This week’s Practical Horseman Podcast episode, sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products, is with international show jumper and hunter rider and trainer Jacob Pope. He spoke with us in early September as he was preparing for the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifier in Traverse City, Michigan.
To give you a little more background on Jacob, he grew up on his family’s small horse farm in Columbia, Maryland. He had a successful junior career, winning the 2011 USHJA Emerging Athletes Program Finals, the 2012 USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals – East and the 2012 ASPCA Maclay Finals. After graduating from college in 2017, Jacob turned professional and now competes in both the hunter and jumper divisions. He has had top results in several hunter derbies, including winning the 2017 Deeridge Hunter Derby. In 2022, he won his first FEI grand prix with Highway FBH. The following year, the pair was on the U.S. Jumping Team at four CSIO3* Nations Cup competitions, helping the team win gold in Uggerhalne, Denmark. In July of this year, Jacob and Highway FBH again helped the U.S. win gold this time in the $75,000 FEI Jumping Nations Cup Traverse City CSIO3*.
In addition to his success in the competition ring, Jacob runs Hickory Ridge LLC, a showing, training and sales business based in Wellington, Florida and Traverse City, Michigan, with Nick Pongracz.
In our discussion, Jacob talks about what he enjoys about working with horses, his training philosophy, how he handles his show nerves and more.
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