Marilyn Little

Marilyn Little is a US event rider who won team and individual gold medals at the Pan American Games in 2015.

Marilyn showjumped at the top level before turning to eventing after watching the sport on television at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010.

She made a rapid rise through the ranks, riding at three-star (now four-star) at the end of her first season in eventing, in 2011.

“I love eventing,” she said in an interview at Blair Castle Horse Trials in August 2011. “I’ve been doing the jumpers so long I’ve got jaded, the same shows, the same people. The cross-country is a tense day, but it’s a small leap for me, whereas the leap into the dressage saddle has been bigger.”

Marilyn rode at her first four-star (now five-star) at Kentucky the following spring, in 2012, finishing ninth on RF Demeter.

For several years she competed a string of several event horses, but in recent years she has cut back and focused on just one, the mare RF Scandalous – who was her partner in winning double gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto – while devoting much of her time to her work in the nutroceutical business.

What are Marilyn’s best results?

Aside from her Pan American Games medals, Marilyn has also had many international wins up to four-star level.

Her best results at five-star include third at Kentucky Three-Day Event 2018 and fourth at Luhmühlen Horse Trials 2018, both on RF Scandalous. She has ridden at Burghley Horse Trials, finishing 20th in 2014 on RF Demeter, and at Pau Horse Trials, as well as Kentucky and Luhmühlen.

Isn’t Marilyn known for having blood in her horses’ mouths?

Marilyn has sometimes attracted controversy because of incidents of blood in her horses’ mouths, including at Kentucky in 2018.

Didn’t Marilyn Little used to be known as Marilyn Little-Meredith?

Yes. Marilyn was previously married to Australian showjumper Ben Meredith, but is now divorced.