Young event rider Bubby Upton tackled her first five-star a year ago and has now completed a handful of these top level events, including finishing 14th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in September. Up until May 2022, she was juggling eventing at the top level with studying a degree at university.
“I studied at Edinburgh University for four years and my home is just outside Newmarket, so for the past four years, it’s been non-stop commuting back and forth twice a week so I could ride my horses,” explains Bubby to H&H’s Pippa Roome on episode 124 of The Horse & Hound Podcast. “By the end, I was managing to do the trip door-to-door in three-and-a-half hours from Stansted Airport, which was pretty good going given the distance. I think a lot of people thought I was mad for doing it, which I probably was, but it made sense as I was able to work for two hours of that journey.”
Bubby was studying sports management at university, a degree she worked diligently in to acquire a great result.
“It was a crazy four years, especially the last year as I was on the verge of getting a first class degree, and it was all worth it when I managed to achieve a first,” she says. “I definitely put myself through a fair bit of hell to get there, but I’m proud to have achieved it.”
The 23-year-old says life has changed now that she isn’t studying and she is eventing full-time.
“It’s very different – I’m not used to having so much time on my hands, especially at the big events with just one horse,” she laughs. “I had become so used to always having university work to do when I wasn’t riding.”
Most of Bubby’s five-star endeavours have been with the 12-year-old gelding, Cola III (pictured).
“I’ve had Cola for six years and we’ve been on an extraordinary journey together, especially as he has made so many of my childhood dreams a reality,” she explains. “I feel very lucky to have found him as a six-year-old and that he’s exceeded the expectations we had when we bought him as a junior and young rider horse.”
You can hear more from Bubby Upton as she talks about juggling university with eventing, turning professional and her up and down year on episode 124 of The Horse & Hound Podcast – listen here or search “The Horse & Hound Podcast” in your favourite podcast app.
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