Eventer to brand founder

Robert Lemieux on his unbacked purchase that travelled to the Olympics, eventing’s golden days and how he founded the LeMieux brand from the back of a van

- Becky Murray

I was a late starter when it came to riding. I went to boarding school and there was a riding school down the road. The lady who ran it was a real character and she kind of lit an interest in me that I didn’t really know was there.

When I left school, like every youngster I wanted to do something a bit different, so spent a summer working on a ranch in Montana and then Wyoming. I ended up in Lexington, Kentucky, where I got a job at a big stud, but sadly I was only really allowed to sweep up – and if I was lucky, lead a horse occasionally.

My first experience at an eventing championships came in the summer of 1978 after a chance meeting in a bar in Lexington. The Irish were competing but had arrived without enough grooms, so I volunteered to help out. I went from having no eventing experience to being in a World Championship environment, and that’s what ignited my interest in eventing.

Cross-country was the bit I liked the most, and I loved getting horses really fit. I started competing on an old schoolmaster, but it occurred to me I needed a younger horse.