Reuters/Paris
Being an excellent rider is not enough for Jessica Michel. For what is likely to be just a brief appearance at the London Olympics dressage competition, she has also had to prove herself as a horse trader and shrewd businesswoman for the past six years. The only French representative in the discipline has, by her own admission, no chance of a podium finish. Realistically, a top 18 finish is her highest possible hope in August, when the 29-year-old rides Riwera de Hus, an 11-year-old Oldenburg mare. To simply make it to London, she has had to pull in 350,000 euros a year for the owner of the Haras de Hus, a stud farm she joined in 2006 to benefit from the best possible preparation. “Xavier Marie (the owner) is a breeding fanatic. He needed to increase the standing of his foals to sell them at a good price and in order to do that you need them to compete,” Michel told Reuters in an interview. “But he did not know a lot about that, so he asked the Cadre Noir (in Saumur, western France) if they knew someone who would be up for the job. “And my name came up with some others.” The 29-year-old Michel, who went through four years training at the prestigious Saumur Ecole Nationale d’Equitation, had, however, started her own dressage horse riding business in southern France. “I did not want to risk everything as I did not know him, so I said he could ship me some horses and I would develop them,” she explained. “It worked out pretty well, so after a few months he told me I had to move up to Nantes to work at the Haras de Hus, which I did. “I now have 25 dressage horses to develop and I employ six people. It costs 350,000 euros a year in expenses and I have to make up for it by selling the horses. “It can go pretty fast as a horse is easily sold for some 15,000 euros ... and many of them may be sold for around 80,000 euros.” Her mare, Riwera de Hus, could command a price of more than a million euros after the Olympics. In comparison, Moorlands Totilas, regarded as the top dressage horse ever, was sold for over 10mn. It may be back to square one for Michel after the Olympics. “We will probably have to sell her (Riwera) after the Games. Or maybe she will become a brood mare,” she said. Michel, however, will not be frustrated, as she is not seeking glory. “In horse riding it is the encounters that matter,” she said. “It’s about becoming a horse person.”