It’s back!! All through the month of July, we are running our annual Dressage For Every Body campaign on #YourDressage, and we’re teaming up with our friends at SmartPak again to offer some incredible prizes for our readers and writers!
Each year that we’ve run this campaign, we’ve used it to highlight size inclusivity in dressage, and to give a voice to those who have felt like they don’t fit the stereotypical image of a rider. We’ve featured stories of resilience, courage, kindness, and confidence, and we want to continue to encourage and inspire riders of all sizes, because #EveryBodyIsADressageBody
We recently asked to hear from riders who consider themselves plus-size or were plus-size at one time for a chance to be featured in our Dressage For Every Body galleries or to share their story, and win some awesome prizes!
Here, a Region 2 rider shares how The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Incentive Program Online Shows category of their annual awards bolstered her confidence to conquer her show anxiety and get back in the dressage ring!
By Jyl Hunt
My name is Jyl Hunt, and I’m an adult amateur living in Northwestern Kentucky. My equine partner is a ten-year-old Off-Track-Thoroughbred (OTTB) mare named Hydra’s Hope, whom we lovingly call Nova. My friend and barn owner, Karen, traded a barrel mare for Nova back in 2021. She owned Nova’s half sister already and thought, “I love this mare, why not get another like her?”
I always joked that she bought her for me, knowing she was likely a horse that would be a perfect match, but was out of my budget. I loved Nova from the moment she stepped onto the property, and would ride her whenever I could. In 2022, my friend decided Nova wasn’t a fit for her and kindly gifted me this big, silly mare. I couldn’t be more grateful. Her personality is a perfect mix of my late gelding, Indy, whom I tragically lost in 2020, and a senior OTTB mare, Cat, who is retired at my home farm. She’s a bit of a diva, but 100% a momma’s girl.
Nova was first restarted as a barrel horse when she was off the track, and to my understanding, she did not take to it. After a year of setbacks, training struggles (neither of us are the fastest of learners), and injuries (she ripped her chest open at 8 PM on a Friday night, five days before I was due to leave on a trip out west), we finally started making some progress.
Around the end of 2023, I decided I wanted to try showing again. I had competed in local shows and hunters as a kid growing up in Indiana and Michigan, and I had taken my gelding to a few mini trials, but my anxiety grew worse with every show. As a 35-year-old running a small business and raising a family, I didn’t know how realistic getting back into showing would be.
I have hauling anxiety, show anxiety, and my brain usually plays out the worst-case scenario. I had heard about online shows growing in popularity in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 stoppage of in-person shows, and a friend, who was leasing another OTTB mare at my barn, and I decided to give it a go.
We joined all the Facebook groups that we could find and got to filming. We mostly did flat classes, with the occasional dressage test sprinkled in. We filmed once or twice a month, and thankfully, we have a really tight-knit group of boarders, with everyone pitching in for filming days. Tack swaps, forgotten girths, camera issues; no obstacle was too big with our barn family by our side! Having such a wonderful group of horse crazy friends made online showing so much easier.
We also used the RideIQ program quite a bit during this time. We were working without a trainer, and were just doing our best until we could find one, so we really enjoyed using the app. It might not be a tool for everyone, but it was invaluable to us. And we started winning classes! Not always big classes, not always super competitive classes, but it was enough to start racking up Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (TIP) points.
That was when I really decided I wanted to win the online division of the Thoroughbred Incentive Program – a perfectly realistic goal for someone with a lot of anxiety and a horse who sometimes spooks at the same ground pole ten times a day.
At this point, it was early 2024, and we weren’t formally working with a trainer, but I knew we needed help. Nova was only the second horse I had truly restarted myself. Fortunately, we found someone to come help us (thanks Danielle, and bless you for dealing with us!), and have been taking semi-monthly lessons for a little over a year now. We focus on dressage basics, and like I mentioned earlier, Nova and I aren’t the fastest learners. Sometimes it takes us longer to “get” things, but I’ve never much cared. I’m just happy to be spending time with my girl.
In March 2025, TIP results were released for the 2024 year, and we found out that we won first out of 18 entrants for the Online Horse Shows category, and Champion for the All Other category with 7,579 points. A full year of videos, tack changes, arena setups and teardowns, lots of time uploading videos to YouTube and entering classes, but we won! Perhaps a laughable win to some, but it meant a lot to me. We haven’t shown as much in 2025, but my goal is still to make the top six. I’m also really hopeful we will make it to an in-person dressage show this year, or in 2026.
Nova has taught me to be patient, and that sometimes progress is not linear. We struggled a lot in the beginning. She would get confused and completely shut down. Just taking a few walking steps forward was a win on some days. I found her breeder online and was able to chat with her, who told me that Nova had been a quirky foal, and just didn’t grow out of it. But honestly, that’s what makes her so special. She kind of forces me to take a step back, think about things differently, and try again tomorrow. The entire barn calls her The Princess. She hates mud, she hates being dirty, and loves trotting pretty circles around the indoor.
I was never a mare person, but sometimes they just pick you. And she absolutely picked me. Karen jokes that Nova always knew she was meant to be my horse.
Being a plus size, average-height rider hasn’t always been easy. Tack and clothes don’t usually fit quite right, and I’ve overheard comments about my body at mini trials. Of all the trainers I’ve learned from, though, the resounding statement has been, “I’d rather see a plus size rider like you who rides light than a slim rider who is bouncing around on their horse’s back.” I always try to carry that statement with me.
I joke that I am an average rider on my best days, but I’ve seen plenty of slim riders with much harsher seats than my own. I also feel a lot less judged on my body through online shows. Sure, people may be making comments from behind their phone screens, but that’s really more of a “them” problem than a “me” problem.
If you’re new to the horse world as a plus size person, finding an inclusive barn can be daunting. I have plenty of friends across the country who want to take lessons but are turned down because they weigh over 200 pounds. To that I say, “Keep looking.” Your people are out there. At my barn, we’re all different shapes, abilities, disciplines, and sizes. We don’t judge each other because at the end of the day, we all just love our horses, want to ride, and have a sense of community.
I do think that over the last five years, the equestrian world has become more inclusive of different bodies. At least, my little bubble of the internet has. I actually walked into Dover Saddlery after a Boyd Martin clinic a few weeks ago and bought a pair of tall boots off the shelf that fit. That isn’t something that would’ve happened ten years ago!
We do still have progress to make, but I think we are headed in the right direction. I also really love “The English Plus Sized Rider” group on Facebook. It’s a great space online to feel less alone in the struggles we have as plus sized equestrians.
Always remember, it doesn’t matter how long something takes, as long as you enjoy the ride.
