Jessica Springsteen, Jumping with Joy and Purpose

FEATURED PHOTO: Jessica Springsteen riding a horse | CREDIT: Media Punch

“Yes, it was an exciting weekend,” laughed Jessica, referring to her first place win in the prestigious Queen’s Cup equestrian show jumping event in Barcelona, Spain. This engaging laugh, and the understatement of her accomplishment the previous week, began our conversation and epitomize the friendly, easygoing, Jessica Rae Springsteen.

Having worked to perfect her skill in show jumping her entire life, Jessica consistently shows the world how it’s done. The only daughter of Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, she grew up in Rumson and Colts Neck with brothers Evan and Samuel. She began riding ponies and horses on the family’s Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck when she was four years of age. Now 26, she has developed into a brilliant rider, participating in top level equestrian show jumping competitions around the world. Equestrian sports provide the rare opportunity for women and men to compete equally against one another, and Jessica’s achievements as a renowned international champion can be credited to her passion for the sport.

A visit to the online videos of her jumping gives an appreciation for the complexity of the course obstacles and the precision of her rides. Jessica makes it all look smooth and effortless, belying the rigor of her travel and competition schedules and the intensity of both her physical and mental preparation. Her many victories may result in a spot on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team. She has proven she has the talent, serving as a reserve rider on the 2012 team when she was only 20-years-old. Jessica is currently on tour and called in from Vilamoura, Portugal last month to fill us in about her journey from the pony rides in Monmouth County to the world stage of elite show jumping.

Jessica realized her passion very early on. “We have, on my farm [in Colts Neck], a bunch of natural fences and logs and ditches and when I was little, I used to jump those with my ponies.” With riding beginning at such a young age, I wondered how it affected her school life while attending Rumson Country Day, Ranney School and Duke University. “It happened really gradually, and it was difficult. Even when I was in middle school I was always three months in Florida and would leave school to ride. And the same in high school, and then of course it’s hard to leave your friends. And college as well but I gave myself time to enjoy school and my friends and to get that experience but also to keep riding as much as possible.” This made me curious as to when it really sunk in that jumping would be a career path. Jessica didn’t hesitate. “I knew when I went to college. That is normally the point when you would decide, ‘Okay, I’m going to focus on school and not ride at all anymore,’ or, ‘I’m going to try to balance and do both.’ It was never really a question for me-I knew I would stick with it.”

There is so much preparation and other people involved in making all this happen. Jessica works with a trainer and a team of people but does some of her own horse training, too. “I have one new horse who needs a little more time but he’s actually already pretty straight forward. The other ones are more experienced, so they just need to train and do a little bit of jumping before they head into a competition. We are constantly rotating the horses around to different shows and keeping them fit and preparing for where we go next.” Jessica also must stay fit, mentally and physically and I asked if she had any pre-show superstitions or rituals. “I’m not very superstitious. I want to go to the show well prepared and with the horses doing their best and normally when they’re feeling good I don’t get too nervous. I try to just stay as focused as possible on what I’m doing. I try to remind myself, if I am nervous, that I know what I’m doing, I must go in there and do my job and hopefully it goes well. [Jumping] really depends on the partnership you have with your horse. Sometimes, it’s not how you want it to feel.” She laughed and continued, “Other horses you can click with right away and when it goes well, it feels much easier!” She takes dressage lessons occasionally, but explained, “The lessons are more catered to the control needed. It’s much less than what you’d do in dressage and more about helping to get all the gears and control that you need when you’re doing a jumping course.” And her own exercising? “I’m in Florida for three months of the year and while I’m there I’m able to really do lots of exercising. I love to jog, and I like to do Pilates classes. But when I’m on the road a lot, it’s kind of hard to find time and I haven’t been doing that as much as I should.”

