Jagerbomb is the Olympic team bronze medal-winning ride of Becky Moody and one of Britain’s most exciting and charismatic team horses.
“He always wants to make people happy, and he’s such a happy person himself,” says Becky. “If he were human, he’d be the one at the party going up to everyone to say hello.”
However, as a young horse, Becky wasn’t sure Jagerbomb had what it takes to reach the upper echelons of the sport.
Jagerbomb’s early years
Jagerbomb is a homebred, sired by Dante Weltino, and he’s out of Udysee (by Jazz), a mare Becky trained up to grand prix.
“Jagerbombs are my favourite drink and I’ve always wanted to name a horse after it,” explained Becky. “So it was heaven-sent when the mare produced me a beautiful J-reg colt to name!
“He was always so easy to deal with as a young horse, and he was very straightforward to back. But he wasn’t very athletic, and he didn’t have that look at me factor.”
Jagerbomb had a handful of outings at novice as a four-year-old, under Becky and her then-stable rider Joshua Mellor.
A delighted Becky Moody on Jagerbomb during the 2023 London International Horse Show. Credit: Peter Nixon
“It was no secret that I would have sold him at that point, but I’m so glad now I didn’t,” Becky admits. “But I never thought he would end up being my top horse.
“He always had the most incredible heart, though, and he’s such a trier – I could never fault his temperament.”
Jagerbomb’s national breakthrough came when he won the seven-year-old final and was twice runner-up in the prix st georges classes to Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep at the National Championships.
Becky Moody: “I think he could be pretty epic”
“I remember in the seven-year-old class he just piaffed throughout the prize giving. It was such a lovely feeling that the energy and excitement created that reaction in him,” Becky recalls
From that point on, Jagerbomb went from strength to strength. In 2022, he took home all the small tour titles at the Winter Championships.
“As he’s getting stronger, he’s getting sharper,” Becky told H&H. “I probably only school him three times a week, which isn’t much at his level. He does plenty of hacking and hill work – I’m careful not to overdo it.”
His international debut came three months later at Hartpury CDI1*, where he again scored a hat-trick of small tour wins.
The pair won the inter I on 77.32% – almost 6% clear of their nearest rival – at the same show where Becky debuted Jagerbomb’s now-iconic Sex Bomb routine.
“I think the music suits him,” Becky told H&H after her win. “It’s thanks to Kim Masson, my groom – she suggested Tom Jones. I resisted for a long time, then finally accepted that cheesy was good!”
At this stage, Jagerbomb had dipped below 70% only once, with 31 wins from 52 starts. Still, Becky wasn’t sure he had what it took to reach the top level.
“My concern has always been whether he would have a good enough engine to keep going all the way through – it’s a hell of a task,” she said.
“But those wins gave me confidence that he will, because I think the more atmosphere he has, the better he is – I think he could be pretty epic.”
Becky Moody: “There’s still so much more to come”
More wins followed at the National Championships – despite Becky suffering a collapsed lung less than a month beforehand – and at the Dressage Future Elite Championships, cementing Jagerbomb’s status as the standout small tour horse of 2022.
Becky Moody and Jagerbomb on their Nations Cup debut at Compiègne. Credit: Kim Masson
He made his grand prix debut in February 2023, winning with 76.09% at Reaseheath College.
His international debut came in May at Hickstead CDI3*, where he finished fourth in the grand prix on 71.02% and won his first international grand prix freestyle with 75.71%.
The rest of 2023 was a highlights reel, capped that summer by a 79.99% freestyle at Hartpury CDI3* and Jagerbomb’s selection as reserve for the European Championships – an achievement Becky called “simply insane.”
A standout debut at the London International Horse Show followed, where the pair posted personal bests to finish third in both the grand prix (75.09%) and freestyle (83.67%).
“He was phenomenal and loved every moment of it, and I think you can see that on his face,” Becky said. “I came here for many, many years watching and getting to ride here has taken quite a long time. But I’m here now.
“The bigger the crowd, the better he is – he just thrives on it and really wants to do it. He came down the centre line saying ‘let’s go’, which is amazing.”
An unexpected Olympic call-up
In 2024, Becky and Jagerbomb stepped up to five-star level, placing at both Rotterdam and Compiègne CDIO5* as part of Britain’s Nations Cup teams, in their bid for a reserve spot at the Paris Olympics.
But just a week before the Games, fate took a turn: following Charlotte’s withdrawal and suspension, Becky and Jagerbomb were thrust into the spotlight. They stepped onto the team under an undeniable cloud.
However, smiling every step of the way, Becky dealt with the pressure with grace and aplomb and conjured fabulous performances.
“I was expecting a lovely 10-day holiday in France, but it hasn’t come to that – I think it’s quite a bit better,” Becky joked. “There have been moments of extreme nausea, but I haven’t felt external pressure.”
Becky Moody riding Jagerbomb in the grand prix special at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Credit: Peter Nixon
In the grand prix, Becky got the ball rolling with a mistake-free 74.93%.
“That was insane,” she said. “What a stadium, what a crowd, what a horse! He loves to be out there – the more people watching, the better.”
In the special, the pair produced the test of their lives, scoring a new personal best of 76.49% as the pathfinders to give the team a comfortable margin in the race for the bronze medal.
“He’s a total dude and such a lovely, lovely horse,” said Becky. “He’s been quite spicy here this week. Carl Hester has helped me out an awful lot to find that inner calm in both of us.
“At the beginning of the test, we were quite excited and didn’t really want to stand still so we did a very quick halt – it was brief enough just for me to drop my hand, but as soon as we were there and going, we were on it.”
Becky and Jagerbomb capped their championship debut with a sensational freestyle, scoring another personal best of 84.36% to finish eighth.
“I had pretty much accepted I wasn’t ever going to ride at the Olympics. Toward the end of the 2023 season, though, that’s when I realised how good a horse Jagerbomb is,” Becky reflected.
“I’ve become the poster girl for ‘don’t ever give up.’ Keep on learning, and sometimes dreams do come true.”
Since then, the pair have firmly established themselves among the world’s top combinations.
In a full-circle moment, they returned to London – the show that launched them a year earlier – and beat teammates Lottie Fry and Glamourdale in the grand prix with yet another personal best of 76.7%.
In the freestyle, they slipped down the rankings, but debuted a brand new Beatles routine, casting off the Tom Jones soundtrack that had become their signature. It felt symbolic: they were no longer the plucky underdogs. They had arrived.
- To stay up to date with all the breaking news from major shows throughout 2025, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
You may also be interested in:
Fame – the dream horse who gave Carl Hester back his love of competing and a career-best score
Glamourdale – Lottie Fry’s world champion dressage stallion who makes crowds gasp
Indigro – meet the powerhouse dressage stallion taking Andrew Gould to personal bests and career highs
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
