Text © World of Showjumping

In 2020, Jodie Hall McAteer was selected for the Young Riders Academy and as part of the program she got a six-month scholarship to train with the Schröder-brothers – Ben, Wim and Gerco. To World of Showjumping, the 21-year-old British rider tells about leaving home for the first time and how a taste of the top sport has shaped her goals.

With her parents Mandy Hall and Paul McAteer involved in the industry, Jodie grew up around horses. “I have been riding for as long as I remember,” she tells. “My grandparents had a riding school at home, so as a child I was trotting at the back of my grandma’s riding lessons. My grandparents are still very much involved; they watch all the shows on live stream. My family is my biggest support. They do everything to help me, they are so supportive and own all my horses.”

“Growing up in England, there is a very strong pony and youth circuit that gets you started in the sport,” Jodie continues. “You travel and get to compete at big events, it gives you hunger from a young age and riders develop from that. Especially in my generation, there are so many good young riders that came through that system. When you have had that experience in your pony and youth career, it is easier to move forward in the senior ranks.”

“In 2021, I was based at the Schröder-brothers’ stable in Tubbergen, the Netherlands, and when my training through the Academy ended, I was very fortunate and got to stay longer,” Jodie tells about her time with the Schröder-brothers. “I was there all year until December, then I got back home and my horses have had a bit of a break now. I am heading back at the end of January and will again be based there for this season.”

“I don’t know how to explain it: I learned so much, I can’t put it all into words,” Jodie continues. “Before the Schröder-brothers, Robert Bevis was very influental in training me, but I had never left home before and suddenly got to spend so much time on the road, going to different shows all over Europe. I watched Gerco win his silver medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012 and have always looked up to him as a rider. Seeing their system and learning how to get ready for shows has been invaluable. The technicality in my riding has for sure improved: I have learned about getting into a good rhythm and keeping it, how to work the horses every day… Just being in that environment has helped me a lot. I would like to think that I made progress as a rider and definitely came out of it very motivated and confident. What the Young Riders Academy is doing for the youth is unbelievable, it is a fantastic system. Going into it, many had said how great the program is, but until you actually experience it yourself, you don’t realize how much of an influence it has. I am very grateful for their support.”

Jodie has also been lucky to receive help from Scott Brash. “If he is at the same show as me and Ben cannot be there, Scott steps in and helps,” Jodie explains. “Obviously, Scott is a great role model to me and also a good family friend. He bought Hello Vincent from us, I produced him until he was ten. It is great to have Scott around and get advice from him, he is one of the best riders in the world.”

Jodie got her first taste of the five-star circuit in 2019, when she was given the opportunity to compete at Hickstead and in Gijon. “I always wanted to do the sport, but until you actually do it, you don’t really understand the magnitude of it,” Jodie says. “I was doing really well in school and had just gotten into university when I was selected for the five-star show at Hickstead. I finished 8th in the Grand Prix with my horse Salt’n Peppa and that gave me a taste of the top sport and a feeling that I could do it. My parents support me and I have a good team around me, so I put my university plans on hold and have been focusing on my riding since.”

In 2021, Jodie was the U25 rider for the Cascais Charms-team in the Longines Global Champions League. “It had been two years without a five-star show, and then in a space of six months I got to do ten,” she tells. “I learned so much from that experience. It was intense, but as a young rider getting the exposure to that level week in and week out was unbelievable. I feel like I ended the year with having learned so much, and came out of it as a much more mature rider. Going from the juniors and young riders to the senior level is difficult. You need to have good horses and you have got to go into it with realistic expectations: It is not going to be plain sailing, there are going to be ups and downs. It is difficult to progress to the top, the technicality of the courses makes it extremely demanding. You have just got to learn to take what you can from each round and use mistakes as an opportunity to evolve as a rider.”

“In general, as a young rider, you have to go around with your eyes and ears open,” Jodie says. “At shows, you can learn so much just by watching and getting an opportunity to talk to the top riders. While I was very lucky to get into a GCL team last year, you can’t just say you got an opportunity and that’s it –  you have to keep working and developing yourself. You have to take every opportunity you can and put yourself out there, really. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help you when you are willing to learn. You have to work hard and really want it.”

At the moment, Salt’n Peppa (Stolzenberg x Escudo 19) is Jodie’s best horse. “He has been amazing for me, I owe a lot to him,” Jodie tells. “He has brought me from my junior years to my first young rider Europeans and all the way to my first senior Nations Cup and five-star Grand Prix. We bought him from Ashford Farm in the summer of 2018. He is a sensitive horse and has his own technique. He is quite strong and can get a bit spooky, but we have got a great bond now. He has given me so much confidence to jump at the top of the sport. He always makes it so easy; it never feels like he is at his limit. He is a very special horse to me.”

