Adrienne Sternlicht was just 24 when, in 2017, she made her Nations Cup debut, representing the United States on her former partner Cristalline. That mare went on to take her to the 2018 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (North Carolina) where they helped the U.S. team win gold alongside riders Sternlicht idolized. In 2022, the pair was named to the U.S. team again for the Agria FEI World Show Jumping Championship (Denmark).

Since Cristalline’s retirement in 2023, Sternlicht has been building up her group of international horses and representing the U.S. on several Nations Cup teams with Starlight Farms 1 LLC’s Benny’s Legacy.

Now, she’s got another up-and-coming star in the barn in Origa V/H Zuid-Pajottenland, an 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Thunder VD Zuuthoeve—Kwinta V/H Zuid-Pajottenland, Ogano Sitte) also owned by Starlight Farms 1 LLC. 

Sternlicht first paired up with “Rigi” in fall 2022, about a year after he’d moved up to the five-star level with Sweden’s Jonna Ekberg. A freak accident where he broke his hip at Sternlicht’s farm in Wellington, Florida, meant he was out of jumping at the top level for almost a year.

The pair spent the latter part of 2023 and most of 2024 campaigning at the five-star level in Europe and the U.S. before a leg injury last fall meant Rigi had to sit out the winter season. Since coming back to competition in June, he and Sternlicht have been working up to the five-star level again, and they topped the $340,000 Grand Prix CSI5* at the RBC Ottawa International Horse Show on Aug. 17 in Ottawa, Ontario. Sternlicht also won the $35,000 1.45-meter Grand Prix CSI2* the same day on Starlight Farms 1 LLC’s Corablue Z, a 9-year-old Zangersheide mare (Corydon Van T&L—Linsey, Los Angeles).

We caught up with Sternlicht, 32, of Greenwich, Connecticut, to learn more about Rigi’s journey to his big win and her plans for the future.

Congratulations on your weekend! Tell me about winning the big grand prix with Rigi. You were one of only three riders to make the jump-off.

It had rained earlier in the day, and it was the last class on the field after having been jumped on all week. So, I think [the small jump-off was the result of] a combination of the ground and Marina Azevedo built a very difficult track. She built a proper five-star grand prix. Even though the entries were limited [there were 24 that jumped], she was not messing around, which personally I love.

I love when the course is difficult, because I also think it’s really important that the level in the [North America] stays as comparable to five-stars in Europe as possible in order for us to feel adequately prepared when we go over there for championships and Nations Cups, and not just in Florida.

You’ve had Rigi since 2022. What’s his journey been like with you?

I thought he was a horse to jump any class in the world. And then, my third ride on him, he broke his third trochanter, which is basically his hip. 

He’s a really sharp. He’s a funny horse because he seems quite relaxed—a bit like a golden retriever—but then he actually has a lot of blood, and he’s quite sharp outside of the ring. I remember in that ride, he had actually broken a draw rein bucking after a cavaletti. … I could feel that I was about to get hurt, so I jumped off, and he ran back into the barn, and at that point there were still some stone pavers, and he slid and slipped and fell on stone pavers when he took off. He ended up being on stall rest for about 45 days, then I spent the whole winter in Florida just rehabbing him.

[When he came back], he moved up really quickly during his 9-year-old year, I think in six months he went from jumping 1.45 to 1.55 meters. I think as any partnership does, it ebbs and flows a bit, especially as horses move up the levels. 

In the fall of 2023 he was already doing four-star grand prix. And that was not only because of his character—he’s incredibly brave and scopey—but also just my horse situation. I haven’t traditionally had three or more horses; I’ve traditionally had one or two horses to jump the bigger classes, because I’m always trying to produce horses a little bit up to the level.

[After his leg injury in the fall of 2024], he feels actually better than he did before. It’s been a bit of an off year for me, really. The past couple of years I haven’t been jumping so much on the world stage. I’ve jumped some five-star classes and things like that, but not in a super competitive manner. This winter I really took my time bringing him back.

