JJ Tate began to take her place among the country’s dressage elite early on in her career, making her FEI debut at just 16 years old. Earning numerous national and regional titles, she has trained and competed with more than 29 horses at the FEI levels, including eight at Grand Prix. Known for her classical education and elegant riding, JJ is a top competitor whose devotion to the very highest standards of horsemanship and integrity make her a positive role model in the contemporary dressage world.

International dressage rider JJ Tate joins Team Prac to help you and your horse on your dressage journey. ©RichardMalmgren.com
  • Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
  • Current homebase: Landrum, South Carolina, and Wellington, Florida
  • Specialty: Dressage
  • Family: JJ grew up in a non-riding family with two older sisters and has been married to horse trainer and photographer Richard Malmgren since 2011.
  • What first drew you to horses? While JJ dabbled in dance, music, basketball and other sports growing up, she was utterly consumed with horses and riding by the age of 7. “The love of horses is just in my bones. I’ve been obsessed with horses since as far back as I can remember.”
  • Favorite horse growing up: Solo, an American Saddlebred. “He was my best friend in the entire universe growing up, and as an ugly duckling kid, he changed the trajectory of my life and who I became.”
  • Riding background: At 18, JJ went to Budapest, Hungary, to train with Gyula Dallos after being introduced to him by her longtime mentor Charles De Kunffy. She went pro by the time she was 21, opening a training operation in southeastern Wisconsin. In 2006, JJ moved to Maryland to train with Scott Hassler to chase her dreams of making a U.S. Team, and in 2016, she moved to her and Richard’s Blue Ridge Farm in South Carolina, where she trains her horses and runs her comprehensive and interactive educational program, Team Tate Academy.
  • Career highlights: “Doing Young Riders was a powerful experience—being on a silver medal team and being a top Young Rider in 1999. Seeking excellence was evident early on in my career, and I loved competing at the top of the sport and challenging myself. Riding in the ‘Saturday nights under the lights’ at Devon with Cambay was another life-changing experience. It was in that moment I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. There was so much adrenaline and excitement. I had won lots of other championships and regionals, but ‘Chip’ was my first international horse. I also have fond memories of riding lots of different horses in the Young Horse Championships, especially with Verden in 2007, and I loved my wins with Faberge (‘Fuji’) at Devon and the four-star in Wellington.
  • Mentors: Charles de Kunffy, Gyula Dallos, Scott Hassler and Michael Barisone
  • Most influential horse in your career: “Cambay, who’s also known as Chip and the Chipperdoodle. He was my first big-time international horse and gave me a taste of the top and taught me how to manage and ride a horse like him especially in those big atmospheres at the top shows. It was such a thrill.”
  • When you’re not riding, where can we find you? “Probably eating or sleeping! I’m privileged to make a career out of something I love, so it’s really always about the horses. I’m pretty transparent, and I’m not sure there’s much people don’t know about me.”
  • You might not know: After being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing a double mastectomy in 2021, the resilient horsewoman continued to ride and train throughout her recovery. In 2022 and 2023, she spent a combined 14 months in Germany working with clients. Through her experience, JJ continues to advocate and raise awareness about listening to your body and performed in the 2023 Challenge of the Americas to raise funds for breast cancer research.
JJ Tate runs her training program and Team Tate Academy out of her Blue Ridge Farm in Landrum, South Carolina. ©RichardMalmgren.com
  • Four-legged family members (besides horses): Millie, a 2-year-old Bichon/Jack Russell mix.
  • Favorite eats: Pizza
  • Favorite book and/or movie: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
  • Mares or geldings? “I love a good mare!”
  • What’s kept you involved in the sport for so long? “Becoming an excellent rider and horsewoman aligns really well with my quest to also become a great human. And I just love, love, love the horses, and dressage is this beautiful embodiment of the relationship you have with your horse—when you can get a big, athletic horse to work with you it’s such an amazing, harmonious feeling of two beings being in the same thought. I call it the moment when the clouds part and the sunbeams come down and the whole world makes sense for a few seconds. The beautiful communication you develop with your horse and him doing it because he wants to, not because he’s forced to, is what gets me up and out of bed every day and why I dedicate all my time to the sport and the horses. I just love it.”
  • Learn more: teamtatedressage.com

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