Jessica Burke

How did a Galway maths teacher become the hottest new name on the international showjumping circuit? Jennifer Donald finds out

- Jennifer Donald

EIGHTEEN months ago, 27-year-old teacher Jessica Burke closed the classroom door to embark on the journey of a lifetime. After six years in an increasingly busy job, the Galway native decided to take a career break to focus on her passion for showjumping, a move that has already paid unbelievable dividends.

Despite the turbulent times, Jessica has gone on to win her first international grand prix, landed a position at the prestigious Arion Stud in Hampshire and Irish selectors have clocked her team potential. This is a seriously talented rider whose showjumping career looks poised to go stratospheric.

“I look back at this year and think ‘wow’ – it’s been a difficult time for so many people, so I feel really lucky to have achieved so much in my own career,” says Jessica, whose soft lilt reveals her roots in the west of Ireland.

She grew up on her parents’ cattle farm near Gort in Galway and enjoyed a typical “hunting and country” upbringing.

“My dad, aunt and uncle all hunted, so there were always horses in the family,” she remembers. “I was always mad for getting a pony and was allowed one for my sixth birthday. That was the start of it really...”

She followed the Galway Blazers, first on a lead-rein, but remembers well the moment she was finally allowed out on her own.

“We were thrown in at the deep end but it’s given me a great feeling in the saddle,” says Jessica, the eldest of three siblings. “You quickly find out if you’re tough enough.”

But it was an unlikely looking 13.2hh that would act as the catalyst for eight-year-old Jessica to pursue a highly successful jumping career in pony classes.