One showjumper for whom 2023 could be very exciting is 30-year-old Joss Williams. The Leicestershire rider has been selected for the British Showjumping gold development programme and is already benefiting from its rich programme of training, which he hopes will help to take him to the next level in the sport.
Joss is based in Willoughby-on-the-Wolds near Loughborough, with 12 horses in his stable, and it is thanks to one of his owners Joy Rushton that he was offered this life-changing opportunity.
“Joy saw the release on the BS website that they were running the gold development programme again for the first time after Covid and she said ‘Here’s a fantastic opportunity, let’s go for it’,” explains Joss, who found out in November that he’d been selected. “Then it was all systems go, because the horses were on a bit of a holiday!
“Our first training camp took place at the beginning of December at the National Training Centre, which is stunning.”
Joss took two horses with him, the eight-year-old Fantas Gold and the six-year-old mare Tankardstown No Diggity.
“We were split into groups and we each had an interview with the coaches who will stick with us now – Nicola McLeish and Matt Lanni, who are our ‘Gods’ and on call if we need them,” reveals Joss. “We then worked with the team physio, team farrier, heard about anti-doping, strength and conditioning, gym work and so on. We trained each horse on the flat and did gymnastics over fences. The physios saw the horses and the farriers watched them and studied them, and we all received feedback on what we were doing right, what needed to change.
“They offer so much and for people like me these are things that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to get access to. I was knackered by the end of it – it was like going back to school! But from the minute I got there, I learned so much.”
Joss Williams: motivation and direction
Joss Williams will return for more training camps in January and February, then again when everyone returns from the foreign jumping tours in the spring. A group of riders on the programme will then be picked to compete at some international shows.
“It’s a money-can’t-buy opportunity,” he says.
Talking about the horses he’s most excited about over the coming months he names Fantas Gold, who he’s had for two years and who has just started jumping some grands prix and Joy’s six-year-old Tankardstown No Diggity.
“I think a lot of her – her seven-year-old year is going to be the hardest and most competitive, so for her to be in this situation [with the gold development programme] is going to help us no end.
“I’ve another horse who I’ve not had long called Lordy, who evented to a very decent level with Fiona Davidson.”
So where does Joss see himself in the future?
“I was always hoping to keep stepping up in the sport but the gold development programme could be that kick up the backside I need – not to work harder, because I do work really hard, but to give me that added incentive,” he says.
“Just knowing I have someone on the end of the phone if I need them is amazing, because it is hard and I can’t afford to go for training week in week out. This is just giving me a bit more motivation and direction.”
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