Badminton Grassroots: a first-timer's experience

Jessie Vanassche was the winner of the Ian White Memorial Trophy in 2015. Since then, she has gone from strength to strength. In May, she travelled to the hallowed turf of Badminton to compete in the BE90 Grassroots Championships for the first time..and she did rather well! Here she tells of her experience.

Although course walks with professional riders were offered, Jessie followed her trainer's instruction and walked the crosscountry track first with her mum and then on her own. This helped her to 'get in the zone and fully concentrated on the job in hand'. There was also a crosscountry app available for download which Jessie found helpful for reminding her of the course throughout the preparations. On the eve of the event, everyone gathered together for welcoming drinks and this proved to be a very special moment for Jessie. 'I chatted with both Mary and Emily King about the competition ahead!'

The day of the event dawned. 'Considering I was riding at Badminton, I felt surprisingly calm', explained Jessie. While she walked the course one more time,  her mum and friend Heidi smartened up DaVinci and the rest of her support team arrived over from the Isle of Wight. Unfortunately, Jessie's trainer/cousin Sarah Holmes couldn't make it, but her aunt came instead to help Jessie and DaVinci warm up. 'Having her there definitely helped my performance on the day as I was so relaxed.'

Jessie was a little concerned about how DV would react to the dressage arenas given there were flowers, signs and flags everywhere. 'But much to my delight, he must have known it was an important day because he didn't look at anything and stayed on my side throughout the whole test. We finished with a score of 25.3!' After watching how the crosscountry course was riding for her fellow competitors, Jessie and DV focused on the showjumping phase and the pair put in a fantastic performance to jump clear. 'DV jumped brilliantly considering the course was up to height and had been built in a way which I knew could potentially catch us out. Hearing the cheer of my supporters as we went through the finish put a massive smile on my face knowing we were through to the last phase on 25.3.'

On the way to crosscountry, Jessie knew she was in the top 5, but she had to push that to the back of her mind to fully concentrate on the next task. 'As I got to the start I had goosebumps all over at the thought of riding around the famous Badminton Estate. I knew I would need to attack every fence, especially the water as it was early on in the course (fence 5) and that's where the crowds would be.' DV gave her a super ride round and as they came over the finish line, Jessie checked her watch to find they had completed dead on the optimum time. 'I jumped off to a hug from mum knowing we  had done the best we could - finally, the hard work had paid off.' After cooling DV, Jessie heard the news that they had come second. 'I don't there were many dry eyes in my little support group, I was thrilled.'

The prize giving was performed in front of Badminton House. The top 6 riders were escorted down to the house to wait for the 4* trot up to finish before being called forward. 'When I entered the prize giving, Mary King spotted me and gave me a thumbs up, how cool is that?' laughs Jessie. Straight after the prize giving, Jessie was taken over to the media centre to attend a press conference along with the winner. 'I got back to the lorry to find the celebration drinks had already started flowing and DV was tucked up in bed for the night.'

'It has all been slightly unreal and it took a good week after for it to even sink in.' Jessie and DV now hope to qualify again but this time at BE100 level. And a top tip for those who qualify next year? 'You can only do what you can do. Don't put yourself under pressure because it's Badminton; treat it as any other event and enjoy.'

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.