Jess Mendoza on life in the States as Britain’s leading lady showjumper

Jess Mendoza was 15 when she decided that “horses would be the main part” in her life. Thousands of pony-mad teenage girls declare similar dreams; few follow it through. But Jess’s single-minded pursuit of those goals took her from pony gold medals to the Rio Olympics in just four years; and from Wiltshire, via the Netherlands, to America.

“I knew I didn’t want to go down any other avenue, I just had to figure out how to make money from it,” says Jess, fresh from playing her part in Britain’s Nations Cup victory at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead.

Interview with

Interview with

Jessica Mendoza

Age: 30

On the CV: two team golds and individual bronze at the pony Europeans; team gold and silver, and individual bronze at juniors; selected for Britain at the European Championships, World Cup Final and Olympics (Rio travelling reserve aged just 20); and multiple Nations Cups, including on the winning team this summer at Hickstead. She is on the Global Champions League team Doha Falcons.

But let’s go back a step, because before the practical realities of business come into play, there’s usually an emotional trigger that sets the path. For most elite riders, it’s one special pony that lights the touchpaper. Enter Tixylix, a “big mama” of a mare, who also later ignited Jodie Hall McAteer’s career.

In 2007, when Jess was 11, Tixylix won double gold with Zoe Adams at the pony Europeans. As fate would have it, when Jess’s parents were looking for a 148cm a couple of years later, Tixylix was based a few miles from their Wiltshire farm.

“She was owned by someone in the next-door village who had a car garage,” Jess explains. “His daughter was riding her a bit, but every day my dad went down the road to the garage to try to convince him to let me buy her. Eventually they became friendly enough for me to have a trial – but we already knew we wanted her. “She was wonderful from the beginning and really shaped my pony career.”

Jessica has gone on to have an affinity with mares – notably Spirit T and In The Air – and arguably Tixylix laid the foundations for these relationships.

“She was like a mini horse and bred like one,” Jess says. “She wasn’t petite; didn’t have any pony features. She was tall, long and crazy-blood. You couldn’t jump her at home – she was a typical chestnut mare.”

Besides winning at Horse of the Year Show and Olympia, the pair represented Britain four times at the pony Europeans, winning two golds and a bronze.

While she was studying for her A levels, Jess and her parents moved to the Netherlands as her burgeoning business plans began to take shape.

“I didn’t know if I would be selling horses, training or competing, but basing myself in Europe was the best thing I did for my career, because I could go to all those FEI shows every week and get that experience,” she says. “Eventually I learned that going to America and training people could be another route to making a business.”

Jess has been based on the east coast since Covid precipitated the permanent move, splitting her time between Florida and New York – with a few summer months in Europe.

The States offer a very different business model to this side of the Atlantic, but it’s one that works for Jess. Besides competing, which is much more lucrative than in the UK, Jess estimates that most of her business is training other riders. This ranges from those competing at 1.10m to others jumping five-star grands prix.

“It’s very different financially in America,” she explains. “At FEI shows, you’re spending about $4,500 [£3,340] to enter – compared with $400 to $1,000 in Europe. However, you can jump two horses in a grand prix qualifier of $100,000-plus in prize-money and a grand prix of up to $1m dollars, and ranking classes too. So there are many more chances to jump more horses and win more prize-money – I’d take a lot of my income that way.

“What’s also interesting, for me, is that it’s a lot more client-based. In Europe, it’s more common to see amateurs who do it by themselves or with their family, whereas in America, you essentially have to have a trainer, there is not another option. The girls I train are a pleasure, and many of them and their parents have become owners, which is a great opportunity to get quality horses.”

Another commercial enterprise is Llangollen, a 1,100-acre retirement farm, owned by a client in Virginia, that she set up this year with her husband, fellow showjumper Nicholas Dello Joio. They have 20 retired competition horses so far, and are hoping to build to 150.

“In England it wouldn’t work because more people have land, but in America, it’s very uncommon to have large farms – clients put their horses with the trainer,” she says. “So it’s a unique opportunity because it’s rare for people to retire their horses on their own land.

