional qualities for the TOP SPORT. In 2025, Proud James won the World Championship for 5-year-old horses with Helgstrand Dressage rider Mette Sejberg Jensen in the saddle.
Annabella Pidgley is among the biggest young profiles in international dressage sport. Throughout her youth career, she has achieved great success with several championship medals, including the title of Young rider and U25 European Champion. Annabella was also shortlisted for the Paris 2024 Olympics at just 20 years old. Most recently, she won bronze at the 2025 U25 European Championships. In 2026, she has had many strong starts at international senior-level 5-star competitions, including at the World Cup qualifier in Neumünster.
With several talented horses coming up, Annabella really sees a great potential in Proud James as a future Grand Prix horse for her.
“Proud James is still only 6 years old and extremely talented. We are taking it one day at a time, but the World Championships are of course an important goal for him. First, we need to bring him back to Denmark after the stallion show at Isabell Werth’s, before he competes in the World Championship selection trial in the Netherlands later in May,” the team behind the partnership stated.
At Helgstrand Dressage, there is also great enthusiasm that the stallion will continue to be available for the station’s many mares, while the ambitions for the SPORT are now being further strengthened through the partnership with Annabella Pidgley, where the focus will be on developing him toward Grand Prix level as the long-term goal.
All parties are looking forward to the new partnership and the exciting future ahead for Proud James — both in the dressage arena and in breeding.
