By Katherine O. Rizzo w/photo by Angie Leihy

Clarksburg resident Ema Klugman is no stranger to the five-star level of the sport of Eventing, having won the USEF’s Young Rider Award at the 2021 Kentucky Three-Day Event with her longtime partner Bendigo. That year was both Klugman’s and Bendigo’s first five-star event and they finished in 33rd place as the highest placing young rider. Klugman rode Bendigo in the inaugural Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill later that year, though they retired near the end of the course.

While campaigning Bendigo at the upper levels, Klugman was prepping another talented horse, Bronte Beach, in the national levels. “We got her from England when she was four or five,” Klugman said. “She was barely started but had amazing raw talent.” While showing success at the national levels, Bronte Beach had her first big international win in 2020 when they won the Virginia CCI3*L. The following year, Klugman moved the bay Zangersheide mare up to Advanced. Together they finished in the top 10 at several CCI4* events including Bromont, Morven Park and TerraNova.

“She is a very different horse than Bendigo,” Klugman explained. “She’s a bigger horse with a lot of power and scope and is still relatively young for the five-star level.” Where Bendigo was a jumping machine but struggled in the dressage phase, Bronte Beach seems to excel at all three phases of eventing. “It’s exciting! She can be very strong and competitive in all phases,” Klugman said, adding, “She’s really become a very brave cross-country horse, which I’m most proud of since she didn’t start out that way.”

The pair ran their first five-star together earlier this year in Kentucky, finishing 21st overall. Klugman than gave Bronte Beach a light summer with final preps for the Maryland 5 Star at Millbrook and the America Eventing Championships, where they ran Advanced at both events. They placed fourth at Millbrook and eighth at the AECs. Since the AECs in August, Klugman said these final weeks of preparation are a “delicate balance,” adding, “I need to keep up with her training but also let her rest so she’s fresh for the five-star.”

Klugman is once again looking forward to competing at the Maryland 5 Star, having a horse in the CCI3* as well. “The place has so much history, which is really cool,” she said. “It is a major opportunity [for us riders] to do another five-star here in the U.S.” Klugman feels the cross-country track at Fair Hill is most similar to that at Burghley in England, which is a competition goal of hers. “I want us to get the experience here in the U.S. so we can go compete successfully abroad. Every ride we do is preparing for a five-star. That is why we do this sport.”

In addition to Bronte Beach, Klugman has now produced six horses through the Advanced level and said, “I’ve learned so much from each one.” A professional rider, her barn in Clarksburg is now filled with a mix of horses she and her syndicates own as well as horses she is campaigning for other owners. “It’s really neat to see what each horse’s strengths are and to figure out what makes sense for each horse,” she said. “They are not all going to be five-star horses, but that is ok.”

Klugman said, “We’re still developing our program and figuring out our own system to make all this work but slowly chipping away at proving myself and working my way into the industry at the top levels.”

Be sure to cheer on Klugman this week as she competes Bronte Beach in the CCI5* and Chiraz in the CCI3*!

To read how Klugman got her start in eventing, go to: https://equiery.com/ema-klugman-earns-top-young-rider-award-at-kentucky-5/