Former five-star eventer Emily Baldwin claimed her first championship title since turning her full attention to dressage, winning the HorseHage prelim silver at the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships (15–19 April), riding her own Intello (In My Mind x Danone) to a score of 73.6%.
The result was, by Emily’s own account, serendipity. Emily had originally planned to contest the Petplan Winter Area Festival Championships, a separate qualifying pathway to the Winter Dressage Championships.
“I entered an Area Festival first, because I knew the winters were indoors here and I thought it’d be too much for him,” she said of her five-year-old.
“It wasn’t until the times came out that I realised my entry hadn’t gone through for some reason on the system, and I wasn’t allowed to compete. So that’s why I diverted to the regionals at Wellington — and here we are.”
The Wellington qualifier had itself been a challenge. Emily and Intello finished fourth – enough to earn them a wild card to the championships here at Addington. “He was so green there – I couldn’t get around the edge of the arena for ages,” she explained.
“They were really kind to me. Once I finally got on, it was his best test – he was just not breathing at all through it.”
Between then and Addington, Emily had worked hard on exposure. “I’ve hired some indoor schools and put flowers out and everything to try to give him a bit more,” she said.
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Even so, the day before the test offered little reassurance. “Yesterday, he was completely feral. I rode him in the afternoon when I got here, and the steward actually asked me if I was okay. So I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen today.”
Nor did the morning of the test immediately settle the nerves. “We did the arena walk, and he was quite lit up. I really didn’t know what was going to happen – but he came in here for the warm-up and was really relaxed. And from then on it was so good. I couldn’t believe how good he was.”
New chapter
The win marks a new chapter in a career Emily has only recently committed to in earnest, having stepped back from eventing.
“I rode at top level for quite a long time, eventing – and I had some amazing horses,” she said. “Where I live down in the southeast, it’s really hard now to event.
“So many events have gone, we have to travel a long way to go anywhere. It just felt like the right time. I teach a lot, I coach a lot – and I just wanted a new challenge. I love competing, that’s kind of what motivates me, and I really enjoy training the horses.”
She credits two long-standing contacts from her eventing days with supporting the transition. “I’m really grateful to Maryanne Horn and Andrew Gould. Both of whom I’ve known for years — they helped me through my eventing career, and now into this.”
As for Intello, bought last year specifically as a dressage prospect, Emily is keeping expectations measured. “He’s just got a lovely brain, which is really important. It doesn’t matter how far he goes – but if he keeps going in and trying like that, I couldn’t ask for more.”
Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).
