Sue Blinks

Born: October 5, 1957
Hometown: Encinitas, California

Sue Blinks is one of the nation’s top dressage riders, having earned medals at Olympic and World Equestrian Games. In 2000, with Flim Flam, she was named to the U.S. team at the Sydney Olympics Games where the U.S. took the Bronze medal. Blinks was a member of the fourth-place U.S. squad at the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome, Italy, and in September of 2002, she was on the Silver medal-winning U.S. team at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain. She has also been named the U.S. Olympic Committee's Dressage Female Athlete of the Year twice.

Sue Blinks and Robin Hood. (Photo by SusanJStickle.com)

In May of 2004, Blinks acquired a new top dressage horse, the 2003 Pavo Cup Winner, Robin Hood. Robin Hood was five years old when he came to the U.S., and Blinks has been bringing him along slowly since then.

In 2008, Blinks and Robin Hood won the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Freestyle at the Golden State Dressage Festival CDI3* and were members of the U.S. Nations Cup Team at Mondorf Les Baines, Luxembourg.

In April of 2010, Blinks and Robin Hood won the grand prix special at the Del Mar National CDI3*. They started off in June with a win in the Grand Prix at the Cornerstone Dressage Show in Palgrave, Ontario, and ended the month winning the Grand Prix Special at the Blainville CDI3* in Quebec.

In August of 2010, the pair traveled to the East Coast to compete in the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF Festival of Champions. On the first weekend they placed fifth in both the Grand Prix Test and the Grand Prix Special.

Blinks rides and trains at Doug and Louis Leatherdale’s Rancho Santa Fe, CA, farm. The Leatherdale’s have been Blinks’ longtime sponsor and owners of many of her Grand Prix horses including Robin Hood.

Blinks currently serves as the Chair of the USEF Dressage Eligible Athletes Committee and is a member of the USEF High Performance Dressage Committee and the USEF Board of Directors.