The present tour includes travel with five of her nine horses, while the other four horses remain at a home base. Jessica currently owns six mares, two geldings and a stallion. She noted the difference in the genders but said it was like having kids. “I love both. I think mares are a little feistier and maybe they’ll fight for you a little bit more, but I really love geldings as well.” I expressed my amazement at the number of horses and Jessica laughed and said, “Oh yeah, it’s a lot. You definitely need people you can trust when you’re not there, but I have great girls working for me, so I know the horses are always in good shape while I’m away.” Over the course of her career she has owned and sold many horses. We talked about those horses and how difficult it could be to have them move away. “It’s difficult. When you’re little, there’s not much you can do because you’re getting taller and you’re growing out of them and you have to move up to the next level.” I suspected she would recall memorable horses and Jessica enthusiastically agreed. “Absolutely! One is my first horse I jumped with at the Grand Prix. I started with him in the low juniors and he took me all the way up to the five-star level. He had so much scope and he could do those big tracks so easily. He gave me a lot of confidence at a young age. And then I also had a Grand Prix horse. He was a mainstay and I did all big shows with him. I still have both on my farm in New Jersey. They are two very special horses.”

And one particular ride stood out from all the others. “When I was maybe 21 and I was doing a Nations Cup in Dublin. I jumped double clear with my horse Vindicat and our team won the gold medal there for the first time in a really long time. For me to be part of a team representing the States and going double clear in a big Nations Cup was such a big moment and definitely something I’ll always remember.” (Double clear is the completion of the first round and jump off with no jumping or time faults.) I wondered how the wins impact her chances for the Olympic team. Jessica explained, “There are no actual Olympic trials anymore. Basically, the summer before, you do some big Nations Cups. You want to be consistent when you’re competing as a team, and at the Grand Prix. It’s at those competitions when it’s decided. I think more important is posting clear rounds because that’s what you need. With this sport, obviously we’re working with animals, and so much about it is timing – having your horse in the top condition and you putting in a good round all at the right time. It’s important to be consistent with your horse in the year or two leading up to that. Of course, I’m hoping. It’s always been a goal of mine but it’s difficult.”

Jessica also finds time for philanthropy mainly focused on animals. “I do a little bit with the ASPCA and now I work with the EQUUS foundation. I think the most important thing is raising awareness. A lot of people don’t really know how much animal cruelty there is, especially with horses. I didn’t even know there was horse slaughter in America until I started working with EQUUS. It’s so sad.” She stressed that awareness and keeping track of one’s horses after they’re sold is important to make sure they’re doing well. She was pleased to hear that just that week, her family farm reached out to the Monmouth County rescue group, Helping Hearts Equine Rescue, to donate 350 bales of hay.

So, what does Jessica do for fun outside of riding? “Right now, I’ve been traveling like every week so whenever I have a break I try to see my family and spend as much time with them as possible. A lot of my girlfriends live in New York and my family is in New Jersey, so whenever I have any time off they’re my priority” And music, besides the obvious? “I listen to every genre of music actually. My brother works for Sirius, so he is always sending me cool songs that I might not know about. But normally I just listen to everything.”

Jessica also has an eye for fashion, serving as an ambassador for Ralph Lauren. She credits her mother for this interest. “My mom is really into fashion and she inspired me so much. And as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten more into it. Ralph Lauren and his family are all such kind people and it’s been so much fun working with their brand, especially with horses.” She also works with Longines, similarly expressing the fun she has modeling and incorporating it into her riding. She laughed when I mentioned the British paper that comments more on the details of her outfits while treating her accomplishments as an aside.

All this alone is enough for a very fulfilling life, but Jessica also has the privilege of traveling for her sport. We talked about travel and some of her favorite places. “I think we’ve gone all over! I actually love competing in Spain. It’s so beautiful and the crowd is so warm and really supportive and there are always so many spectators. I have a competition in Doha (Qatar) in November. We had one in Shanghai which was interesting. It was quite a long way to go.” I told her the next place we hope to see her competing is Japan, representing the US in the Olympics.

And Jessica, ever serene, laughed and replied, “I hope so!”