“I also have Kimosa van het Kritrahof (Chatman x Eros Platiere), she is twelve now,” Jodie continues. “I started riding her at the beginning of last year and she has really stepped up. She didn’t have so much experience, she had only done a few ranking classes before she came to me. Last year, she was unbelievable and I won my first five-star class on her. I have a few younger horses I hope to keep producing along the others. As an example, Mademoiselle-a (Corland x Cardento 933) recently won the U25 championship in London. She is a really intelligent mare. We bought her when she was seven and she is ten now, and I have high hopes for her this year.”

“Horsepower is something I struggled with last year,” Jodie continues. “I had two horses for the top sport and it was difficult. For the five-star events, you can usually only bring two horses and when I was riding the other horses at two-star events, I felt they were getting behind. I was getting frustrated with myself and with the fact that the other horses probably were not progressing as quick as they could have. However, I had to accept that maybe these horses will take longer to develop than I thought, but that is part of the sport. With horses, you just have to take your time, keep the confidence in your system and believe that in the long run, things will turn out good.”

At the International Jumping Riders Club’s General Assembly in Geneva last December, Jodie voiced her opinion on the new Olympic format. “It is confusing that a sport can have one format for the Olympics only, and then a completely different format for all other championships and team competitions,” she says. “When it comes to the new Olympic format, horse welfare should always be the main priority. Another side of the argument is that having no drop-score limits the chances of young riders being put into team positions. When a Chef d’Equipe selects a team and has a young rider, Scott Brash and Ben Maher to choose from, without a drop-score, they will not take the risk of having a young rider on the team. Therefore, I think it is important that the Nations Cup series are protected and kept as they are now. I think the Nations Cup format of four riders and a drop-score is fair to the horses and young riders alike. All of us have to sing to the same tune regarding that. I felt like when I was there, listening to the debate as the youth of the sport, that was another factor that was important to put forward.”

“I think the way our sport is evolving is remarkable,” Jodie continues. “I love watching old films about Jappeloup, clips from Aachen and Spruce Meadows… When you look back and compare the past to the sport now, I think it has changed drastically – and it is going to keep evolving. It is important, especially as a young rider, to go into everything with an open mind, and be ready to adapt to the way the sport changes. For example, this year the time fault rule changed and that is going to impact your riding: You want to make sure you are always riding forward.”

“It is hard, because as an athlete, you just want to focus on the sport,” Jodie says when asked if riders are being proactive enough. “But obviously when something can jeopardize the sport and particularly the future of the sport, I think it is important it is acted upon. I believe that having the approval from a wider audience is something that is going to become even more difficult. I do think that in ten-years-time, our sport is going to be very different: Just look at the rules that have changed already, like the regulations on hind boots, use of spurs, etc. However, at the end of the day, it is all for the benefit of the horse.”

“I believe that In the future, the relationship and the bond that a rider has with their horse is going to have more weight and that can only be a good thing,” Jodie says. “It is very important for us to always have the horses’ best interest in mind; that is the way it should be.”

“I totally get that our sport can be hard to understand, but it is important for us riders to make the general public aware that these horses, they are our best friends – that is the beauty of the sport,” Jodie says. “The thing is, most of us riders start out as just a little boy or a little girl who simply loves riding and spending time with their ponies. For me, that is something to always remind myself of: When the sport isn’t necessarily going as well as I had hoped for and I put pressure on myself, or get frustrated, it is important for me to remember that I am actually so lucky I get to do this with these wonderful animals.”

Jodie has had an easy start to 2022, and has enjoyed a break from an otherwise busy show schedule. “It is hard to know when to stop, there are normally so many shows,” Jodie says. “I decided to take it easy this January, I have probably had the slowest start to the season – purely because I was away so much last year, it has been nice for me to be at home and see my family and friends, be a bit of a normal 20-year-old for a while. I have been riding in the morning, going to the gym and spent my evenings catching up with friends.”

“I think if you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have probably named a few particular shows and trying to get a good win,” Jodie continues to speak about her goals for this season. “Now, my goal is to keep developing as a rider, to become a better horse person and a better teammate. I felt like last year, I was riding to prove myself all the time, show that I deserved to be in the position I was in. Now, I really want to shift my focus. I would like to think that if I just keep improving all the different aspects of my riding, the results will come. With Covid and EHV, I’ve learned that no plan is set in stone: I just want to make the most of what I am doing every day, because you never know what is around the corner.”

“If I got another chance to wear a team jacket as a senior, that would be great!” Jodie smiles. “Di Lampard is very good in encouraging the youth and if you look at the team she had at the 2021 Europeans, it was a very young team. As a Chef d’Equipe, Di is very good at giving opportunities to young riders when she thinks they are capable and deserve that chance to step up. Of course, I just have to make sure I work hard, get in the best possible shape and give myself the best chances that I can." 

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