FOR the last 10 years, Galway native Jessica Burke has been a rider synonymous with producing young horses well on the national circuit.

She has been a great ambassador for women riders in Ireland, but despite impressive results at home, last year in a bid to further her professional show jumping career, she opted to take up a position in the England.

In the early days, Jessica received an early grounding on producing young horses. While studying in college, she worked with Marie Burke at Clare Equestrian Centre where she got her first taste of riding young horses.

She moved successfully through the pony ranks, up to the young riders, and then hit the senior circuit, again delivering good results in all divisions. Her most notable success in the young horse arena was winning both titles in RDS (four-year-old and six-year-old Finals 2017); competing with two horses at the World Breeding Championships in 2017; finishing third in the Millstreet Boomerang and National Discovery Finals, winning both the five and six-year-old Horse Board titles in 2017 and finishing runner-up in the seven-year-old title.

Other success includes the sale of some of these young horses that helped to develop her business, such as Woodfield Samenco, GRC Paris, Lux Like Jagger and Galloways Gold.

“I am very proud of my achievements at home and winning both the four-year-old and the six-year-old Final at the RDS in the same year is one I will never forget. Another of the highlights was gaining qualification for the five-star classes in Dublin with the then nine-year-old Express Trend,” she says.

While making a name for herself on the circuit, Jessica worked from her home base in Gort, Co Galway, and at the same time worked as a secondary school teacher. It was with the help of her family and her then partner that she was able to do both.

“For a period of six years after finishing college, I ran my own business on the family farm alongside my partner at the time, Darragh Reilly. My family have always been unbelievably supportive and still are to this day. My Mum does a lot of admin for me and comes to visit regularly and my Dad now looks after some of my younger horses and broodmares at home,” explained Jessica.

Decision time

In 2019, Jessica made the decision to take a break from the teaching and concentrate on show jumping. She had built up a great client base and continued to progress. Although she diluted nothing in her role as a teacher, she always knew that at some point, if she was going to further her equestrian career, she would have to step back from her teaching role.

This became more evident when she began collecting notable results in the New Heights Championship Series. “I knew that at some point, if I wanted to move up to five-star level, I would have to give up teaching.

“This really hit home for me after I gained my place in the internationals in Dublin. It was one thing competing at this level, but the five-star in Dublin was a huge step-up. This experience fully confirmed my decision to go professional and move away.

“I noticed a huge gap as I hadn’t competed at five-star level before and I felt the best way for me to get to the next level of the sport was to move closer to Europe where I could train and compete full time,” she explains.

CHF Super Classe and Jessica Burke in the four-year-old class at the 2018 Dublin Horse Show \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net

“For me, this was actually quite a difficult decision as I am a complete homebird and still miss my friends and family in Ireland an awful lot, however for my career, it was 100% the right decision. I knew to be able to compete at this level, I would need more international shows under my belt.

“The question was, do I base myself in Europe or remain at home and travel to the shows during the tours? I knew that the West of Ireland was just too far away to commute.”

Her decision was made somewhat easier when a job proposal from the UK was put on the table. “I had just decided to move to Europe when I got a call from Roger McCrea telling me Louisa Church from Arion Stud was looking for a rider and he advised me that I should think about it.

“After visiting the yard and Louisa, it was an easy decision. The facilities are top notch and Louisa is one of the most hardworking, motivated, and down to earth people I have ever met. We share the common goal of competing at the highest level in the sport, whilst running Arion Stud as a business producing, competing at the highest level and selling horses. In the future, we also look forward to taking on some clients for training too. As Arion Stud is close to Southampton, we are now only a quick day trip to mainland Europe, the centre of the industry.”

High hopes

Louisa also has high hopes for Jessica and Arion Stud, saying: “I am a perpetual optimist and although devoted to horses and jumping, I am absolutely aware that I have incredibly average talent. This, with a lack of time, relegates me to an enthusiastic amateur at best.

