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18
Jan
Meet Lower Dunsforth’s showjumping prodigy
Lower Dunsforth has a sporting prodigy in its midst.
Ella Kay, 14, is setting the international showjumping scene alight.
When the Stray Ferret met Ella and her mum, Charlotte, at their home last week, the young rider had just returned from a major qualifying event in Kilmarnock.
Winning her class, Ella secured qualification for Hickstead, the world-famous equestrian centre, later this year.
Yet that success is only the latest in a growing list of achievements.
Last summer, aged just 13, Ella was selected to represent Team GB at under-16 level – the youngest rider on the team.
She said:
It was a really good experience because it was very different to national competitions. My mum came to pick me up from school, telling me she’d had an email confirming I’d made the squad.
It was a very nice feeling, but it was all the way in Austria and quite short notice, so we had to get organised so quickly.
In her first-ever international event, Ella won her first class and placed in the top 10 in the Grand Prix – the show’s big, last-day event.
A few months later, she was selected again for GB’s Nations Cup team.
Riding one of her favourite ponies, Vinnie, Ella finished the Grand Prix in the top 10 again, having not made a single fault.
Becoming a jumper
Representing your country at 13 doesn’t happen by accident.
Ella first rode a horse when she was two, but didn’t start showjumping until she was eight – relatively late for a competitive rider.
Until then, she had shown little interest in jumping; instead competing in showing, which focuses on movement on the flat.
Ella’s mum, uncle and grandparents all did showjumping before her, but had accepted she might not follow the same path.
But her grandmother secretly rebelled, buying her a small jumping pony. Once Ella started, she didn’t look back.
“The whole family has been my biggest influence,” she said.
Charlotte stressed that Ella’s success goes beyond family support.
She said:
We have a network of brilliant horse people who are invested in Ella’s progress. Sara Parrott, a showing champion, comes every week to teach Ella on the flat as a favour.
There’s also Chris and Jane Bartle, based in Markington. Chris is GB’s Olympic three-day event trainer, and Jane was the Olympic dressage coach. They don’t need to travel to teach Ella, but they do. We’re so grateful.
Sacrifice and success
To reach the top of British showjumping, Ella trains relentlessly, riding every day — a commitment that demands real sacrifice.
She can’t play after-school team sports and has fewer chances than most 14-year-olds to see friends. Alongside that, she is juggling her GCSEs.
Ella praised Queen Mary’s School for helping her balance both. The school allows her time off to compete, provided she keeps up with her work.
With a team of eight ponies, careful management is essential to keep them prepared for competitions.
Each jumps once a week to stay sharp, with the rest of the work done on the flat to maintain muscle condition. Ella rides as many as she can each day, usually three or four.
Asked about which ponies are her favourites, she said:
Vinnie, Cruise and Star, because they give you the confidence going into the fences. You never go into the ring feeling like they might not be able to do this.
Cruise, a young jumping pony, is part-owned by Yorkshire and England cricketer Jonny Bairstow.
A keen racehorse enthusiast, Bairstow invested after hearing about Ella’s potential.
Olympic dreams
Having competed at a high level for several years, Ella has many fond memories.
Her standout came in 2023, when she won three of the sport’s biggest titles: the British Showjumping National Championships, the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and the London International Horse Show. The only major left to win is the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead.
Winning HOYS, she said, was “everything I’ve dreamt of”.
All three victories came on the same pony, Red Alert III. “All through that season I went into competitions thinking, ‘I’ve got this,’” she added.
But showjumping brings risks as well as rewards.
Ella said:
Things do go wrong because you’re controlling two minds instead of one. Before HOYS, I had a fall where the pony launched into the fence and I went flying. That was quite nerve-wracking because you worry it might l happen again.
There are a lot of lows as well as highs, but the highs pay off because it’s so good when you win.
Representing Team GB at under-16 level is currently as high as Ella can go, but her ambitions stretch much further.
“This year I want to get on more GB teams,” she said. “In the future, I’d love to compete at the Olympics, Nations Cups and World Cups.”
Ella Kay is proving that age is no barrier to elite performance. Already excelling against older rivals, the future of British showjumping is in safe hands.
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