Equestrian sports have always been a fundamental part of Annabelle’s life. Growing up around horses, she learnt to value the importance of discipline and grit, which have been the key to her successes. Unlike most of Annabelle’s competitors in Europe, she was born and raised in Asia; in countries where there was limited access to riding opportunities. Despite this, she was still able to reach a high level of dressage and showjumping at a relatively young age. This includes riding the Prix St Georges and Intermediare 1 programmes in dressage at the mere age of 12, as well as competing up to 115cm in showjumping at the age of 13 and 14.

Soon, Annabelle realised that it would be necessary to compete in Europe to have a chance of riding amongst the best.

Annabelle’s equestrian career in Europe started when she competed for the first time in Denmark at the age of 8. With ambitious goals and plans, Annabelle managed to qualify for the Danish Pony Championships for Kat. 3 in 2015 as the youngest rider, at the age of 9.

This was an exciting taste of success for the young athlete, which motivated her to come back to Europe when she was just 11 to compete again. During this time she was still based in Malaysia, requiring her to fly back and fourth on the 13 hour journey during long weekends and holidays, in order to be back for school and not miss out on her academics.

With great resilience and ambitions, she managed to be selected for her first CDICh International competition in Belgium as a children rider, with the goal of qualifying for the European Championships that year. It was a very formidable goal, which no doubt caused many to question if it really was possible. However, through Annabelle’s determination and will to win, she managed to be selected for the European Championships in 2019 as the only Danish rider in the children dressage competition. Not only was she able to do this, but she also exceeded all expectations by bringing home an individual bronze medal for Denmark, as well as ending the year as placed 5th on the FEI World Ranking list.

Despite overcoming a myriad of challenges in her pursuit towards her first European Championships, an even bigger challenge was yet to come.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which led to enforcing iron-clad travel restrictions between Asia and Europe. With Annabelle now attending school in Singapore, the previous Asia-Europe manoeuvre was almost impossible, and new solutions had to be found if she were to continue competing at her current level. Therefore, when Asia went into lockdown, and schools adopted online learning, Annabelle flew to Europe completely alone to stay at a stable. She was required to juggle an intensive training regime simultaneously with online learning in preparation for her IGCSE’s. Typical mornings started at 01:30 am, getting ready for the start of school at 02:00 am Danish time. Once school was over at 09:00 am, her day of training would start, riding between 4 horses everyday, and ending at 8:00 pm where she would finish feeding the horses at night. This proved to be a trying time, where she had no choice but to develop strong resilience. As a result of her hard work, that very summer, she won an individual bronze medal at the Danish Championships, ending the year with an overall 4th placing at the annual ECCO Cup Final amongst Denmark’s best junior riders.

Once the competition season of 2020 was over, Annabelle managed to reenter Singapore, with strict Covid-19 restrictions, to see her family for the first time in 8 months, and focus on her academics. Returning back to Europe at the start of the 2021 season, she once again had the ambition of being selected to represent Denmark at the European Championships, this time as a junior rider. However, as the online learning opportunity had now stopped, Annabelle juggled self-studying all of her IGCSE’s, whilst pursuing her sport at a very competitive level. Despite this pressure, Annabelle had a very successful season, including impressive team and individual placings at the Hagen Future Champions CDIOJ Nations Cup that year. This led to her selection for the European Championships as a junior rider, resulting in a team bronze medal, and individually placing at 7th and 8th in the individual competition and freestyle.

That summer, Annabelle moved to a boarding school located in Zug, Switzerland, to complete her IGCSE’s whilst being closer to her horses in Denmark. Although the solution was more practical that commuting between Asia and Europe, it was still a strenuous journey that took 12 hours from door to door. Annabelle made this trip as frequently as every weekend in order to train for important international and national competitions, towards the end of the year. However, as school started to build up in approach of her final exams, Annabelle decided to prioritise her academics and was away from riding for up to 3 weeks at a time. This put added stress on her, especially as the selections for the European Championships that year were coming up again. Despite the immense pressure, Annabelle was once again able to produce results which selected her for the European Championships this year in 2022, as well as ranking her as 4th on the FEI World Ranking list for Junior dressage. Moreover, she was also able to prioritise her academics, resulting in 7 A’s and A*’s across the board in her IGCSE’s, despite the challenges of online learning and self studying for almost a year of the course. 

Currently, Annabelle is based in Viborg, Denmark, where she is pursuing her IB Diploma, while balancing her equestrian sports. Since relocating to Denmark, she has already had many successes. These include an individual silver medal at the Danish Championships, as well as winning internationally at the CDIJ class at the FEI World Cup qualification in Vilhemsborg, Denmark. Later that year, she went on to win the ECCO Cup 3rd qualification, as well as the ECCO Cup Final 2022 in the Junior category. In 2023, Annabelle has continued to have success. This includes her top 3 placings at the Aalborg International Dressage festival, which led to her selection for Hagen Future Champions, where Annabelle secured a place at the top of the podium two days in a row. As a result, Annabelle was selected to compete at her fourth European Championships, where she won the team silver medal, as well as individually placing 4th.

Aside from sports, Annabelle is also currently developing a patented drowning resistant band, SplashBand, which is detailed in the SplashBand section.