By Mia Jensen.

Emily and Elkee Lang-McMahon need no introduction to the Jumping world, and at just 16 years-old they have made quite a splash in an already well-decorated equestrian family.

Elkee and Emily have made a great start to 2024, competing and placing in a number of highly-esteemed shows across the country, including the Larapinta World Cup Show, Sydney Royal, Toowoomba Royal and the Magic Millions Showjumping competitions.

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The twins have had some outstanding successes over the years. In 2022 at only 14 years-old Emily won the Most Successful Girl Rider at the Sydney Royal, “It was very meaningful to me because it was my first year ever time competing at a Royal show.” she said.

For Elkee, her most memorable success came just last month at the 2024 Larapinta World Cup Show, where she placed 5^th in her first Stal Tops Young Rider class on her horse Lily ElMare.

With the twins competing in most of the same classes it makes you wonder how they maintain their close relationship, because as most of us would know, it’s not always the easiest of tasks to compete against your sibling. On this topic Emily said, “I enjoy competing against Elkee because we are competitive but at the same time we are very supportive of each other… my favourite thing about having my family involved in Jumping is that we can all share horses and can train together”. The cherry on top is that the twins now have matching horses, Elkee’s horse Lily ElMare and Emily’s horse, Glenara Mudslide, are almost identical, so if you struggled to tell the twins apart before, good luck now!

The twins have a very full schedule that sees them riding multiple horses before and after school each day as well as helping their dad, Peter, with the racehorses at Kolora Lodge. “There’s a fair bit going on in the morning with the water walker and both treadmills running full time, so I normally help dad with the pre trainers and breakers. I usually try and wake up early so I can ride the best ones.” said Elkee. Kolora Lodge is a very successful breaking, pre training and spelling facility located near Brisbane that has produced many successful racehorses over the years.

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The girls are very disciplined with their riding, they both recognise the importance of quality flatwork as being a key contributor to their success. For Elkee, “I believe the most crucial part of training my horses is getting them very good on the flat and making them adjustable through different transitions and paces”. Emily pinpoints that when Jumping, finding the right tempo, and maintaining it is very important and is often the most challenging part of the ride.

Both girls are meticulously coached on the flat by Kris Bown, a very close family friend of the Lang-McMahons, and their dedication to their flat work can be seen in the quality of their performances in the ring. And when it comes to Jumping, the twins are coached by none other than their parents, Michelle, who competed at the 1994 and 2002 World Equestrian Games, and Peter, who rode at the 2006 World Equestrian Games and 2008 Beijing Olympics. Elkee explained that getting to train with her parents is very special, “they help me train and teach me to be more pristine in my riding,” she said.

Emily and Elkee have big plans for the future and by the sounds of it want to follow in the footsteps of their older sister, Maleah. Emily said, “Once I finish school I would like to go to America and ride with my older sister…  and I love travelling to America because our property is so close to the World Equestrian Centre.” Maleah and Michelle set up camp in America in December of 2021 and are flying the flag for Australia exceptionally well alongside other Aussies.

The twins have only been to America a couple of times and have had some standout moments with their international exposure so far. Elkee’s favourite aspect of shows in America are the warmup arenas where “each rider had their own jump so they could focus on the way they rode their horse instead of worrying about others around them”. Emily reflected that her favourite memory was “visiting the Tryon International Equestrian Centre and flatting my mum’s Grand Prix horse, KS Rubellite (Ruby), alongside some great riders” before Michelle and Ruby went on to place 5th in the 2* Grand Prix class later in the show.

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To get some additional insights into the twins both girls were asked if they could ride any horse in the world, past or present, which horse would it be. For Elkee she said it was “definitely Explosion W”  ridden by Great Britain’s Ben Maher, whereas Emily said “King Edward, who is ridden by Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden.”

We thank Elkee and Emily for taking the time to give us some insights in to their busy and exciting lives, and we wish them good luck for their future endeavours.