Jessica And Rebecca Ely

Alex Robinson meets two up-and-coming equestrians who are garnering attention in the show ring with their eye for detail and talent in the saddle

- Alex Robinson

Rebecca (left, on Manor Winnie’s Comet) and Jessica Ely (on Ballygill Tight Fit) are making strides in the show ring since quitting their jobs and becoming full-time producers in 2018

SOMETIMES, you just have to jump in both feet first. In February 2018, sisters Jessica and Rebecca Ely made the biggest decision of their lives. The two high-flying career women bade farewell to their nine-to-five professions to pursue their dreams as show producers. It was the ultimate risk, but later in the season, they got the confirmation they needed when they clinched the small intermediate show riding type of the year accolade with part-bred Arab Brindlebrook Little Scoundrel (Yorkie) on their Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) debut.

“We both loved our jobs but it was getting to the point where we were both moving up the ladder and work was taking up all of our time,” explains Jessica, 27, who is a qualified barrister and worked at a law firm specializing in clinical negligence.

“My job was hard work with lots of deadlines and court dates, so fitting the horses in between was a challenge. We had the right set-up at home and would still show on the weekends, but we decided that if we didn’t give it a proper go then we’d never do it and would never know what could have been.

Right: Jessica aboard Formidable, who is fulfilling her dressage ambitions

“We didn’t want to look back in 40 years and think ‘what if ’.”

At the time, Rebecca, now 29, was working in area sales for a platform hire company. Prior to this, she’d completed stints in marketing and on the hire desk in the engineering industry.