Watch their winning round from the RBC Grand Prix CSI5*, courtesy of Horse Network:

What’s he like to ride, and what’s he like in the barn?

He’s lovely on the ground. He’s probably the sweetest horse I’ve ever had. He will lick anything. He’s kind of like a golden retriever to ride. He has a fair amount of character. He’s quite opinionated, and he knows how strong he is. He’s built like an ox. He’s not huge, but he’s quite stout in how he’s built, and he’s a horse who, honestly, I’ve had trouble connecting with at certain moments. Sometimes it’s hard to read him and what he wants.

In the past year, I did the majority of his rehab myself. I think any time that you take that down time to spend with a horse, and also whenever a horse is out from sport, [it is valuable].

I always go back and watch videos and reflect on previous rounds. And during that time, I know I also grew a lot as a rider, because I learned new fundamentals from working with [Dutch Olympic gold medalist and former world champion] Jeroen Dubbeldam. Being able to apply those now, I feel like I have so much of a better understanding of the horse, and I’m able to serve him better in the ring. 

He’s always a bit distracted—like he often lands on the wrong lead. He’s not a horse who’s super focused and honed in, because I think everything is quite easy for him that he’s been presented with thus far in his life.

My mental approach to him has been that I don’t really like to grind on the horses. I ask him a question, and then when he does it, I leave him alone. Like, I rode him for 10 minutes before the grand prix just to make sure he was listening to me. And once he was listening, I give him his peace. Every horse has their own way. Many riders spend would work their horse for 40 minutes before the grand prix. But for him, I found that’s not what works.

McLain Ward has been an important mentor in your riding career, but you’ve made a change in trainers fairly recently. Tell me about working with Jeroen Dubbeldam.

McLain and I stopped working together the end of 2021. It was very mutual. We had been together for many years, and he and I both felt it was important that I went on my own for a bit. I think as riders, it’s one of the most amazing things about our sport that you never stop learning, and I was eager to learn from somebody else. I think when horses are your life, you spend so much time at the shows, and you kind of get glimpses into other systems and other methodologies. I knew that it was important for my own personal growth that I go out on my own. 

I was on my own for a year and a half, then during the fall of 2023, I wasn’t training with anyone specifically, and I ended up reaching out to Jeroen Dubbeldam. Obviously, he’s one of the most respected horse professionals—he’s a legend, and I have an insatiable quest for knowledge in every aspect of my life. I really wanted to learn a new system because I felt like I knew the American system quite well. 

When I moved to Europe in April of last year, [Rigi] was my only horse jumping big classes at that point in time. I stayed there for four or five months. During that time, I learned the nuts and bolts of Jeroen’s system, which as I was there, I realized how much different it was from what I knew.

What are your goals for the rest of 2025 and looking into the future?

For the remainder of the calendar year, my focus is really on getting my [FEI] ranking up so that I can ride on teams again. I will definitely make a bid for the world championships next year, but I believe in breaking down a goal. 

I have one horse who hasn’t jumped a five-star grand prix yet. His name is Los Angeles De La Cense [an 11-year-old Westphalian gelding (Los Angeles—Lancley, Lancer III) owned by Starlight Farms 1 LLC], and I think a lot of him, so to move him up to the five-star level this fall, just to be consistently jumping at the top level and be quite competitive, so that I set myself up to have a big year next year.

You are a 2016 graduate of Brown University (Rhode Island) with a degree in public policy, and you earned a master’s degree in human rights at Columbia University (New York). As an equestrian, how important is education and a broader worldview to you?

I do a bunch of things. I don’t just ride at the minute. I’m working on a political project that isn’t something I can speak publicly about yet, but I’m really excited about, and that’s quite a serious time commitment. So, I spend a fair amount of time working with a small group of other passionate, kind of young, politicized people. I also work a bit in finance. I keep myself super busy, which I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do. I know how privileged I am to be able to ride the way that I do. And I know that I always want to lead a multi-dimensional life, and I don’t feel that that interferes with my commitment or my dedication to my sport. And I’m really, really lucky to have a really good team around me.