Rob Hoekstra

Currently based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, he moved to England with his parents in 1978 and switched from Dutch to British nationality in 1987. Rob represented Holland on the Junior Showjumping team aged 16 and trained with a number of high profile show jumpers, including Leslie Taylor, Henk Nooren, George Morris and Albert Voorn. As a British rider... , he has represented Britain on Nations Cup teams, won numerous international competitions and Grand Prix, competed in World Cups and won the Hickstead Derby in 1999 and jumping another clear round to finish third in 2000 on Lionel II. He was approached to manage the British Showjumping Team in February 2010 and with the 2012 London Olympics coming up it was quite a challenge. He decided to see if he could do anything to elevate the team to be the best in the World. 'The most important thing I had to do was to win some medals.' He started working with the team to achieve some unity as people were going in different directions, and putting the team first and the atmosphere and team spirit was a top priority. In 2011 the British Team won Team and Individual Bronze medals at the European Championships in Madrid, and in 2012 the Team won Team Gold at the London Olympic Games for the first time in 60 years. In 2013 the British Team won Team Gold at the European Championship in Herning Denmark and Individual Silver and Bronze with Ben Maher and Scott Brash. Only the second time in history a Nation has held both titles. During the majority of 2014 Scott and Ben where no 1 and 2 in the World on the FEI Longines ranking. Rob has also been the head Coach for the World Class Development programme which identifies future Medal winning riders. Many of the Development riders have made their British Team Nations Cup and Championship debut over the last few years. © 2013 ROB HOEKSTRA HORSE TRAININGRead More