USHJA On Course Episode 34

USHJA: Welcome back to USHJA On Course. I know it's been a minute, but we are excited to be back with a brand new series that features a few special guests. This year, we're redesigning the course for our new episodes. Introducing USHJA Rider to Rider! A bi-monthly video series spotlighting the connections that unite our equestrian community.

In this four-part series, we're handing the mic to some of our up-and-coming riders and pairing them with top Professionals across the sport for candid conversations about their journeys, advice for aspiring riders, and what keeps them passionate about horses. In today's episode, we're kicking things off with Kameron Berry, the 2024 Gochman Grant for USEF Pony Finals recipient and passionate rider making his way in the sport, and Jacob Pope, a renowned Professional who's made quite an impact since his USHJA Emerging Athletes Program win in 2011.

Kameron Berry: Hi, I am Kameron Berry and I am here with Jacob Pope. I am aspiring to be a professional rider and Jacob is a really good rider, so I am trying to ask him some questions today to see how I would easily get up there.

Who is your favorite horse in your string of horses and why?

Jacob Pope: So, I have a horse, a really special horse actually, named Highway, which I've shown up to five-star Grand Prix level. And he is just such a character in the barn and has helped me reach some goals that I thought I would never even have as goals. I've gotten to ride on some Nation's Cup teams and he's a really, really special horse. He's fun to ride. He's quirky in the barn, and he is just an overall character. And I just feel really lucky to have him and be able to ride him.

Kameron Berry: Yeah. Getting the Emerging Athletes Program scholarship [from winning], how did that help you in the sport? Was it fun there?

Jacob Pope: So the Emerging Athletes Program, which is part of USHA, was really the first thing that kind of brought me onto the map. You know, I was a very grassroots rider. I did go to rated shows and I rode with a very good trainer in Maryland named Streett Moore. And we did mostly local stuff—Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania. He gave me an awesome start, but it was really just kind of local. Going off to the Emerging Athletes Program, where we had to take care of our own horses and be kind of judged on our barn managing skills and how we took care of the horses, not just riding.

I got all the way to the national level and actually won, so I got a ticket to come to the Horsemastership Clinic down here in Wellington—and that was before I had done any big time equitation things—and was seen by Andre Dignelli, who offered me a working student position. So Emerging Athletes Program, I always say it was a leg up into the sport. And it's kind of been history from there. That was quite a while ago, 2011, but it's been a fun ride since.

Kameron Berry: What was your most memorable horse show moment?

Jacob Pope: Oh wow. Good question. There've been a lot of 'em. I mean, I could take funny ones. I could take really exciting ones. Probably the most exciting was we were Team Gold for the U.S. team at a Nation's Cup in Denmark. That was in 2023. I've always had the goal of riding on the team and wearing the team coat and to be able to go overseas with the team and bring home gold was really cool. I think that's kind of my most memorable recent moment.

Kameron Berry: Who inspires you the most?

Jacob Pope: That's a great question. You know, I love watching the sport, like, it's all I do. At night I watch videos. I go back and watch other classes. I love coming here and, if I'm not in the night class, getting to watch the night class. Most recently, I've been getting some help from Katie and Henri Prudent. And just their whole team and coaching style and Katie's background. I mean, I have a lot of respect for them and would say that she really inspires me to be a good horseman and ride well and just, I don't know. Everything about her is really exciting.

Kameron Berry: How would you describe your riding style?

Jacob Pope: I'd say soft and I like to think that usually effective. You know, I come up from a Hunter background, that's really all I did until I was 18. And when I started doing Jumpers, it was, oh, you're too Hunter-y, you're too soft. But the horses always really liked that. So I was able to get a lot out of the horses by them liking me, I think. And I've tried to carry that characteristic into my riding at a higher level while now still being soft and nice to the horses, but also being effective and able to have clear rounds or high scores in the Hunters. I have a hard time talking about my own riding, but I would like to think that that's how I ride.

Kameron Berry: What advice would you give to young upcoming riders who aspire to be professionals?

Jacob Pope: That's like one of my favorite questions because it's kind of a cheesy answer, but I think it really, it's how I have gotten to where I am now. Is to not give up and to take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to you. Like I came from a great family and had a really good start, but it was always, I wanted to go to Equitation finals, I wanted to jump Grand Prix and everyone was like “that's not gonna happen. He's a good little rider, but it's just never gonna happen.” And through Emerging Athletes Program and working student opportunities, you know, I never had a string of 10 horses as a kid. But I met a lot of great people along the way who could kind help push me up the pipeline to get great opportunities and get to go to Europe and get to do big Hunter classes that turned into some opportunities to do some Jumpers. I think if you really want to be a professional and do the high level of the sport, you just have to be in it. Take advantage of every opportunity and no matter what, if you fall off or go off course or whatever. Just keep going. Don't give up. And good things happen to good people.

