Alexander Peternell

Alex grew up on his parents’ stable yard in South Africa where he found his love of horses and jumping. As a teenager he produced ponies including his beloved Lady Jade, a Soweto rescue horse. Lady Jade went on to compete at the World FEI Championships. Every time Alex returns to South Africa, he trains the kids in Soweto to give back to the sport and in memory of his amazing pony. He also trained as a ballet dancer at The National School of the Arts. At seventeen Alex had to choose between horses and ballet and he accepted an offer to work at the world renowned yard Stal Schockermohle. During his time in Germany he worked and trained with show jumping riders from all over the world. He also competed in Show Jumping in Holland before moving to England.

At 23 years of age Alex was encouraged by friends to try Eventing. In 2004 he rode his own mare at his first event and won. By 2009 he was competing at his first Burghley five-star, just five years later.

In 2012, Alex had the honour to represent South Africa in Eventing at the London Olympics jumping double clear. He also represented South Africa at the 2014 World Equestrian Games. The ground conditions were grueling and of the 90 combinations that started the cross country and only 59 finished. Alex rode an impressive round and completed successfully. To date he has competed at some of the world’s most prestigious five-star tracks including Badminton (2010 and 2015) Burghley (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013) Luhmuhlen (2014) and Pau (2015). He has also ridden at the young horse championships in Le Lion (2018, 2019).

Throughout his career Alex has continued to ride and produce horses to advanced levels including eight horses qualified at five-star. His current horse “Norman” is no exception. As a four-year-old he demonstrated his aptitude for the sport coming second at Badminton in the Burghley Young Event Horse Class. Since then, the young gelding has continued to develop and shine with relative ease through the levels competing in his first four-star a month before his eighth birthday.

In 2023 it was with great delight that this partnership was selected to represent South Africa in Ireland at the Olympic Team Qualifying event where they placed tenth individually. It is no secret that Alex has campaigned hard to try and qualify a team to represent South Africa, including giving national riders his own horse to qualify. Whether it be training, teaching, or competing, Alex’s passion and devotion for the sport even 20 years on is quite remarkable.