Next up, we catch up with
Jessica Ely, 27, who produces show horses and ponies alongside her sister, Rebecca, 29, at their base in North Yorkshire. The siblings quit their full-time fast-paced careers to concentrate on the show ring just over two years ago.
In 2018, Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) debutantes Jessica and Rebecca Ely had their first NEC centre line moment when their intermediate Brindlebrook Little Scoundrel (Yorkie) captured the small riding type class and stood section reserve. The sisters, who only started producing earlier in the year, cemented their names as ones to watch on the showing circuit.
“We only decided to go full time in February 2018 and one of our first goals was to qualify for HOYS,” explains Jessica, who rode Yorkie to victory at the final and was also champion with him at Windsor the following year. “HOYS was all such a blur. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. Just to qualify was enough so we were obviously over the moon