Twenty-one-year-old Swiss international dressage rider Meilin Ngovan, lives with her parents near Bern in Switzerland. Her fourteen-year-old half-sister Leana, also rides at children’s and at junior level.
Meileen has enjoyed tremendous success to date including being part of the gold-medal-winning Swiss team at the 2015 European Children’s Championships in Vidaubane. She has also made it to the top of the podium five times at the Swiss Championships although she considers her biggest highlight was training her horse Dreami who who has come so far since he was bought four-and-a-half years ago. At that time he could barely manage a flying change and now he can compete and achieve up to 77% in the Young Rider Tour.
Meilin graduated from school at the age of fifteen and then completed a four-year sports education as a businesswoman at the “Feusi” sports school in Bern. After celebrating her graduation in the summer of 2022, she decided to do a three-to-four-month internship with her horse “Dreamdancer” at Wolfram Wittig in Germany in October 2022.
In the end, she was there for exactly two years, so not quite as planned, She learnt a lot from this experience, from both a riding perspective and also on a personal level as she had to live alone for the first time and was responsible for her own housework and so on. She says “It was the best decision I could have made”.
Meilin recently returned home and now works at the stables with her father, Swiss international Grand Prix rider, Gilles Ngovan. She also works for “Swiss Equestrian”, the federation of Swiss equestrian sport.
Her horse Dreamdancer “Dreami”, is a 12-year-old Oldenburg out of Desperado x Quaterback. The pair have been together for four and a half years including her last junior year and all her young rider years. As well as continuing to compete with Dreami, Meilin thinks he will be a perfect teacher for her sister.
I spent almost my entire childhood in a riding stable. My father put me on the front of the saddle before I could walk.
Riding has been with me my whole life. I spent every spare minute in the stables. I started with two Shetland ponies that belonged to the stable owner. I groomed them every day and of course I was also able to ride them. So, my riding career began very light-heartedly and was always great fun with the two Shetlands.
When I grew up, I got my first pony “Nüssli”. He was very cheeky, but I learned a lot with him and took part in my first competitions. However, as I grew up very quickly and my pony was very small, I was able to ride a horse belonging to a lady at the stables. She had several horses and was happy that I was able to ride “Don Paulo” more often. I was able to ride my first children’s competitions with him very quickly and won the gold medal with him at the European Championships as part of the team.
I continued riding “Pauli” in the juniors and was able to win a lot of medium level programs in Switzerland.
I have a lot to thank “Pauli” for. He is now 23 years old and in our pasture. My pony was also with me for a long time, and I was able to attend many jumping lessons with him.
At the same time, I was able to ride the stallion “Dream of Night” in our stable, he belongs to the stable owner. My father had trained him from an early age and knew “Roni” perfectly. I was allowed to continue riding him. First with the juniors and then with the young riders. I learned to ride advanced S level tests and gained experience at home and abroad.
With Roni, I won the Swiss Championship title twice and two silver and one bronze medal.
When “Pauli” went out to pasture and I had retired “Roni” from the sport, we bought “Dreamdancer”. With “Dreami” I learned together with my father how to train a horse further. He couldn’t do the medium (M) level lessons 100% yet, but you could see that he was (is) a very willing horse. It was great fun to ride “Dreami”!
At the European Championships in Oliva Nova, we came 4th as a team.
That was certainly a great success. In the same year I became Junior Swiss Champion.
After successfully completing the Sport- Education, I had a great desire to gain further experience abroad. Thanks to our squad coach, Oliver Oelrich, I was able to complete an internship with Mr. Wolfram Wittig.
It was intended that I would stay there for two or three months only, however, I really enjoyed it there and learned a lot of new things. The two to three months will soon be two years.
I usually ride in the morning, then you have peace and quiet. My family and I are renting from a riding stable in the neighbouring village.
My biggest support is my family, especially my mom and dad. The horse owners are also a huge part, without them it wouldn’t work.
I have been supported by the Stübben company since last year, which I am very proud of and grateful for.
I drink a double espresso.
How did horses come into your life?


When and where do you ride?

Who do you train with?
I’ve been training with my father Gilles Ngovan since I was little. Since 2021, we have been training with the squad together with Oliver Oelrich. I spent the last two years training and working with Wolfram Wittig in Germany. I’ve recently returned to Switzerland and am now training with my father and Jürgen Koschel.What are you and your horses currently working on?
Now I am working with my horses on the basic groundwork, as I do all year round. I don’t train many lessons because my horses can already do that. For me, it’s important to keep reviewing the basics. I also like to do pole work once a week, so I can get a bit of variety in. I also think it’s very important that the horses not only see the arena every day, but also nature. We have very nice opportunities for riding out.It takes a team to do dressage, who is in your support team?

What do you love about riding?
Simply everything, I find it so fascinating what you can achieve with animals even though you don’t speak the same language. My horses are also my best friends and once you build up this connection with an animal and you both trust it, you can achieve anything together. The horses have also taught me discipline and so much self-confidence and they always want you to improve yourself repeatedly and outgrow yourself.What opportunities have you enjoyed so far?
I have been able to train and work with one of the best trainers in the world for the last two years and now I can show all I have learned on my new path and continue to develop. I will be forever grateful for this time.What challenges have you faced on your dressage journey?
Don’t be discouraged by defeats and always work on yourself and your mistakes every day. I also have to deal with the pressure and expectations others have of me, but also the expectations I have of myself, and turn them into positive energyDo you have any rituals before competing?
