Emma Hindle

Emma and the breeding stallion Diamond Hit

Emma started riding at the age of five at her aunt’s stables. She showed working hunter ponies and evented before eventually concentrating on dressage.
“At 13, I became a complete wet-pants when it came to jumping. I still love jumping, but as soon as the fences get up to any height, I’m an idiot,” she says.

Emma went to train with top international dressage judge, trainer and rider Stephen Clarke and then made the bold move to train abroad with another top dressage rider and trainer Kyra Kyrlund, who was based at the Flyinge Stud in Sweden at the time, when she was 18.

When Kyra moved to Britain in 1993, Emma went to Germany to train with one of Holland’s top riders and trainers, Ellen Bontje. Emma is still based in Germany. In 2004, she moved to Andreas Müller’s Rollehuf near Frankfurt, where she runs Brookhouse Stud.

As an under-21, Emma was on the team for the Junior European Championships in 1989 and 1990 and the Young Rider European Championships in 1992, 1993 and 1996. As a senior, Emma was a member of the British bronze medal-winning team at the 2003 European Championships at Hickstead with Wie Weltmeyer.

She was been a member of the British team every year until 2010 and achieved the best British placing, seventh overall in the individual competition, at the 2008 Olympic Games with Lancet.

After a fantastic year in 2009, 2010 wasn't so kind to Emma. The rumour mill went into overdrive when she wasn't selected as part of the World Equestrian Games team and she was absent from the competition circuit from May 2010, citing personal issues (later discovered to be her mother's breast cancer and her own health issues) and Lancet's lameness. Lancet was brought back into work in August 2010 and Emma returned to the UK to work, with plans to base herself in Germany for just four months of the year in future. H&C hopes to see Emma back in high profile competition in 2011.