Our Featured Adult Rider for February is Emma Knapp

Emma is not only an absolutely wonderful person but she is a wonderful example of how a childhood spent with horses leads to becoming a responsible, kind, caring, responsible young adult who thinks of others. 

Emma shared with us that: “from an early age, Lancers taught me the meaning of discipline and hard work, but the most meaningful impact was the Lancer community, and friendships I made over the years. I think I speak for many when I say that Lancers offered me a safe space to grow up as a young, impressionable girl. No matter what I was dealing with in my personal life, I could always count on my Lancer family to see me through the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I think that’s really special.”

Emma has been riding for 16 years but her time at Lancers started from day 1 as both her parents were Lancers. It may have taken seven years of begging her parents but her mum, Lynn, finally enrolled Emma in Lancer summer camp in July 2005! As a youth, Emma rode through our junior program and “graduated” from Ride 1 in 2016. During that time, she was in the Musical Ride, did training shows, and worked as a stablehand and barn monitor. The kids she used to barn monitor have now taken up the leadership role as barn monitors. At Lancers, Emma had the horse knowledge and skills to be able to spend a summer working for a professional show jumping stable after which she returned to pursue her university degree. 

After Emma attended university, we were very excited to be able to welcome her back to Lancers in 2020 for our J ride. After so many years at Lancers, Emma has many past and present favourite horses including Victor, William, Pumba, Bud, Inga and now Mato. For Emma, riding collectively acts as the gym, social corne, and therapy so it’s an essential element of her weekly regimen. We are fortunate to have Emma return to Lancers and lend her horse skills to working with some of our younger horses. 

Thanks, Emma, for all that you have and all that you continue to bring to Lancers!