“Having started riding and competing again shortly after university and wanting to buy better, more quality horses, my experience of the process was mixed at best. There were always a ton of ‘exceptional’ in every way horses for sale but not so many exceptional real life experiences. I learnt many hard lessons when buying and selling horses for myself.

“My first and principal reason for building Arion was to operate a business that would meet the highest standards of integrity and fair dealing, from our wonderful team that work at Arion, to our clients, and the horses we ask so much of. When people buy horses from us, they will be as described and while you can never promise world-beaters every time, we are seeing some of our younger horses with new owners progress into the highest levels of the sport which makes me quietly confident we are off to a good start. Clearly, a rider who could compete and be competitive at the very top was crucial and I am extremely grateful to Roger for making the introduction to Jess,” explained Louisa.

“Finding Jess was a great moment for me, both personally and professionally. Her dedication, humility and talent are a rare find and she’s also flipping hilarious! Beyond that and while talent, character and drive are the primary factors in choosing who is right for the job, irrespective of gender, I am completely delighted to support another woman who has earned and deserves every chance of success in an increasingly competitive sport and industry.”

Big help

Along with making the move herself, Jessica’s groom Aaliyah Phillips opted to go with her. “With Aaliyah travelling with me and now working at Arion Stud, it has definitely made it a bit easier. She had been with me for two seasons at home and for her to choose to come with me was a great help. She is dedicated to the job and is a big asset to the whole operation.”

In Ireland, Jessica had built up a strong client base which she is grateful for. “I have had wonderful owners along the way starting with Liam Nicholas, Gabriel Slattery, Rory Costigan, Dessie Judge and Ralph Morgan, to name just a few. I’ am very lucky that Liam has made the move with me and he now has five horses based here in Arion Stud.

“He was the main person behind my decision to go professional and I’m very grateful for his support. He owns my top horse, Express Trend, who I produced from a three-year-old. He has just returned from the Sunshine Tour with some great results in the three-star 1.50m ranking classes.

“Liam also owns some very exciting youngsters, including the seven-year-old Nikey HH (Emerald X Upsillon) who I hope will be my next Grand Prix horse; Nova AEG (Kannan x Heartbreaker); and a new addition six-year-old Ashdale Divine (Luidam x Lux Z). It’s nice to be able to keep those relationships with my previous owners and I look forward to maintaining that in the future.

“Lux A Special Lady, who is owned by Dessie Judge, and Kashino owned by Jackie Lee, were a great addition to our string of horses on the Sunshine Tour and have both gained valuable experience.”

Along with the horses from Ireland, Jessica says that she has many exciting future prospects at Arion Stud. “In the stable is the six-year-old Jacs Z who is incredibly green but has all the ability.

“Another one to watch for is Indewinde SRW, by Eldorado. She is a seven-year-old mare that has won a class at every show that she has been taken to so far. She’s an absolute rocket and I look forward to stepping her up when she turns eight. She won one of the seven-year-old classes in Spain and had qualified for the final that was eventually cancelled. Billy Outback (Billy Congo x Cevin Z) is a five-year-old that we are also delighted with, she had an amazing tour in Spain, jumping clear in nearly every round. She will now get a well-deserved break. We are going to take this downtime to produce our younger horses and also source our next superstar.”

Bright future

Jessica’s start at Arion Stud began well, but due to coronavirus, the team’s time in Spain was cut short by a week.

“2020 now looks like it will be a very light year for shows and the focus seems to be slowly shifting towards 2021. Thankfully we are in a good position at the moment as we have a young string of horses and are working on a three-year plan. I train with Roger McCrea and he has been a great help to me since I moved over here, and also helps me plan my horses for competitions. I have also started to get some dressage lessons from Jezz Palmer which I’m finding really beneficial and it is an area that I definitely feel is improving. This training will definitely help when things return to normal.”

Although Jessica’s plans for this coming season have come to a halt, she will continue to prepare her horses for when show jumping resumes. She will use this time for further training and without a doubt, will be one to watch on the European circuit.