Famous Equestrian Cameos

There was a trend, especially in the 2000's, in the horse game genre to get games sponsored and branded by famous equestrians. Every localisation had a local equestrian, leading to even more different game titles and versions. The cameos varied from using only the name and a photo of the equestrian on the cover, to voice acting, to actually creating them as a character in the game. Here's a list of equestrians and the games they showed up in:

Harvey Smith
Harvey Smith Showjumper from 1985 for the Commodore 64 and MSX, based on the British show jumping champion Harvey Smith was one of the first "real" Horse riding games. It features Smith's picture on the cover and his name and a rough likeness (considering the graphics of the time) on the loading screen.

Mary King
Mary King (GB), eventing world champion – lends her name to Mary King’s Riding Star from 1999. "Star", the player's horse in Championship mode, seems to be based on (or at least named after) King's horse at the time, "Star Appeal". Even though the game is based around a female character competing in eventing on a brown horse named Star, in other countries the game was simply released with the name and picture of a popular equestrian of the nation in question, no matter their discipline/gender/horse: Ulrich Kirchhoff (Germany, Show Jumping), 'Lussan' Nathorst (Sweden, Dressage), Anky van Grunsven (Netherlands, Dressage, see also below) and of course Alexandra Ledermann (France, Show Jumping, see below).

Mary King's Riding School, a DS game, has King's likeness as the instructor. It was released outside the UK without a famous equestrian's name attached and what seems to be a generic (male) trainer. Mary King's Riding School 2 for the Wii (what about the PC version?), a sports simulation with eventing, dressage and show jumping, features a drawn picture of King (and possibly voice acting -  can someone confirm it's really her? ) in the tutorial. Elsewhere (except Germany, see Famous Equestrian Cameos, again with a nameless, male (possibly French?) instructor.

Alexandra Ledermann


Alexandra Ledermann (FR), olympic show jumping – lends her name to the French Alexandra Ledermann Series.

The series started "cover only" with Riding Star (see Mary King).

In the third game, the main character inherited a horse. In the French version Alexandra Ledermann - 3 Équitation Aventure, this horse was given by Alexandra Ledermann, through a letter signed by herself.

The fourth to eighth entry, made especially for the series by French Studio Lexis Numérique, feature Alexandra Ledermann in the games:
 * In the intro of Alexandra Ledermann 4 - Aventures au Haras, the player character gets a letter signed by Alexandra.
 * In Alexandra Ledermann 5 - L'Héritage du Haras, Alexandra calls you at the start of the game when you inherit the stud farm, and you compete against her in the final competition.
 * In Alexandra Ledermann 6 - L'Ecole des Champions appears at the start of the game as one of the instructors at the Academy, and sometimes give some tips during the game. When you win the last competition, she's the one handing you your trophy.
 * In Alexandra Ledermann 7 - Le Défi de l'Étrier d'Or, Alexandra has the same role as the previous game.
 * Alexandra doesn't actually appear in Alexandra Ledermann 8 - Les Secrets Du Haras, or any other game of the series after that.

Later entries seem to be re-titles/cover only.

Pippa Funell
In the UK, Pippa Funnell (GB), olympic eventing – lends her name to the Pippa Funnell Series, consisting mostly of the Lexis Numérique/Ubisoft games of the Category:Alexandra Ledermann Series. In the Pippa Funnell 1: The Stud Farm Inheritance, she shows up calling the protagonist. In Does she replace Alexandra everywhere?

Nicole Uphoff
In Germany, Category:Alexandra Ledermann Series was released as part of the "Abenteuer auf dem Reiterhof" ("Adventures on the horse farm") series, usually without the involvement of equestrian stars (some games had a singer/Soap opera actress on the cover). However, the German version of Alexandra Ledermann 6 - L'Ecole des Champions as well as its sequel feature olympic dressage champion Nicole Uphoff (DE) as a guest teacher at the academy.

Ellen Whitaker
Ellen Whitaker (GB), European championships, show jumping – lends her name to Ellen Whitaker: The Horse Mystery and Ellen Whitaker's Horse Life. ''What about the other Horse Life games?"

Lucinda Green
Lucinda Green (GB), eventing world champion – lends her name to Lucinda Green's Riding Challenge. She also appears as the instructor in the tutorial and comments on the player's performance. Unusually, she does not seem to have been replaced in any of the other releases (France, Germany) of the game but simply dubbed.

Isabell Werth
Isabell Werth Reitsport was released in Germany with a 3D likeness and the voice of the titular Olympic Dressage Champion. Werth's involvement with the game is even mentioned on the German Wikipedia. Elsewhere, the game was released with a generic male trainer (with the exception of the UK Wii version, see Mary King)

Anky van Grunsven
In the Netherlands a rather wide array of games was released with the name and face of controversial Olympian dressage champion Anky van Grunsven, including: Mary King’s Riding Star, Stallens Hemmelighet, Häst & Ponny: Min första ponny, Mes Galops 3D de 1 à 4.

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum
Games of German publisher Tivola, Deine Reitschule, Deine Reitschule 2, possibly more? for a time were released with "Developed in cooperation with Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum", (US/German show jumper) on the cover.  Does anyone know more about her involvement (if any)?

Ludger Beerbaum
There is a version of Riding Star 3 in which controversial German show jumper Ludger Beerbaum (DE) shows up to explain things in the tutorial. He is absent in others. The UK version of Riding Star 3 is called Tim Stockdale's Riding Star after a british show jumper. Does he also feature as the instructor?