In the middle of a hectic summer, we just wanted to take a moment to write some updates and sing the praises of our fabulous Young Sponsored Riders!

We’re working with three young riders this year, Lucy Mae Bush, Jemima Stratton and Jess Parsons, and we’re so impressed with all three – their guts, grit, determination and stamina. Each of them puts in lots of early morning starts, often up at 6am (or earlier), and fits in training, lessons, mucking out, problem-solving and competition planning while also managing massive exam pressures. We think you’re all amazing!

I recently caught up with Lucy, who is a Grade IV Para Dressage rider and is on the British Equestrian Programme’s entry scheme. We’re over the moon that in May Lucy qualified for the Riding for the Disabled Association’s Dressage Championships at Hartpury this weekend (14-16 July). Lucy won her dressage class over many senior riders and qualified on a pony she had only sat on for half an hour the night before – ‘Foxham Formula’, owned by Venetia Kenney – she is pictured above with him, thanks to Lucy’s mum Lizzy for the photo! 14 year old Lucy can’t wait to create more magic with him at Hartpury next weekend. Lucy also won her showjumping class and qualified for the RDA stage 2 national showjumping championships on ‘Sprite’, owned by Judy Shellard from Wellow Trekking Centre.

Lucy’s achievement is all the more impressive, because she recently had to cope with the heartbreak of losing her longtime dancing partner ‘Rainbow’ (pictured below, top photo) being put to sleep. Alongside that her new ride, ex-race horse ‘Power’ (pictured below) has been on box rest for the last few months due to injury.

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

In January, Lucy had a face to face mentoring session with Natasha Baker, MBE, as part of her sponsorship prize. “Talking to Natasha was really helpful and she gave me some great advice,” she says. “We talked about how to plan training sessions and how to visualise my performance ahead of competing, but also how to cope if things change or don’t go to plan. She told me to keep a competition diary, to write down all results and also keep notes about good and bad points of each round so I can reflect and learn. Natasha also gave me advice on staying calm and in the moment.”

Lucy also just had a second, Skype mentoring session with Natasha ahead of the championships this weekend. “This time we talked about planning competition in more detail, things like allowing ten minutes to travel between arenas. We also discussed being precise with movements – at Gatcombe I will be leading the display along with Anne Durham so I need to be confident in what each next movement is, to ensure they are accurate. It was another great session with Natasha!”

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

Horse photography Bath Jo Hansford

All credit to Lucy for holding her nerve during this really difficult patch and for proving what a superstar she is! We’re super-proud of you and wish you all the best for the championships this weekend and the rest of the summer!

A few of the photographs from our photoshoot with Lucy in late May with Rainbow and Power.

Bath horse photographer Jo Hansford

If you’d like to find out more about our sponsorship programme, you can email us at info@johansfordphotography.com to find out more. Each year we’re on the lookout for keen young riders aged 12-26 years, who live in the Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset or the Cotswolds.

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