Pidgley Obtains Co-Ownership of World Young Horse Champion Proud James

Dressage

Great Britain

British Grand Prix rider Annabella Pidgley has obtained co-ownership of Proud James, the 2025 World Young Horse Champion and a licensed breeding stallion.

Proud James is a 6-year old Dutch warmblood stallion by Jameson out of Cyraniek (by Johnson x Variant). He is bred by Yolien van Maasacker.

Premium Stallion

Van Maasacker bred the grey stallion out of her top mare Cyraniek, who is also the dam to licensed stallion Inverness.

Andreas Helgstrand purchased the stallion as a 2.5 year old before the 2023 KWPN stallion licensing, where he was named premium stallion.

He was the high scorer of the 2023 KWPN autumn Stallion Performance test with 91 points.

With the KWPN society he currently has 62 offspring registered, but Proud James has bred much more as he's been popular with breeders across Europe.

Sport Career

The grey was first trained in Denmark by Alvaro Conesa de Oliveiro before moving to the German brand where Maxi Kira von Platen took over the reins. She won the 4-year old challenge, a national level invitational held at the 2024 World Young Horse Championships in Ermelo. As of 2025 Mette Sejbjerg Jensen took over the ride and she won the gold medal at the 2025 World Young Horse Championships in Verden.

Isabell Werth

With Werth at the stallion show in Verden

In February 2026 it was announced that Helgstrand's business partner Isabell Werth had taken over the reins of Proud James, as his rider, Mette Sejbjerg Jensen, was pregnant at the time.

She presented the stallion at the stallion shows in Germany

Annabella Pidgley

Today, Helgstrand announced that Annabella Pidgley has obtained 50% co-ownership of the stallion. The grey has returned to Helgstrand in Denmark where Pidgley is based.

"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,” Pidgley and Helgstrand stated.

Annabella won the 2022 European Young Riders Championships on Espe and the 2024 European Under 25 Championships on Gio. She was shortlisted for the 2024 Paris Olympics at just 20 years of age. With Vamos Amigos she won bronze at the 2025 U25 European Championships.