Holly Jessett, a primary school teacher from Northamptonshire, claimed first place in the LeMieux Badminton grassroots results for the BE90 championship yesterday (6 May).
“I just do the horse riding as the hobby, but I absolutely love it,” said Holly. “I don’t think my parents thought I’d still be eventing at 30 years old, but I can’t stop at the moment, so we’ll just keep going while we can.”
Holly shared the dressage lead with Lucy Jowett, but when Lucy and Lilly had four faults in the showjumping for eventual ninth, Holly was able to take the red rosette courtesy of keeping a clean sheet.
This was Holly’s third time in this competition with Lombard Lad – they were also third in 2023.
“I just couldn’t believe I came third. But then to come first is just the cherry on the top really,” said Holly.
“I wanted to have a double clear and to be in the top 20, but secretly, I wanted to come in front of the house for prize-giving because I knew that he was more than capable of doing it. Top three was what I was secretly aiming for, so to win was brilliant.”
Holly has had the 13-year-old Lombard Lad since he was seven and he is her only horse. She keeps him on full livery and rides after work.
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She said: “He’s a very honest horse. When I first got him, he came from Ireland and he didn’t have the best manners in the world, but we’ve got such a great partnership now. He’s much more respectful and he’s calmed down a lot.”
Badminton grassroots results: groom takes second
Natasha Bailey claimed second on her own seven-year-old Wild Confetti.
“There were loads of people by The Lake, which came quite early on, so it was a bit of a shock to a baby,” she said. “It was just making sure that they could read the questions in front of them and they didn’t get distracted by what was going on around them.”
Wild Confetti was bred to be a dressage horse by Natasha’s sister Victoria but has now turned his hand to eventing very successfully, with two wins at BE90 this year and four last season.
Natasha works as a groom for five-star eventer Stephen Heal, who she said is very supportive of her and “Topper”.
Olivia Turner finished on the same score as Natasha, taking third because she was faster and so further from the optimum time. Her ride was another seven-year-old Odin Van De Koolhof.
Accountant Olivia has had the horse since he was four and paid tribute to her trainer Colina Pickles for helping her through a sticky patch when he “decided he didn’t want to go” a few weeks before Badminton.
There were a whopping 95 starters in this class, with 77% of those who ran across country putting in jumping clears over James Willis’s course.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
