Mary & Emily King

At 28, Emily King is a rising star in the eventing world, following in the footsteps of her legendary mother, Mary King. Based near Chester with her partner Sam Ecroyd, Emily runs a top-tier competition yard. Her impressive achievements include being a U25 and U21 National Champion, winning European Gold and Silver medals at the Junior and Young Rider levels, and securing a 4th place finish at Pau CCI5* – one of the youngest to do so. In 2024, Emily finished 4th at Badminton and was longlisted for the Paris Olympic Games, solidifying her position as a leading rider in the sport.

Lara Butler

Image provided by beckyswallowphotography.co.uk

Lara Butler is a British Dressage Rider who resides in Gloucestershire. Born into a “horsey” family, her father was in the Kings Troop and her mother rode and acted as Chef d’Equipe for Britain’s Under-21 teams, has been a show secretary for a number of high profile events and is the current British Equestrian Federation World Class Co-Ordinator for Dressage.

Lara’s love for horses began from the moment her mother placed her on her first horse at two years old and she has never looked back since.

By 13, Lara grew too tall for ponies and loaned her first horse, Sir Dunaway, with a view to doing dressage who took her up to Advanced Medium level.

Lara loaned another horse, Warlock, who had been on the Dutch young rider team with owner Veronique Andre de la Porte. The Dutch family were happy for him to go to a nice home and continue competing. Lara took him to the 2006 junior Europeans having only been riding him for 3 months, and by 2008, he had taken her to Young Rider level and 12th in Europe.

 On Warlock’s retirement, Emile Faurie, with whom Lara was based for seven years, helped her secure the ride on Hilary Sawyer’s smart grey mare Dawning Hopes. “Being a big mare, she was a completely different kettle of fish,” says Lara.

The pair contested the 2009 Young Rider Europeans and were the best placed British combination in Lara’s last year at the level.

Emile didn’t feel it was right to ask the mare to continue to Grand Prix and so Lara, while studying equine science at Oxford Brookes, concentrated her efforts on producing Anne Hutton’s Don Benito to Prix St Georges level (PSG).

She sold the gelding in 2013 and purchased a three-year-old from the Netherlands to fit in well among her responsibilities as a stable jockey for the Bechtolsheimers.

In 2010, she graduated from University and decided that now was the time to concentrate entirely on her competitive career. She was approached by the Bechtolsheimers about the potential to join their team, so at the end of the year, after seven years of drawing much inspiration from Emile, Lara left to become the rider for the Bechtolsheimers.
She has now been at the Bechtolsheimers for ten years now and has had the opportunity to ride some amazing horses. She has had the opportunity to bring on Rubin Al Asad, who she now competes at Grand Prix, as well as competing one of their young homebreds, Kristjan at Small Tour. The biggest honour was when she was given the opportunity to train and compete Andretti H at Grand Prix level at the end of 2012, with her biggest highlight becoming Reserve National Champion at the British Dressage National Championships and competing at Olympia CDI and being placed in the Top 10. That was a moment Lara says she will never forget and cannot thank the Bechtolsheimers enough for giving her the opportunity!
At the end of 2013 she was also wild carded on to the World Class Development Programme, funded by UK Sport. At the end of 2014 Andretti was retired so her focused shifted to moving Rubin Al Asad up from Small Tour to Big Tour. At the beginning of 2015, she competed Rubin Al Asad out in Wellington, Florida, achieving their first international Big Tour win. Lara was also moved up on to the World Class Podium Programme.

In 2016, Lara was a reserve for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and European Team Reserve 2017. In 2018, she was also reserve for 2018 World Equestrian Games as well as becoming the BD Grand Prix National Champion.

Yasmin Ingham

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Yasmin Ingham is an International Event Rider for Great Britain based in Cheshire, UK

Yasmin was born and brought up on the Isle of Man, a small Island in the middle of the Irish Sea and home to the World famous TT races.

Years of having to travel by ferry to events paid off, when in 2013 Ingham won her first British title and went on to win Individual and Team Gold medals at the Pony European Championship in Italy, riding her beloved pony Craig Mor Tom.

This success at 16 years old opened up an opportunity to be based with and ride for prolific event and showjumping horse owners Eddie and Sue Davies and Janette Chinn at their Cheshire Stud.

One of the Davies’ older top horses – multi medal winning Imperial Cavalier – was being stepped down from from 5* level, and Yasmin was offered the ride on ‘Archie’ to compete in Juniors, and they duly won the British Junior title in 2015.

In 2018 and 2019 Yasmin completed the full set of British Youth, titles riding Rehy DJ and Sandman 7 – a feat not achieved by any rider before, as well as finishing 4th in the 2018 Young Rider Europeans riding Rehy DJ.

Yasmin also completed her first 5* at Pau that year, finishing in 16th place, and was awarded the Goldman Cup for the leading under 21 rider.

In 2021, Yasmin became the youngest rider to win the Blenheim Palace 4*L with Banzai du Loir.

She has also had a phenomenal 2022, coming 2nd at Kentucky 5* riding Banzai du Loir, and following this up not only with an impressive selection for the World Championships, but also by becoming World Champion in Pratoni del Vivaro, against the best in the world, aged just 25 years old.

2023 saw 26 year old Ingham make the history books once more with a milestone win and becoming the first British combination to win the prestigious SAP Cup at CHIO Aachen, as well as being selected as a member of the team for the FEI European Championships achieving a Team Gold medal.

Yasmin’s 2024 seasonal campaign has seen her return to the Defender Kentucky Horse Trials where she took the 3rd place podium spot at the 5* event having maintained top 3 positions overnight throughout the duration of the event.

She is a member of the current British Equestrian World Class Podium Team, and Windrush Foundation Academy.

