In July of 2026, Emma Irwin, 31, backed by longtime friends, breeders, and owners in the sport, was named to her first senior Nation’s Cup team at the Traverse City CSIO3* on a relatively new mount, Cornetta SES Z. The squad placed fourth and Irwin had the long-awaited chance to compete against Olympic veterans and team rookies alike alongside Erynn Ballard, Sean Jobin, and Gavin Moylan.
Born and raised in Calgary, AB, Irwin got her start in the sport at the age of 12, and after a humbling first horse show experience – where she fell off in every class in -30c weather – her progression and enthusiasm for the sport snowballed.
A short stint as an eventer led to a lease on a former grand prix jumper named Peninsula JD and Irwin’s first taste of the jumper ring. From there was an opportunity to bring ‘JD’ to California as a working student, which completely changed the direction of her riding, says Irwin.
“I give JD credit for making me fall in love not just with horses, but with the sport itself. He had so much heart and such a desire to win. That year we competed at Spruce Meadows and qualified for NAJYRC, and experiencing that level of competition for the first time made everything click. That was the year I knew this wasn’t just something I loved doing, it was something I wanted to pursue as far as I possibly could.”
Unfortunately, JD suffered a career-ending injury at the open water at Young Riders in 2011 and the horse retired from top sport, but lived a semi-retired life as a pleasure mount at home with Irwin’s mom.
At 17, after Young Riders and graduating high school, Irwin moved to the Netherlands. “Those four years shaped me enormously as both a rider and a professional. I learned a ton about horsemanship, about producing horses, and about the business side of the sport,” she says. “But the biggest lesson was understanding just how hard you have to work to be taken seriously. There are no shortcuts, and you have to be willing to put in the hours, learn every part of the job, and keep proving yourself.”
She originally moved overseas to ride for Jan Verellan, but later joined Stal Kersten, where she spent the remainder of her time in Europe. It was at one of her first shows she was introduced to Sidney Eras, who would later become an integral part of Irwin’s career; she also continues to do a fair amount of business with Peter Kersten to this day.
“We’re lucky enough to do something we love every day as our career, and when you find people you enjoy doing it with – a client, an agent, a farrier, a vet – you naturally want to keep doing it with them for years to come,” she says of her long-term relationships in the sport. “When you approach every relationship with transparency and honesty and surround yourself with people who value the same things, those relationships tend to take care of themselves.”
Upon her return from Europe in 2020, Irwin was introduced to Ben Stout, who had a young horse business training in California based out of Kimberlee Farm. Their relationship developed over the years into something much bigger; the pair are getting married in October of this year and have joined forces to jointly run BE Sporthorses on their 60-acre property in Aiken, South Carolina.
“Growing into the bigger sport together was a natural fit,” says Irwin. “It works because it plays to what each of us does best: Ben focuses on the young horse development, and I focus on the FEI horses. We both coach students and are each other’s eyes on the ground at shows. Our staff is great and genuinely motivated behind our vision and goals, it’s a great atmosphere.”
In addition to their own young horse and sport horse program, the pair continue manage the breeding program for Kimberlee Farms, developing all of their young horse talent at home.
“Kim and Mike at Kimberlee Farms have been a huge support for both sides of our business,” says Irwin, “and they’re the reason we started breeding a few of our own each year. Getting to do everything ‘in-house’ is incredibly rewarding. Ben and I are there for every foal that’s born, we start them ourselves, and Ben rides them for their first few years before they join my string. By the time a horse reaches the ring, we know absolutely everything about it.”
Although a goal of hers since she was a child, Irwin recalls that being named to her first senior Nations Cup team in 2026 happened rather unexpectedly. She had several horses stepping up to the 2* and 3* level, but at the end of 2025 season her top horse was injured and she lost the ride on another. She had all but resigned herself to rebuilding her string at the lower levels when fate intervened.
Ben and Emma. (Sara Shier Photography)
“Things turned around quickly,” she says, laughing. “Two of our greener horses stepped into their first ranking classes in March, and then Cornetta came into the string.” Cornetta SES Z, a nine-year-old mare by Cornet Obolensky, was bred and produced by Sidney Eras in the Netherlands; Eras was Irwin’s first contact in Europe many years ago and to this day one of her closest friends.
“Sidney had called us in February to see whether Kim and Mike at Kimberlee Farms would partner with him to secure the ride for me. She was jumping 1.40m at the time, but it was a quick match and we were clear in our first ranking class together in March.”
As the pair gained more experience together and got some ring mileage under their belt, Irwin says the goal started to feel more and more within reach. In May, she reached out to Ian Millar to talk through the possibility of riding for the team and together they built a plan to get there.
“When the call came that we’d made the team, it was a special moment for everyone involved. To jump in my first Nations Cup on a horse bred by our best friend, in partnership with our longest-standing supporters Mike and Kim, couldn’t have been more meaningful.”
Irwin hopes to jump on more teams in the future, and seems well poised to make those dreams a reality.
“We’re lucky to be in a spot where we’re excited about every horse in the stable. The sky is the limit with our three FEI horses, we have an exciting homebred jumping the national grands prix, and then a whole group of young horses that Ben is riding who we believe will jump at the highest level.”
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