Career Change for Lillan Jebsen

Dressage

Norwegian Dressage News

Norwegian Grand Prix team rider Lillan Jebsen has announced that she will be making a career change away from horses. The 28-year old finishes her Masters Degree in Education Science and she'll be taking up a job within her field of expertise.

"I've been working with horses since I was six years old and really loved it, but there also comes a time when work experience becomes important," Jebsen told Norwegian equestrian magazine Dressur Sa Klart. "I hope to have something I can fall back on and want to seize the opportunities that come along."

Jebsen began her international dressage career as a young rider aboard Flyinge Wetano. The pair won the 2007 and 2008 Nordic Baltic Championships and finished seventh at the 2008 European Young Rider Championships.

Lillan made the transition to Grand Prix level aboard the Dutch warmblood stallion Pro Set (by Jet Set D) in 2009. They first showed in the Under 25 division and participated in the inaugural 2010 CDIO Aachen Under 25 competition. Two months later they were the best Norwegian duo at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Jebsen and Pro Set became the 2012 and 2014 Norwegian Grand Prix champion. The duo represented Norway at the 2011 and 2013 European Dressage Championships, the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Nordic Baltic Championships. Pro Set which was retired from competition sport after the 2014 World Equestrian Games and moved back to Carl Hester's yard in Great Britain, but then surprisingly returned to competition. The 18-year old is now a schoolmaster for Hester's assistant trainer Amy Woodhead.

Jebsen still owns the rising Grand Prix horse Sir Adam (by Krack C x Calypso III) but she will be selling him as she wants to focus fully on her upcoming career switch and job.