With an accolade of achievements already under her belt at such a young age, we are excited to exclusively support Yasmin in the development of her brand and career on the world stage.

Bob Champion

Bob was born 4th June 1948 into a hunting family. His father was huntsman to the Cleveland in Yorkshire,

where he started riding at an early age hunting with his sister and father.

At the age of 15 he rode his first point-to-point winner then went into National Hunt racing with Toby Balding at Weyhill, eventually riding for many top trainers including Josh Gifford.

Bob’s racing career took him to America where he rode several winners. In 1979 he was diagnosed to have cancer and was given six months to live. After several months of chemotherapy he returned to race riding, coming back with several winners both in England and America.

In 1981 Bob won the Grand National on Aldaniti, trained by Josh Gifford. He finally retired from racing in 1983 having won some 500 races. Other major races that Bob won during his career were The Tote Eider Chase, The Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, The Black & White Hurdle, The SGB Chase, The SGB Hurdle and The Whitbread Trial Chase.

In 1981 awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award. In 1983 he received the MBE and also formed the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which to date has raised approximately fifteen million poundstowards Cancer Research.

Bob has his life story portrayed in the book ‘Champion’s Story’ which was made into a feature film starring John Hurt.

In August 1996 Bob undertook ‘ride for life’ which was a ride on several horses from Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace London where he was greeted by Her Majesty The Queen. This was to raise a million pounds towards a new research unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital. This sum was achieved, and the Institute of Cancer also donated a further million pounds towards this project. The new research unit opened in September 2000.

Kelly Ude-Martinez

Kelly has trained and worked in the equestrian industry her whole life. Starting in the Pony Club, she discovered the world of stunts in her early twenties and hasn’t looked back. She now runs Knights of Middle England alongside Karl and is a professional jouster, stunt rider and performer & qualified horse archery instructor. She heads up the KOME teaching team and manages all the training of their horses. She also has a Warmblood who she events in her spare time!

Karl Ude-Martinez

Heading up The Knights of Middle England is founder and director Karl Ude-Martinez. A
born performer ; professionally trained, Karl’s charisma and enthusiasm for live theatre and shows inspires his team and is evident in all that he does.
He started his riding career almost before he could walk. Coming from an equestrian family
and being brought up on an equestrian centre, meant that he competed at an early age on
the show jumping circuit, team chasing & eventing. It was at school and University that he
found his love for polo – a sport that he now plays professionally as well as being an
international commentator and TV host for prestigious tournaments and events worldwide.
Karl first started Jousting and stunt riding at the age of 14, and performed in live shows and
stunt displays, with several companies, taking him all over the world, before setting up The
Knights of Middle England in 2003. He now writes, produces & directs all the shows for The
Knights of Middle England & KOME Entertainment. He is passionate about combining his
love of horses and performing to create unique equestrian theatre productions of the highest
calibre.
Alongside the shows and filming, his dream was also to shine a light on more of the unique
disciplines, making them more accessible to all, where members of the public could come
and have a go, learn, or train at The Knights of Middle England HQ training centre in
Warwick. These alternative equestrian disciplines range from Jousting, Trick Riding, Horse
Archery & Side Saddle, all taught by professional instructors in their fields and on expert
trained school masters.

Megan Elphick

Megan Elphick, widely recognized as Elphick Event Ponies, is a talented producer, eventer, and a prominent equestrian social media influencer. With over 250 thousand subscribers on her Youtube channel, Meg has been creating top equestrian content since 2019. Her videos following her training, competition as well as vlogs and behind the scene content. On top of creating videos for her own channels, Meg has featured in various series, including Horse & Country’s 2024 Megan‘s Talland Takeover.

Rosie Tapner

TV Presenter and Model

After gracing the front cover of Vogue at the age of 16, Rosie worked as a top model for 10 years before turning her attentions to TV presenting in the equestrian sphere, where her real passion lies. Recently she has presented in the UK for some of the biggest names including Sky Sports Racing, Ascot, Goodwood, Cheltenham and Aintree, as well as abroad in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. She will also be presenting the main stage at this year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Epsom Racecourse attended by HM The Queen, and later in the year, the Breeders Cup in Kentucky.

Carl Hester MBE

Raised on the tiny, car-free Channel Island of Sark, Carl’s early connection with horses was natural and inevitable. His first equine experience involved riding a stubborn donkey to the village shop, a task that sparked a lifelong passion for riding. Growing up, Carl honed his skills on the island’s ponies and horses, often driving carriages for tourists and participating in the annual Sark horse show.

At 19, Carl ventured to the mainland, starting his professional journey at the Fortune Centre in Hampshire, where he discovered a talent for competitive riding, winning the 1985 Young Dressage Rider Championship. His career advanced further in Gloucestershire, where he refined his horsemanship under the mentorship of Jannie and Christopher Taylor.

The turning point came when Dr. Bechtolsheimer invited Carl to join his prestigious yard, leading to Carl’s participation in the 1990 World Championships, the 1991 European Championships, and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where he became the youngest British rider to compete.

Today, Carl is a successful dressage rider and trainer, known for his meticulous approach and unwavering dedication to his horses and students. His journey from the sleepy island of Sark to the heights of international equestrian sport is a testament to his talent, hard work, and passion for horses.

Rhea Freeman

Rhea is an award winning PR adviser, social media expert and works with numerous equestrian businesses and riders to help them promote themselves better. She produces the award winning Small & Supercharged Podcast each week and also has a free Facebook community for equestrian brands and influencers called Small & Supercharged. Rhea is passionate about the equestrian trade and spends a lot of time teaching people- whether businesses, influencers or riders- how to grow their brands, work together for mutual benefit, and reach their target audience in more effective ways.