6 weeks and counting for our Brand Ambassador, Jess Burnham

A belated Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year when Christmas feels a distant blur, you’ve forgotten what summer feels like, and the January blues kick in!

But fear not, Mum is always great at keeping me on track with a shiny new 2020 diary to plan training, document lessons, set goals and review our performance – so no pressure there then!!

With six weeks to go until the 2020 Eventing Season kicks off, the horses are now back in work with tailored training plans after some time chilling out. Last season was rather hectic, so both have benefited from a quieter time both physically and mentally, enabling me to focus on my end of year school exams and some down time during the Christmas break.

Having said that, we always dressage during the winter months, with Duffy securing her BD Winter Regionals Qualification at Novice level and progressing to Elementary level now. The more complicated the test the better for Duffy, just the moves come much quicker for the jockey – note to self to not enjoy the medium work too much when the next movement is fast approaching!

As part of our training regime, I’ll be braving the world of British Show Jumping with both Max and Duffy. Thankfully Duffy is far more experienced in this discipline than me, so I’ll hang on for the ride for our first couple of outings! Its great to jump a technical course of show jumps built by a registered builder/designer and the organisers are so welcoming too.

The diary is filling fast with pre-eventing season checks for Max and Duffy i.e. saddles, teeth, physio and so on, and then there’s the on-going debate of which event will be our first run of the season …which is always subject to the British weather permitting!

I am delighted to share that 2020 has kicked off to a great start already, with BE announcing I am one of ten riders selected country-wide from the BE u18 Programme, as a result of my performance last season, to join the British Eventing Foundation Skills Academy Programme for the next 12 months. Funded by Sports England, I am delighted to be offered such an exciting development opportunity to train with expert coaches to further my ability and sporting success.

Lastly, I wish everyone success with their 2020 goals, no matter how big or small.
Dream big and kick on!
Jess x