Welcome to my Blog!

Get to know me and the journey that has brought me here!

ABOVE: Osina and Pippa competing in the 130cm class in Bahrain's national showjumping competition

Hi! My name is Pippa Fourie and I am a 19 year old South African showjumper who has recently moved to the UK to study at Writtle University College.

My aspiration is one day to compete on an international level, as it has been my dream ever since I can remember.

In the photo above you can see my very own Osina! She is a 25 year old KWPN and I have owned her for about a year now. You may see me refer to her as Beans, and that is because she is always full of beans!

Bits and bobs from my journey so far!

As mentioned above I am a South African showjumper!

I have been riding since the day I learned to sit up without anyone's help, which I guess is partially responsible for putting me on the equine path.

Growing up I had the most awesome pony called Bella Skaramba, but his stable name was Chummy. He was a Welsh Section A and honestly the best pony any girl could ever have hoped for! He really solidified my (already existing) love for horses and the sport.

Below you can see a picture of Chummy and I at the Western Province Showing Champs annual show where we won the Victor Ludorum. He truly was a once in a lifetime pony!

When I was 11 we moved out of South Africa to Bahrain, which is when my showjumping career truly began!

I rode many many horses over my time in Bahrain, from retraining racehorses, to producing sports ponies and even a 140cm showjumper, my career furthered. At one point I even trained ponies at Al Fursan, which belongs to the Royal Stables.

I did very well in my time there, until I was 18 I rode and competed for a private owner, they helped me so much to make my dream become a reality and had a lovely string of horses. They weren't easy and definitely tested me and my ability but in the end was worth it to see how far we all came together.

In the photos below you can see both Tornado and Itachi.

Tornado is an ex-racehorse gone showjumper! He was a speed machine! But what else can you expect from a chestnut?!

Itachi is a Dutch Warmblood who I started producing when the owner brought him out for me to compete after my first year riding for them. He was slightly less speedy but had the most amazing jump on him, however inbetween he was very difficult, he would try to run out the gate and he always ducked away to the right when when trying to go left, and if you forced him he would rear, even a grand prix rider tried his hand but it didn't end well, we also couldn't take him into the warm-up arena due to how severely

scared he was of other horses. He had many difficulties to work through, eventually with working with Mia Palles-Clarke we found a way to deal with it and eventually he became a truly amazing horse. Still had his weird moments but everything he threw at us we worked through.

Eventually I got Beans, she truly put me through my paces, she helped me step up to the next level, and for an old girl she doesn't behave it. I mean have you ever heard of a 25 year old semi-retired KWPN still jumping 130s?

Below I have added another photo of her and I, one of my favourite from the season!

I could have written more but I think for my first installment.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a bit more about me and where I came from!

Next up: Joining the Academy