“Finally Mr. & Mr.”
Dressage Olympic champion proposes to horse groom
November 2, 2025 – 11:15 a.mReading time: 1 min.
Frederic Wandres announced good news. The Olympic dressage champion has become engaged to his partner Lars Ligus.
They are not only a well-rehearsed team professionally: Olympic dressage champion Frederic Wandres and his long-time partner Lars Ligus have become engaged. During a vacation in South Tyrol, the 38-year-old proposed to his 29-year-old boyfriend – with success.
Wandres confirmed that the trip was used to connect the two. The couple shared a video of the engagement on Instagram. In it you can see the rider getting down on his knees, handing his partner a ring and then they fall into each other’s arms. The clip is accompanied by the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift. Ligus wrote: “I said ‘yes’. Finally Mr. & Mr.”
Lars Ligus is not only Wandres’ partner, but also his horse groom – including at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, when the German team won gold, and at the European Championship victory in August in Crozet, France. He is also successful in sport: in February he won the Nations Cup with the German team in Wellington, USA.
Both work in the Kasselmann family’s sports and trading stable in Hagen am Teutoburg Forest. They also competed against each other in tournaments there. Ligus takes on some coaching tasks in the team. Wandres is mostly looked after by national coach Monica Theodorescu, who lives nearby.