Meet Jessie Vanassche - IWMT 2015 winner

Jessie (right) receiving prize from Kathryn
(photo courtesy of Uptown Eventing)

Jessie Vanassche is a determined young event rider who is truly dedicated to her sport given her base is the beautiful Isle of Wight. Last year she not only won the Ian White Memorial Trophy, but also took home the Moose trophy for completing her crosscountry round closest to the optimum time. This month she travelled over to the mainland to enjoy her prizes - a lesson with the fabulous Gill Watson and some crosscountry schooling at Aston-le-Walls. Here we find out more about her and her winning horse, DaVinci2 and how she manages to event from off the southern coast.

How long have you been eventing and what attracted you to the sport? Horses have been a massive part of my life, ever since I could walk. I enjoyed all the equestrian disciplines, and my time on a competition yard meant I kind of fell in to competing. I spent a lot of my younger days on ponies, competing on riding club teams. I think this is when I decided that eventing was the way forward for me. I started affiliated eventing in 2007.

The very handsome DaVinci 2

Tell us about your horse, DaVinci 2: He took quite a while to find. I had been loaning a 14.2hh pony and when she came up for sale I had to decide whether to buy her or find something bigger. Sadly she was sold on as I wanted a horse to last me a little longer. Although we came over to the mainland for our search, DaVinci 2 (DV) was  found right on our doorstep. Through my cousin, eventrider Sarah Holmes, I met DV's then owner who Sarah was riding for a couple of times a week. I went to try him and I absolutely loved him! Given he's quite a big build British Warmblood, you'd expect him to be a handful, but he is the perfect English gentleman and loves a cuddle. So, I've now had him for 18 months and when I bought him, my aim was to event him and qualify for the Badminton Grassroots. To my delight, we achieved a BE90 qualification last season and so I'm very excited about competing there this May. My next aim is a BE100 qualification. Smith's Lawn was my first BE100.

How do you manage to event when living 'overseas' in the Isle of Wight? It has it's challenges. I think our longest journey has to have been to Lincoln for the Riding Club Championships. This took us 6 hours from Portsmouth, excluding the ferry crossing and getting to the port. We have done this for many years now though. Ferry timings can cause a headache, not to mention the added expense to our travel costs. On a few occasions we have turned up at the terminal to see our ferry pulling out without us!  However, all my horses have coped with this unusual trip - it's like parking your lorry for a while. It's only when we're waiting for a ferry that I sometimes wonder if it would be easier to live on the mainland, but the hacking on the island is great, and you're never too far away from green land or the sea. Plus we have affiliated and local showjumping and dressage events at our yard.

Flying over jumps at Aston le Walls

Who do you train with? I train weekly with  Sarah, who is brilliant and has taught me for many years. I spent my early teenage years eventing with her and I think this is where I really caught the eventing bug. I also have monthly lessons with Nicola Buchannan (nee Jourdain) who has taught me dressage since I was 11. Recently, I've had lessons with Richard Waygood who's significantly improved DV's jumping technique.

How do you juggle eventing with other commitments? During the week, I currently juggle two part-time jobs: one in the family-owned garage and the other on my aunt's yard (Lake Farm Equestrian Centre). This is where I stable DV. Working on the yard has given me invaluable experience which I apply to my own horses. I have the weekends free to compete and I love the mix of office and outdoor work.

Jessie and Gill

What attracted you to the IWMT competition? This was the first time I had competed at Smith's Lawn horse trials. I saw the section was for amateur owner/riders and that there was more than one trophy to aim for within the class, so I thought it was worth entering. It turned out to be a successful first BE100 for us. DV went amazingly well. His showjumping was better than ever and he flew round the crosscountry course to win. It gave me the confidence boost I needed to continue at BE100 and aim for another Grassroots qualification at Badminton. My lesson with Gill was brilliant - I definitely picked up some tips for the forthcoming season.

What are your plans for the future in terms of eventing? I would like to compete at Novice level with DV and to just keep enjoying the sport. I think every amateur rider's biggest dream is to compete at Badminton.

Kathryn White is owner and director of Cathean Ltd Medical and Copy Writing Services. She is a published medical, copy and equestrian writer with a passion for creating compelling text in collaboration with her clients. Her customers include pharmaceutical, healthcare and equestrian businesses across the world.