Kameron Berry: What is a typical day like for you?

Jacob Pope: Crazy. Sun up to sundown. Like genuinely, I mean, this week there's a full moon, so luckily, riding to the show, I have a little bit of light to get here. But it's usually pitch black when I get to the barn in the morning. And it's usually close to dark when I leave. And I wouldn't change it for the world. But it's ring to ring all day long. And I have my own business now, so it's not just focusing on myself. I don't have just six to 10 horses that I can just ride. I have kids in the small ponies. I have kids in the Junior Hunters, kids in the 1.30m, 1.40m. And then I have goals and aspirations for myself too. So I think it's sun up to sundown, never giving up and trying to deal with the problems as they rise. And making sure that we do the best by the horses all the time.

Kameron Berry: What color would you say describes you?

Jacob Pope: Oh gosh. I used to love navy blue because I always thought that that was like the classic riding [color], I don't know. I always wore like a navy blue polo or my jacket was always navy blue. But now that I have to have everything—I'm super OCD, I want everything to match. I couldn’t do navy because the navy's too light, [or] the navy's too dark. So now most of the stuff that we have is black and white. And I don't know, you could say that I'm a very transparent person. I'm black and white.

Kameron Berry: What's your favorite food?

Jacob Pope: I'm super picky. I've gotten better. Before I went to college, everyone always used to say like, “oh, Jacob's so picky.” All I would eat was chicken tenders and pasta. I've branched out a little, but I'd say probably pasta. My mom makes a mean meat sauce.

Kameron Berry: That's a solid answer.

Jacob Pope: Oh, this is actually kind of funny. I love my mom's meat sauce, and when she comes to visit, she will bring her homemade frozen meat sauce on the plane in her carry on so that I have home-cooked meals when she gets here.

Kameron Berry: My mom likes to cook right before we leave, and then she'll shove it all in a suitcase and we'll fly out here so then we'll have food.

Jacob Pope: Really? Oh, well then we're the same. I love that.

Kameron Berry: Although I'm not really a picky eat, I prefer to try everything.

Jacob Pope: That's good.

Kameron Berry: Yeah.

Jacob Pope: I was that way once I moved out and wasn't spoiled with my mom cooking and I had to find some better things.

Kameron Berry: What’s your favorite song?

Jacob Pope: I honestly don't even listen to music that much. I don't think I can even answer that. I don't know. The only thing that comes to mind is Texas Hold ‘Em because I don't even listen—I drive to work thinking about my day, I don't even have music on! And I leave work and usually make phone calls, so I couldn't even answer that, I don't think.

Kameron Berry: If you were a horse, what would your horse name be?

Jacob Pope: I have no idea. How do you even come up with something like that? I don't know. Pasta? Since I like pasta. That could be good. Spaghetti.

What would yours be?

Kameron Berry: Hmm. Probably Trouble.

Jacob Pope: Trouble! That's awesome. I love that.

Kameron Berry: That'll probably be mine. That describes me.

Jacob Pope: That's perfect. I love it.

I am interested to hear what your goals are. What brings you to Wellington and what you've been able to do while you're here and kind of talk me through what you want to do when you're older.

Kameron Berry: Yeah. So I got the Gochman Grant last year.

Jacob Pope: That's awesome.

Kameron Berry: That took me to Pony Finals. I got 22nd out of 68 there.

Jacob Pope: Wow. That's amazing.

Kameron Berry: Yeah. Then the Gochmans called and told me that they had another opportunity out here for me to ride this Hunter named Frazier. And so I started off in the Low Children's and now I'm in the Children's, and I'll show him this weekend.

My goals for the future would be to show in the Grands Prix and make it to the Olympics. I want to do the Equitation finals. I want to do the, what is the name of it, the Jumper Championship classes. I want to be on that team. I want to travel, go around the world and see how all the different styles of riding and how I can improve. But my end goal is the Olympics.

Jacob Pope: That’s awesome. Well, it sounds like you're off to a good start. And Gochman Grant sounds like it has brought you a long way, which is really exciting.

Kameron Berry: Yeah, it has. It was a great opportunity.

Jacob Pope: It's so cool how horses can take you around the world. I think stick with it and that'll all happen. So that's awesome.

Kameron Berry: Thank you so much for your time and good luck this weekend. That was my first interview. Hope y'all had fun with it. Kameron, out guys.

Jacob Pope: That was awesome.

USHJA: And that's a wrap on the first episode of our Rider to Rider series. Thanks for joining me On Course as we explore the stories and connections that shape our sport. If you want to catch the full conversation between Kameron and Jacob, head to usha.org/ridertorider to watch the full video. And don't forget to check out the feature in the July issue of In Stride Magazine.

See you in the next round!