SKYE Higgin, the British Nations Cup rider from Whitchurch, who is now running a yard in Normandy, France, enjoyed her first Morocco Royal Tour with a team of two horses, attributing her career success to having trained with Irish international show jumpers, Dave Quigley and Paul O’Shea.

The outgoing horsewoman achieved a Pentathlon scholarship to Millfield School, but then decided it was not to be her career. She opted to start from the beginning in show jumping by ringing Shropshire-based Dave Quigley and asking him to turn her into a show jumper.

Higgin now competes a full team of horses, including the classy Elton, a seven-year-old gelding owned by US-based Clareman David Blake, son of Irish chef d’equipe Michael. Elton is one who is currently impressing in both Europe and Morocco. Skye excelled in Monaco this year on the Global Champions Tour, when she partnered her new mare of five weeks, Fly For You, to win the 1.40m opening class and the two-star Grand Prix in classic style.

“I am not from a horsey family,” she told The Irish Field. “I have ridden all my life, but after school, I realised that it was show jumping that I wanted to do. Dave Quigley of Q Sporthorses lived in Whitchurch, local to where I live and I saw he trained well and I gave him a call. I started to groom and also had lessons. Sharon Quigley was also a great rider and it was there that I was given a leg up in the sport. Dave taught me how to break horses, starting with three and four-year-olds. I started to ride a couple of youngsters on the Sunshine Tour and I said to myself ‘someday I’d love to jump a Grand Prix’.

“Show jumping was what I wanted to do. I studied all the American riders and how they rode forwards.

I loved Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden; I saw Penelope Leprevost in Dublin and I was besotted with her riding style. I knew I wanted to ride like that, forward going with rhythm, how chic and effortless they looked and I wanted that too.”

After four and a half years with Dave Quigley, Skye decided she needed to go to America. She added: “Dave rang Paul O’Shea in the USA, he knew he was the perfect person I needed to train with, so I spent two years with Skara Glen Stables and Paul in Connecticut.”

Living in Florida competing for the winter months, Skye learned a vast amount from Paul O’Shea. “I’m very driven, I didn’t want to stop. I started really late in life, but I knew I had to work hard and I was lucky Dave Quigley gave me the opportunity. I wasn’t good at the start, but I had a lot of feeling about riding. At Paul’s, we had three horses for Enda Carroll of Ashford Farm. Enda also started with Dave, same as Ivan Dalton and Greg Broderick. My job was to ride sales horses for Enda. Paul had lessons with Conor Swail and I watched and thought Conor was incredible.

“Paul was brilliant, giving me hunting and equitation horses to ride, which was hugely beneficial, as I did all the basics again. Paul drills it into you on the flat, with all the basics and how to have the ability to control each ride with good connection. Even though I don’t do hunting and equitation, I know now what to look for in a horse to suit that market.”

Skye is now competing and buying and selling for clients to fund her career. “My times with Dave and Paul and working also for two years with Penelope Leprevost were incredible. I am lucky I went to a breeding stable of Elevage du Tillard, where they breed two mares a year. I manage the stables and produce the young horses. My Nations Cup horse is d’Jordania (Air Jordan x Diamant de Semilly), which was bred by owner Bernadette Lejeune. She sold the full-brother as a youngster, but kept the mare for me.

“That mare gave me the break I needed and I produced her to five-star and we competed in Rotterdam in 2023 and in three-star Nations Cups in 2022. I was on the British team, which finished third in Sharjah in the Nations Cup of Abu Dhabi. Di Lampard has been incredible. I was selected for Prague in 2022 had four and clear and did the Nations Cup in Vejer.”

Driven

Ever the optimist, Skye can’t think of anything better than jumping for your country. “I have a new mare, Fly For You (Caprice du Margot x L’Arc de Triomphe), owned by Jean Marie Soupasse from Normandy and I am delighted to compete her in Morocco. There is a great interest in her and also Elton PZ (Extra x Thunder van de Zuuthoeve), David Blake’s horse who is a star.

“David has been a great supporter and I am fortunate to have such a great team of horses, even though I am the new kid on the block. I have made the most of every opportunity, I am super motivated and driven and the next Olympics in Los Angeles is my ambition.”

Skye added: “My life has been a journey, I didn’t have big funds behind me, but I am proof that if you put your heart and soul into learning all aspects of the sport, you can do it. I still run about two or three times a week to keep fit, jogging round the roads of Normandy 5-10km each week. I am grateful to my owners, who trust me with their young horses and to my Irish friends in show jumping, who have trained me and continue to support me. After Morocco, I am going to Oliva with d’Jordania and to do some client training.”

Her final tip to young riders is: “I feel there is not enough help out there for young riders to expand, I am lucky to have found Dave and Paul. I can call on any of the Irish at a show to give me a few tips. I was not born into the sport, but I took every opportunity I was given and never gave up.

“I teach to my students that they can do it through hard work and determination and have the attitude that I’m here to win and not to mess around,” the lady with a big future concluded.