Ridden Arabian Competitors, Meet Your Conformation Judge!
Emma Maxwell has been working as a specialist in Arabian horses for over 25 years, and has worked with generations of the world’s finest Arabians.
Emma grew up in a horsey family which bred Arabian horses as a business until 2002. Pat, Joanna and Emma of Lodge Farm Arabians bred around 25 Arabians a year from English, Straight Egyptian, Spanish, Russian and Polish lines and made their original combinations.
The family held a holistic view of the ideal Arabian as not just a show horse but one which combined external beauty with athleticism and trainability. Lodge Farm bred several Halter World Championship winners and countless National and International Champions, plus Stakes race-winning Arabians and some Halter Champions, which also won on the racetrack. Some Maxwell mare families are still breeding on for the world’s new breeders six or seven generations on.
Emma was one of the most successful female Arabian horse halter trainers ever in Europe showing 5 Paris World Champions, and many other horses to titles at the Nations Cup, the Qatar International, the Middle East Championships etc.
She also organised and co presented the WAHO Parade for Turkey in 2002, working with a group horses previously unseen to most breeders. She later returned to Turkey to design a protocol for safely introducing horses to the Kurt Equine Training System.
Though she is now London based, she remains hands on, and continues to breed some horses, mostly with a strong Maxwell connection. HOYS fans may recognise the name Adawy, whom Emma bred and who went on to stand Ridden Arabian of the Year under current owner Louisa Biles, and has also twice stood HOYS Arabian leading sire of the year. Emma also owns the promising young stallion Wakil Aljassimya currently standing in Spain.
As well as being a dab-hand handling and showing the horses, Emma is an accomplished lecturer, photographer and writer. In 2021, she was awarded the Arabian Horse Times Readers Award for her book, 40 Years of Paris World Champions and has given countless speeches about a variety of topics including Arabian type, temperament, history and bloodlines at National Society meetings, Judges Seminars and was even a guest speaker at the 2011 WAHO Conference in Qatar, 2012 the Pyramid Society Conference in Texas, the 2017 WAHO Conference in Bahrain and the 2018 and 2019 ADIHEX Conference in Abu Dhabi, and the Pride of Poland Sale in 2022.
Judging has also led Emma across the globe. She’s been an Arab Horse Society judge since 2001 and has judged the world over, from the UK to Germany and Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe, and she runs a successful consultancy service on the Arabian Horse.
What will Emma be looking for?
“I’ll be looking for a harmonious horse who fits together well.” And rest assured, a true lover of the breed as a whole, she is clear that she does “not have a particular bloodline favourite”.
