NORTHUMBERLAND-based Martha Jobling-Purser could have joined her equestrian friends in a bid to represent Britain but, instead, decided to follow in the footsteps of her great-aunt and line-out for Ireland.

Juliet Jobling-Purser competed internationally for this country in both eventing and show jumping and was best-placed of the Irish when, riding Jenny, she finished seventh individually in the eventing competition at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

Two years later, she was 11th in the ladies’ individual world show jumping championship in Copenhagen.

Martha, who started riding at the age of two and, like her siblings, did a lot of hunting, showing and some show jumping, came down in favour of dressage at the age of 14 as she enjoyed “the challenge and technicality of it”.

She made her British Dressage debut at the start of 2017 on the 14hh gelding Valentine Dignity, before moving up through the ranks to BD Medium level on the piebald Roses Princess, an Irish Sport Horse pony mare.

“With Roses Princess, who was my hunting pony, I also did the British Dressage youth scheme and combined training series,” revealed the 16-year-old who turns 17 in November. “She has since gone to an eventing family.”

Jobling-Purser’s showing career ended in triumph when she won the 148cms section and was reserve in the riding pony championship at the 2018 Horse of the Year Show on her mother Yorkie’s Litton Cerise.

At the close of 2018, Martha got the ride on Valido’s Starlight with whom Megan Barrett had represented Team GB at the European pony championships in 2017 and 2018. The 2019 championships thus became the target for Jobling-Purser with Yorkie’s 2004 Germany Riding Pony.

She achieved her qualifying scores at the Premier League in April at Keysoe, a venue at which the combination has had great success as they won the CDIP there two years running (2019 and 2020).

Jobling-Purser and Valido’s Starlight first competed under the Irish flag in Hagen, Germany (CDIOP) in June 2019 and, two months later, finished 46th of 57 individually at the European pony championships in Strzegom, Poland where Ireland didn’t field a team.

Last August, they and Rachel Carr (Calelvador May Blossom), Oscar O’Connor (Top Hero 2) and Cillian Curran (Blokland’s Hoeve Amor) were on the Irish team which finished seventh of 11 in Hungary.

Supportive

Martha has since moved on to horses and has been selected for the High Performance Junior squad with Charlotte Fry’s former ride Iondale, who the Jobling-Pursers purchased in January 2020, while she got the mount on Keith Taylor’s Seagry Rohsan last August.

She competed both horses during the autumn and hopefully, if Covid-19 restrictions ease as scheduled in England at the end of this month, she will be in competitive action again soon.

“I train with Clive Halsall and Abigail Lyle,” revealed the rider. “Obviously we cannot attend team training in Ireland so we regularly forward training clips to our team trainer and chef d’equipe, Anne Marie Dunphy. I like the Irish set-up as it’s really friendly and supportive.”

Martha is also a keen long-distance runner. “I don’t run competitively (if I had time I definitely would) but I feel it ties in nicely with my riding. We ensure that my horses are fit, so why shouldn’t I be?”