No stranger to the winners circle

Jodi Pieters is the name that seems to have fast become synonymous with achievement snatching up wins left, right and center since the age of 12.

The South African show jumper was, and still is, the youngest rider to have ever won the Adult KZN Show Jumping Championships at the tender age of 16 in 2004.

She has been in the KZN show jumping team for 14 years winning the KZN championships in all three age groups – U14, U18 and ver 18.

“I just love the adrenaline rush and the thrill. It is something you can never master. There is always more to learn and achieve,” said Pieters.

In 2011 she won the South African show jumping championship and has been ranked the number one rider in SA.

Pieters’s recent big achievement was winning the SA leg of the World Cup qualifying series, qualifying her to compete in the World Cup final in Gottenburg Sweden in 2012.

“The challenge is that the team is you and your horse, it is a partnership. Horses are very sensitive and you can not control their moods making it a very unpredictable and up and down sport.”

Horsemanship is in her DNA, being the daughter of two professional show jumpers.

“I have been riding horses all my life. My parents gave me my first pony called Atom, because he was so small, when I was four years old.”

Pieters eats, sleeps and breathes horses, training and competition starting her days at 5am, training for six hours every morning and coaching every afternoon.

As well as her own personal training Pieters works for Capital Studs, schooling eight horses for clients as well as carrying out pre-training for racehorses.

“My work gives me the flexibility to continue competing on the circuit and traveling as much as I do. There are competitions three weekends every month.”

She is based in Drummond but coaches a big group of riders at the Sugar Hills Stables in Ballito on a weekly basis.

“It is so rewarding being able to pass on my knowledge from years of experience on to my pupils and watching them progress.”

The highest that Pieters jumps is 1.60m – on this level the course becomes more technical and the time is much tighter.

“You have to control your own body and train your eyes to see the correct stride needed for the distance between the jumps. You can not break the rhythm and there are very tight turns.”