British Olympian Emma Hindle Calls End to Competition Career

Dressage

Great Britain

British two-time Olympic team rider Emma Hindle has decided to end her career as an international dressage rider after more than three decades in the saddle.

Hindle has decided to sell her horses, including her top horse Zippo MI.

Three Decades of Top Sport

The 49-year old Hindle is born in Preston, Lancashire and the daughter of the late property developer John Hindle, a former hockey player who took part in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.

She discovered her love for horses and riding at a very young age and first took lessons at her aunt's stable before starting competitive showing in working hunter classes and eventing, before switching to dressage.

In her time as a youth rider she trained by Stephen Clarke and then moved to Sweden for five years to ride under Kyra Kyrklund. Her first major championship was in 1996 at the European Young Riders Championships in Copenhagen aboard Boucheron. In 1998 Emma relocated to Germany to work with Ellen Bontje at Hofgut Neuenhof.

Brookhouse Stud

Hindle bought her own farm in Erbach, Germany, and founded Brookhouse Stud, where she stood sires such as Bontje's career making Silvano N and Rubioso N as well as her own stallions.

Hindle's first major FEI horses were Danish warmblood stallion Lillemarkens Arkibal (by Racot x Sorel), which she found through Kyra, and Hanoverian licensed stallion Wie Weltmeyer (by Weltmeyer x Dynamo). She bought Diamond Hit in 2002, as well as Furstenreich, and Con Amore amongst others.

Wie Weltmeyer opened the doors to her first major successes in the competition arena. They were short-listed for the British team for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and he took her to two European Dressage Championships (2003, 2005), one World Cup Final (2004) and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens on Team GB. Wie Weltmeyer was officially retired from sport in February 2006 .

Lancet

Emma's career making horse was Lancet (by Wenzel x Shogun xx). She bought the 2004 Dutch Olympic team horse from Imke Schellekens and partners in October 2004.

Hindle and Lancet represented Great Britain at the 2005, 2007 and 2009 European Dressage Championships, at the 2006 World Equestrian Games, and they placed seventh at the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong. They won team silver at the 2009 European Championships in Windsor. "Lance" missed out on the 2010 World Equestrian Games due to an injury, but he returned to the show ring in 2011 for two CDI's in Fritzens and Hickstead. He was retired from competition sport at age 18 after Hickstead.

Horses like Brisbane, Diamond Hit, and Chequille Z followed in Lancet's footsteps and were shown until 2014. She also owned Fifty Cent, Longton, Furstano, amongst others. Hindle relied on the coaching of Kyra Kyrklund and her husband Richard White at the height of her career.

Back to Britain

Due to the untimely passing of her father John in 2012, Hindle closed Brookhouse Stud Germany and moved back to Great Britain in 2013.

She bought a new property in the vicinity of Manchester, where she kept a smaller number of horses. Emma took over her father's real estate business and horse sport was no longer her full-time profession. In addition she is raising her only child, son Luke, born in 2011.

Emma returned to the international competition ring in 2017 and for the next five years competed two Grand Prix horses: Romy del Sol (by Romanov x Danny De Vito) and Diesel S (by Vivaldi x Havidoff). The latter she sold as a schoolmaster to American April Batcheller in the spring of 2022.

Love For Riding

In 2023 Emma felt a fire burning with the Paris Olympics looming and made a new push to return to the highest echelons of the sport by acquiring Daniel Bachmann's up and coming Grand Prix horse Zippo M.I.

With Zippo M.I. at the 2024 Aachen Festival

Upon purchasing Zippo she told Eurodressage, "I found my love for riding again. As you get older and wiser you learn that life is short. We have to remember to take care of our selves. I have a dream and I am going to pursue it and enjoy the ride too."

After a two-year break from CDI showing Emma returned to the arena at the 2024 CDI Aachen Festival 4 Dressage with Zippo. She also premiered Grand Prix horse Rosmarin (by Romanov x Solos Landtinus) at the CDI Hickstead a month later. She showed in Hagen, Hickstead and Wellington through June 2024.

At the start of 2025 Emma took both to the Sunshine tour in Spain and competed them in three consecutive CDI's in Jerez and Vejer de la Frontera, but did not achieve the hoped for results.

The End of an Era

Hindle explained to Eurodressage she is ending her competitive career.

"I'm upset with myself more than anything else," she admitted. "Competing internationally for your country takes time, patience and consistency and a huge financial and mental commitment. Since the death of my father - my mentor and greatest supporter - I have struggled to justify the cost and time required to compete and produce horses for the top sport. Combined with the difficult working ethics of business today, caring for my family in this strange world and the ever increasing hostile nature of the people surrounding my once beloved sport I struggle to find the determination or motivation to continue to invest my time and money in something that bring me no joy at present."

Her horses are put up for sale on Eurodressage.

"These horses all have a bright future and I hope will bring someone the joy and happiness and be truly appreciated for the incredible animals they are," she said.

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