Ema Klugman is a young event rider with horses from Novice 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 has since recorded three top-ten finishes on the same horse at the CCI****-L level in subsequent years. In 2024, Ema completed the Kentucky three-day event on Bronte Beach, meaning she had produced two horses to the five-star level by the age of 26.

 

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 subsequently 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 talented horses in the heart of the eventing community, in Area II. In addition to being a competitive event rider, she graduated from Duke University in 2020 with majors in history and public policy, and she received a J.D. from the George Washington University of Law in May 2024.