Emma Hindle plays starring role in Aalborg

British rider Emma Hindle (42) last week enjoyed success at Aalborg CDI3*/CDIU25/CDIY in Denmark (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 (pictured at Keysoe CDI3* in March) achieved a solid 68.78% for third behind the victorious Danish star Cathrine Dufour with her young ride Bohemian, and Lone Bang Larsen with Bakkely’s Onandt also for Denmark, second.

Emma, who has Senior European team medals to her name as well as being the highest placed Brit at the Beijing 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 the Brookhouse Stud 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* later this week followed by Wiesbaden CDI4* in Germany (18 – 21 May) where they’ll be joined by compatriots Emile Faurie and Sa Coeur.

Results of the British riders:

CDI3* Grand Prix
1st Cathrine Dufour with Bohemian, 72.826% (DEN)
3rd Emma Hindle with Romy Del Sol, 68.783% (GBR)

CDI3* Grand Prix Special
1st Cathrine Dufour with Bohemian, 76.085% (DEN)
2nd Emma Hindle with Romy Del Sol, 71.723% (GBR)

CDIU25 Grand Prix
1st Lina Dolk with Biggles 1015, 70.179% (SWE)
11th Ellen McCarthy with Donna Summer, 62.795% (GBR)
12th Ellen McCarthy with Sir Lancelot M, 62.564% (GBR)

CDIU25 Grand Prix Freestyle
1st Nanna Skodborg Merrald, 74.250% (DEN)
7th Ellen McCarthy with Sir Lancelot M, 70.000% (GBR)

CDIY Young Rider Team Test
1st Lina Dolk with Languedoc, 72.990% (SWE)
13th Rose Hugh-Smith with Dutch Discovery, 63.725% (GBR)

CDIY Young Rider Individual
1st Lina Dolk with Languedoc, 73.676% (SWE)
14th Rose Hugh-Smith with Dutch Discovery, 63.676% (GBR)

CDIY Young Rider Freestyle
1st Lina Dolk with Languedoc, 73.325% (SWE)
13th Rose Hugh-Smith with Dutch Discovery, 65.475% (GBR)