Ema Klugman is a young event rider with horses from Training level through Advanced. She was the highest-placed youngest rider at the Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2021 with her self-made Bendigo. In 2019, she twice received the Bromont Rising scholarship, which selected squads of young riders to compete at the Canadian Bromont CCI event and the U.S. Ocala Jockey Club event. At the Ocala Jockey Club, she recorded a third-place finish in the CCI****-L division. That performance secured her place on the Australian High Performance NEXT squad, which identifies future riders for the Olympics and World Championships. In 2020, she won the CCI***-L in Lexington on Bronte Beach, and recorded a top-ten finish on the same horse at Morven Park's CCI****-L in 2021.

 

Ema started riding horses in Pony Club while growing up in Nairobi, Kenya. Following that initial introduction to the horse world, she trained with the late Packy McGaughan and more recently worked as a rider for Marilyn Little in both show jumping and eventing. Through the United States Pony Club, she has achieved three A level ratings – traditional, showjumping and dressage – one of only two people in the U.S. to attain this level of certification. She teaches clinics around the country and maintains a group of clients at her base in Maryland, where she runs a sales and training operation. In addition to being a competitive event rider, she graduated from Duke University in 2020 and is currently a student at George Washington University of Law.