Jessie Kirby Receives Ride on Windy de la Roche CMF

Dressage

Great Britain

British junior rider Jessie Kirby has received the ride on the 9-year old Swiss bred Windy de la Roche CMF.

Windy de la Roche CMF is a Swiss warmblood mare by Sir Donnerhall out of Winona (by Walt Disney x Trapper). She is bred at the Swiss De La Roche broodfarm.

Start in Switzerland

The dark bay mare was first trained and competed in Switzerland, making her show debut as a 4-year old in 2015.

She showed at the national event in Deitingen, followed by a start in Gobet for her qualification for the 2015 Swiss Young Horse Championships in Avenches, where she finished 6th under Muriel Dauphin.

Blomgren, Froment

In October 2017 the 6-year old mare was sent to Germany to be trained by Swedish Anna Blomgren.

The pair trained at home and rode in a freestyle to demonstrate de-sensitization at the 2018 Aachen Youngstar Days, but never competed together.

In June 2020 Windy was allocated to French rider Alizee Froment for further training. The mare was also flushed twice for embryotransfer and they are expecting two foals (by Valverde and Glamourdale in 2021).

Future with Jessie Kirby

In November 2020 the decision was taken to give the ride on Windy de la Roche to British junior rider Jessie Kirby.

"Supporting and promoting the next generation has been one of our long-time breeding objectives," the breeder explained on social media. "I am therefore very proud of this magnificent partnership and to entrust my mare to Jessie, who has the chance to train with Charlotte Dujardin. It is an honour and such joy to be able to collaborate with our idols."

Kirby and Belle Amie at the 2019 CDI Waregem

The 17-year old Kirby has been a long-time collaborator with double Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin. After making her international show debut as a pony rider on Grayswood Orlando in 2016, she campaigned Dujardin's pony Cruz (by Caesar 171) in 2017 and was named second reserve for the British team for the European Pony Championships.

In 2018 it was back to competing Grayswood Orlando at internationals in Joosland, Compiegne and Hickstead. In 2019 she made the transition to junior level aboard the KWPN bred Belle Amie (by Ronaldo x Haarlem), whom she showed at Keysoe, Hickstead and Waregem the past two years.

Kirby has sold Belle Amie to Genevieve Visagie in Australia and will now continue with Windy.

"Due to Covid we had to make the difficult decision to sell Belle Amie which left me without an immediate ride as my young horse Hocus Pocus (Casper) would not be quite ready. Luckily for me I got offered the ride on Windy," Kirby told Eurodressage. "I feel privileged that the breeders were looking to support a young rider on their journey and have entrusted the wonderful Windy to myself in the UK. My plans for 2021 are to get to know Windy (...) and to possibly campaign at Junior level whilst we get to know each other in readiness for Young Riders the year after."