For this month’s blog we’re catching up with our four Thorpe Farm sponsored riders – Jessica Burnham, Harriet Bagley, Ebony Roderick and Molly McAllister – to see how their 2024 seasons have been so far. We don’t need to tell any of you that the weather was incredibly wet and windy throughout the winter, and that trend continued into the spring. With a raft of events cancelled as a result and riders battling the elements and mud to get their horses fit and ready to compete, it’s been a challenging time. Let’s see how our stable of sponsored riders has managed so far and what their plans are for the season ahead.
Jessica Burnham
Jessica is an event and dressage rider who is normally based at her family yard in County Durham, but she’s currently on an exciting adventure! Jessica is spending the 2024 season in Normandy, France, competing and training with Sebastien Cavaillon and Julie Bordenave. She’s taken her gelding Arpege de Blaignac with her, and we’ll keep you updated when they kick off their season. Perhaps Jessica will travel to Paris later this year to watch some of the equestrian events in the summer Olympics…?
Harriet Bagley
Our sponsored event rider Harriet recently pulled her competition breeches back on after a full 12 months away from eventing! She spent last year focusing on her career, but she was back and straight on form at Lincolnshire Horse Trials last month. She came second in a competitive BE100 Open with Ballyoskill Boy (Oscar) and has since followed that up with a win and a second place in the show jumping ring at Stainsby Grange and a double win between the boards at Northallerton Equestrian Centre. What an exciting time to be part of Harriet’s team and helping her keep Oscar on top form.
Molly McAllister
Event rider Molly is based just down the road from us here in North Yorkshire and this year, she’s competing not two but three horses. Molly’s been given the ride on the young horse Rehy Ripple, owned by Georgia Tiplady, alongside her own horses, Superior View and Dunn Star. That means Molly’s been very busy cross-country schooling and competing in indoor show jumping and dressage competitions to prepare for the season ahead. She even racked up a dressage win with Gracie at West Park Arena in the Prelim 13! Molly got her first eventing run of the season at Epworth partnering Gracie to sixth place with a super dressage and going clear show jumping!
Ebony Roderick
A talented young event rider based in County Durham, Ebony campaigns her coloured gelding Ardlea Sir Peter – also known as Podgy. After training hard, including some visits here to use the gallops, Ebony’s first event of the season at Oasby was cancelled due to the weather – something riders up and down the country were faced with. She was all set to compete at Northallerton Equestrian Centre later in March but that too fell victim to the terrible spring we’re having. She’s now entered at Oxstalls in Gloucestershire – a mere five hours of driving – and we have everything crossed that the event goes ahead. Keep an eye on our social media for more updates from Ebony and our other sponsored riders.