German dressage star Isabell Werth has paid tribute to her medal-winning ride Don Johnson, who has been put down aged 24 after a long and happy retirement.

German-bred Don Frederico gelding “Jonny”, with whom Isabell won European team gold in 2013, and bronze on home soil at Aachen two years later, had suffered an untreatable leg fracture.

Isabell shared a video of Don Johnson online, showing him as the “leader of our retirees’ herd”, roaming in fields with his friends.

“Dear Jonny, you were a truly special character horse… for nearly 15 years, a millipede who became a model athlete,” she said.

“You were always there whenever a party was being thrown, always ready to deliver a special dance performance.”

Don Johnson, owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze, was ridden by Isabell through

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