British rider Emma Hindle (42) enjoyed success at the 2018 CDI Aalborg in Denmark on 26 – 29 April 2018. Partnered by her Blue Hors Romanov daughter, Romy Del Sol, Emma claimed a podium position in both the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special.
In Thursday’s Grand Prix, the British combination achieved a solid 68.78% for third behind the victorious Danish star Cathrine Dufour with her young ride Bohemian (by Bordeaux x Samarant), and Lone Bang Larsen with Bakkely’s Onandt (by Onassis x Michellino) also for Denmark, second.
Emma, who has British senior European team medals to her name as well as being the highest placed Brit at the 2008 Hong Kong Olympic Games, put all this experience to good use in Friday’s Special to pilot the beautiful 12-year-old mare to a partnership personal best of 71.72% for second behind Dufour.
“I’m very happy with Romy,” Emma told British Dressage. “She’s not competed a lot and can be tense and nervous in new environments, so it has been a little like trying to get a four-year-old round a Grand Prix, but now she’s more secure in the work I can focus more on the performance. She now just needs to see things…to get out into the world and learn to produce what she can at home, so we’ve made the decision to go on tour this year and give her experience.”
Emma first spotted the elegant mare as a six-year-old at the yard of Rudolf Zeilinger in Germany, a year after selling up Brookhouse Stud in Germany to focus on running her late father John’s property business. “My husband Tobias pointed out that it was better that I rode as well as working in an office! I couldn’t be in the office all the time.”
With a six-year-old son and The Brookhouse Group to run, Emma’s schedule is tightly choreographed to allow for training and competition. “I have to make it work and I have to prioritise, and always, something somewhere is going to slip. But everybody changes roles and they make alterations to make it happen.
“Technology also allows me to continue to work at competitions, and I’m getting used to switching from one to another. It’s discipline. One moment I’m having to make a business decision, the next moment my focus is on the preparation of my horse.”
Next stop for the British pair will be Mannheim CDI4* this weekend, followed by Wiesbaden CDI4* in Germany (18 – 21 May) where they’ll be joined by compatriots Emile Faurie and Sa Coeur.
Photo © Astrid Appels
Related Links
Scores: 2018 CDI Aalborg
Scores: 2018 CDI Lier