“We’re getting a lot of interest. I think people are gravitating towards us because they know we understand competition horses, that retirement is not just about putting a horse in the field but giving them time to adjust.”

Jess is married to an American, firmly established stateside, and her accent has an American lilt. There is much she may love about her adopted country, but Jess is still a Brit to her core. Of her home in New York, she smiles, “It’s a lovely climate and more like England in its style of barns and houses, it’s like home.” She even misses the food.

“That’s actually a good thing,” she laughs, “because if I lived in England I would be a lot bigger! I’d eat my way through the day. I love English food. When I go back home, that’s what I look forward to – a Sunday roast or a really good Indian takeout.”

And when it comes to competing, there is nothing she rates higher than representing her homeland.

“I really do love the teams – that’s my favourite type of competition,” she says. “I get more nervous watching my team-mates jump than doing it myself – it’s an element you don’t have in individual competition.”

This ability not to be affected by nerves while she’s riding is surely a prize asset.

“If you ask my husband, he’d say I’m a little different, maybe strange, but I don’t really think too much on the mental side of things,” she says. “My dad set it into me, good or bad, from a young age, that you just do it, don’t overthink it and just take the next step. It’s a very simple mindset but I try not to overcomplicate things.”

That said, with her training hat on, Jess knows that her mindset isn’t for everyone.

“There’s not a perfect way or a good or bad mindset to approach showjumping,” she says. “I’ve been around so many different people – some find sports psychologists helpful, some don’t. Maybe in two years’ time I’ll have another perspective, but right now, I have a very simple way of approaching the sport.”

Her team-mate nerves have been tested in three Nations Cups this season, with two podium finishes.

“One of my favourite things is to win a Nations Cup,” she adds. “Obviously winning an individual grand prix is great, but winning a Nations Cup is almost more fun.”

Jess’s Nations Cup rides are two half-siblings out of an Indoctro mare: Summerhouse (by Guidam) and In The Air (by Air Jordan Z) – “but they couldn’t be more different”.

“I was on the way to try Summerhouse and 10 minutes before I arrived the guy doing the deal said they had his sister if I wanted to sit on her,” Jess says. “I jumped the gelding first and he was perfect, I couldn’t find a fault. So the guy said, ‘Well, you don’t need another one,’ but I wanted to try her just in case.”

The black mare slammed on her brakes at the first fence.

“The guy said, ‘Come round again, she’s just spooky. So I did and she stopped again. He said, ‘Just once more, she’ll be all right.’ And she was good.

But something piqued Jess’s interest – and that gut instinct has been richly rewarded in the time since.

“It wasn’t the most romantic trial, but she’s ended up being great,” Jess says. “She’s a funny character – like a cat. She doesn’t love people but she also needs people. She wants to be near you but not petted.”

As with Tixylix, jumping In The Air – known as Fly – at home is a delicate procedure.

“If I put a vertical up with different coloured poles, she’ll stop three strides out, so I have to do canter poles to start with, then add a cavaletti and build up – it’s like jumping for children,” says Jess. “But when she gets to a horse show, she’s in game mode, she’s fine.”

Her younger (but bigger) brother is “completely different – whatever you put up either at home or in the ring, he’ll just cruise over”.

“He’s massive and she’s tiny,” says Jess, “but although they’re very different in lots of ways, they are both very blood. All my horses are different, but as long as they have a big heart and a good amount of blood, that’s all I need.”

This pair spearheads her string of six – with Ascadina PP Z rounding out the trio competing at 1.60m grands prix. This is the number Jess feels she can do justice to alongside training clients as her long-term goal of LA 2028 looms ever closer.

Once upon a time, before her operation in America gained serious traction, Jess briefly channelled her creativity into another venture, painting animals and large abstract canvases, even running a stall at Olympia.

“I do paint, but now it’s only when I need money or I have a lot of time – luckily I’m good on both at the moment,” she smiles.

Jess’ artwork is spectacular, but if you’ve bought one of those paintings, it’s likely to be a rare limited edition, because she’s figured out exactly how to make her teenage dream come true.