Regionals: Jen Bradbury
After putting their plans on hold due to Jen's ill health, Stevie the 18hh gelding is now dancing around the arena.
Roulette, the nine year old British bred Holsteiner gelding, known as Stevie was brought by Jen Bradbury as a rising four year old with the expected height of 17.2hh - but he didn't stop growing to now stand at 18hh. Jen tells us all about him, "17.2hh was supposed to be my max!. I bought him as a rising 4-year-old from his wonderful breeder Maria & Lauren Spradbury. He is the kindest horse and often gets an A for effort. He does tend to weave when he gets excited and is very practiced at breaking headcollars!"
Jen works full time as a Senior National Account Manager for Greencore and has two children juggles riding and home life. She tells us about her early riding journey, "my mum used to work with show jumpers in Northern Ireland and when we moved to England in 1990, I started having riding lessons. I was an active member of Whaddon Chase Pony Club from a young age, and in all honesty show jumping was my ‘thing’ until too many accidents meant dressage was the path I took with my wonderful Gizmo (Woltaire), he is currently enjoying his retirement at 24. I fell in love with dressage to music because of the interaction spectators can have, I love the creativity of producing a floor plan and picking music I enjoy riding to. My Pony Club friends are still my best friends today, there is something really special about the friendship horses create."
The pair had a slow start to their dressage career together Jen says, "I was diagnosed with Stage 3, Grade 3 Breast Cancer just before my thirty second birthday and I had only owned Stevie for five months so had to put all our Young Horse class plans on hold. In all honesty, it was a rough journey, but I think it allowed Stevie the time to mature – but clearly not stop growing! Stevie himself had a few injuries just as I got back on board which pushed our plans even further back but thankfully, he has recovered very well, and we are back in business! At this point I need to thank the amazing network of Vets that treated him from NEH, Donnington and Hampdens Equine."
Currently working at Elementary level they have just attended their first winter Regionals at Vale View and are now looking forward to the summer, "we have just completed our summer music qualification in Elementary and I am now in the process of putting together a Medium floor plan. I need to be better at test riding to really improve my scores in straight dressage, so more practice required but I would love ours scores in the future to start with that all important 7!" Training with Andrew Gould Jen says, "we go there once a month and I'm so lucky to train with him, we're heading back to Nikki Barker’s for her first camp of the year in April. I value their experience, knowledge and honesty when training big horses like Stevie."
Jan wants to leave a positive outlook for those going out competing this season, "I really hope I can inspire those impacted by health conditions such as Cancer to kick on, stay positive and like me find drive and determination to still set out to achieve the things that setbacks have postponed. I feel incredibly lucky every day, I often think of the Olympic Campaign #TwoHearts and how this sums up the relationship and bond us riders have with our horses perfectly."
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