Emma Horgan is a nineteen-year-old dressage rider currently based in Kent. Since finishing her A-Levels last July, Emma spent some time abroad doing a summer placement in the Netherlands working as a rider before coming home and focusing on building her own freelance riding business and gaining her coaching qualification with the support from the British Equestrian Young Professional Programme.
One of Emma’s highlights to date was having the opportunity to go over to the Netherlands last summer to work. She says “I was very lucky to ride lots of incredible horses at a variety of levels, attend competitions and go on day trips to Germany for training with Andreas Hausberger. Definitely a summer I won’t forget and look forward to hopefully be heading back soon.”
Another highlight was placing at almost all Premier Leagues during her first year in Juniors with Henny, and getting to Nationals at Advanced Medium in the same year. The talented and hardworking Emma rode her first medium test while completing her GCSE’s. “I’m Not sure my teachers liked me too much as I wasn’t in school often, but I was having a great time!” added Emma.
Who is in your stables?
Emma at Bury Farm High Profile with Henny (Hennessy T)
I am currently lucky enough to have three horses, the first being my Junior/Young Rider horse Hennessy (Henny) with whom I was selected onto the British Dressage National Academy for two consecutive years, along with winning the BDSC Outstanding Achievement Award in 2024. Henny also took me from my first advanced medium test to regularly placing at Premier League competitions at Junior FEI and our Young Rider debut at Arena UK High Profile.
The horse that started my dressage journey was Bear who I have produced myself from a four-year old. At only age five and thirteen we competed successfully at the Youth Home Internationals the same year that I joined British Dressage. Bear will be ten in April, and we have lots of goals for the next few years – one of which is to compete internationally at Young Riders.
Lastly (and certainly not least) is my rising four-year old, Anastasia (Asia) who is by Kjento. I have bred and backed Asia myself which has already been so rewarding. She shows great potential for the future and her temperament makes her a wonderful horse to work with. We’re all very excited to have her coming up in a few years’ time.
How did the riding journey begin?
Emma at Young Rider debut at Arena UK High Profile with Henny (Hennessy T)
I learnt to ride at a very young age at Wellgrove Farm Equestrian where I probably drove the owner, Emma Whitaker, mad attending every pony day possible fully kitted out in purple from my jodhpurs to my hat silk. After many years of begging, I started loaning a bay pony named Lottie and later Foaly when I outgrew her. Once I wore my parents down, I finally got my own horse (Caragh) who was actually a showjumper. I think if you told me (or anyone for knew me at that time), I would have a career in dressage they’d laugh as I was pretty firmly set on the jumping route.
Unfortunately, due to various injuries Caragh had to retire but before she did, we competed in our first unaffiliated dressage competition. This ultimately led to us buying Bear who was a dressage bred youngster. I attended my first British Dressage regional camp with a four-year old Bear to see if it’s something I was interested in and haven’t looked back since.
Who has helped with your training?
I have trained regularly with Andrew Gould for the past three years who’s help and guidance in training has been invaluable. His support and expertise in training and at competitions has been a huge contributor to my development as a rider.
I have also trained with Leanne Wall since the very start of my dressage journey and owe her a huge amount. I’m incredibly grateful for her unwavering support and knowledge.
What are you and the horses working on?
Emma at Bicton Regionals with Bear (Kai Deluxe)
With Bear I am working on improving the quality of the flying changes through working on the quality of the canter. Asia is just coming back into work after being turned away for the last 3 months, so we are focusing a lot on building confidence and transitions while doing some strength work through hacking. Henny is also just coming back into work, so we are focusing on strength training at the moment.
What are your future goals?
I would love to compete at Young Riders with Bear and competing U25 GP would be the ultimate goal! In the long run I’d also love to compete at a world cup.
I also really enjoy the journey with the young horses and would like to compete in the young horse classes.
Eventually I would like to be based at my own yard and take on some more horses for sales/training instead of the freelance riding work.
Your Top Tip
Control your variables. You can’t control if your horse suddenly decides the flowers at C are terrifying, but you can control your training schedule and what you need to work on to go into a competition feeling confident and prepared as well as how you react if something does go wrong. When things do go wrong it’s important to reflect on it afterwards so you can improve, but it’s also important to move on and focus on the big picture.
What is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given?
If a horse offers you something never shut it down even if it’s not what you asked for. This is especially true when it comes to flying changes during counter canter with younger horses – you’re going to need those changes later on!
What challenges have you have faced?
The last few months have possibly been some of the most challenging to overcome. Starting with an accident in the lorry resulting in Henny injuring himself and needing some time off. Then, just as we started bringing him back into work, I had an unfortunate fall off a young horse which meant I needed surgery to put a hook and plate into my shoulder/collarbone. This also meant a significant amount of time off for me but the motivation of getting back in the saddle as quickly as possible kept me going and with the help of my physio we got stuck into a very intensive rehab programme. This, plus a brief holiday to stop me from getting back in the saddle too early, meant that I have come back to training very quickly and after a few sessions with Andrew I quickly forgot I’d had any time off. I will still need a second surgery later in the year but have already planned this around all major competitions and the recovery time is much quicker, so I am hopeful and determined to compete this summer season before setting our sights on stepping up a level with all horses ready for the winter.
You are on the British Dressage Youth panel; can you tell us more?
As the Youth panel we can give a voice to the young people within British Dressage, providing feedback from our peers and new ideas to assist the development and improvement of BD Youth. The panel meets each quarter to discuss different topics and review action points from the previous quarter. One of the main areas we are currently working on is making sure opportunities available through BD Youth are clear and information is easily accessible to riders/parents. This includes starting an FAQs page and increased promotion on social media. While discussing this we also noted Youth riders are likely to be on different social media platforms to their parents so making sure we make the information accessible to both was highlighted.
All panel members are active within the BD community and will be around at competitions and training ourselves, so we encourage riders and/or parents to get in touch with us if they have any feedback or questions. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
It takes a team to do dressage, who is in your support team?
The list is long but at the top has to be my parents who have supported me in so many ways, from finances to getting up at 4am to drive me to training before school, especially my mum for being my groom at competitions despite only being paid in coffee.
My coaches Andrew and Leanne, sports psychologist (Jo Davies), my physio (Louise Huntley), the horse’s osteopath Michael (Inhand Equine Osteopathy), our farrier (Toby D’Abreo), our saddler (Henrietta Thomas), Ian and Paul (IP Equestrian), Quentin Wedmore (Bell Equine Veterinary Clinic) and everyone involved in the Young Professionals Programme at British Equestrian.
Without all of these people none of what we do with the horses would be possible.
Want More?
If you enjoyed meeting Emma you might like to view more dressage rider “chatting with” interviews here. You can keep up with Emma’s progress and visit her instagram page here