Tim Price

Tim Price is a New Zealand event rider who has ridden at the Olympics and been world number one.

Tim Price and Ascona M on their way to victory at Luhmühlen 2019.

Tim was born on 3 April 1979 in New Zealand’s South Island. He grew up on a farm and his parents bred horses.

He showjumped at a high level before focusing on eventing, doing his first five-star at Adelaide in 2002 and finishing ninth on Desamoray.

Tim came to England for Burghley Horse Trials 2003 after the New Zealand selectors said he and then-girlfriend Jonelle Richards could have an outside shot at the following year’s Athens Olympics. He sold a horse called Vortex to fund the trip, though he ended up riding the horse again later in his career, finishing 20th at four-star (now five-star) three times.

Tim completed his first British four-stars (now five-stars) when he and Desamoray finished at Burghley that autumn and Badminton Horse Trials the following year, although his performances weren’t strong enough to win an Olympic spot for Athens.

The Prices relocated to Britain permanently in January 2005 and since then have become a power couple of eventing, building up a business and consistently winning at the top events.

Tim and Jonelle Price got married in 2013 at Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Talking about working with Jonelle in an interview in 2015, Tim smiled: “It makes you age twice as fast! No, of course it has its challenges; there’s no denying that. But we’ve always been a good team.”

Where is Tim Price’s yard?

Tim and Jonelle are based at the Chedington Estate in Dorset.

Has Tim won at five-star?

Yes, five times.

Tim’s first top level win was in 2014 at Luhmühlen Horse Trials on Wesko, known as “Dash”.

“It’s something I’ll never forget and I’ll treasure and be forever grateful to him for,” said Tim, looking back at his first five-star win in an interview in 2021. “It’s a tough thing when you put everything to one side and move across to another hemisphere and you’re really trying to get into those top echelons of the sport and you’re never quite sure it’s going to happen. So when it does happen it’s kind of a breakthrough moment.

“Now it feels like I can have a crack at most of the major events, but back then it felt like an impossible task and Dash held my hand so that’s something very special.”

Tim also won Luhmühlen in 2019 on Ascona M and Burghley in 2018 on Ringwood Sky Boy.

“Ringwood Sky Boy will just do whatever is in front of him, he doesn’t think much, he just does,” said Tim. “As a young horse he was nicknamed The Bolter, that’s why I got him for next to nothing as a seven-year-old – he was a little unruly and difficult to manage.

“It was a case of bringing out his talent, but he’s now really cemented himself in our family of long-staying horses in the yard and he’s a real favourite with everyone.

“He’s earnt true respect and his position in the yard from so many times going out and trying so hard – in particular at places like Burghley. He’s still the same character, but it’s all a bit more under control with him being a bit more mature.”

Tim went on to win Pau Horse Trials in 2021, riding Falco, and Maryland 5 Star 2022 on Coup De Coeur Dudevin.

Has Tim Price won any medals?

Tim won his first medals at the 2022 World Championships when he piloted Falco to team and individual bronze.

His first team call-up was when he was called up from the travelling reserve spot to ride in the New Zealand team at the Rio Olympics in 2016, but he fell across country and the team ended up fourth. He rode Vitali on the fifth-placed New Zealand Olympic eventing team at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and piloted Falco to individual sixth at Paris 2024.

Tim has also ridden at two World Equestrian Games (WEG), finishing individual eighth on Cekatinka at the 2018 WEG.

Does Tim have a family?

Tim and his wife Jonelle had their first child, a boy named Otis, in August 2017. Abel followed in February 2020.

Tim Price with wife Jonelle and son Otis when he was a baby at their Wiltshire stables.

Isn’t Tim Price a screenwriter?

Event rider Tim Price does share his name with an award-winning Welsh screenwriter and playwright. The writer Tim Price has written for National Theatre Wales and had work performed at theatres such as the Barbican, Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Court, as well as writing extensively for television.