Who I am?

Hi, I’m Abi Leadbetter, I’m a 21 year old amateur showjumper from County Durham. I’ve competed in British Showjumping since I was 10 years old, competing multiple ponies over my junior career having a lot of success including qualifying for the pony Newcomer Final at HOYs back in 2019 on my home produced 7 year old Sean II.

I currently compete 3 horses in British Showjumping: Hearts Cruise (Zi), PJS Cruise (PJ) and Rarusa H (Raye).
Zi is my main horse, she’s a 15.1hh, 10 year old warmblood who’s incredibly talented but very quirky. We’ve won multiple championships together in the 5 years I’ve owned her including the Winter Bronze League 3 years in a row (2023, 2024 & 2025) also the 1.10m National Amateur and Amateur Accumulator Championship 2 years in a row (2023 & 2024). On top of them we’ve taken the British Novice title back in 2021 and competed in the Bronze League Final at The Horse of the Year Show back in 2023 placing 6th with an unfortunate pole. Zi wears the Eco Rider Freedom Grackle paired with the Shaped headpiece and the Nouveau Browband.

PJS Cruise is my newest addition to the team. He’s a 9 year old Irish gelding who I’ve owned since May 2025. He’s a very talented boy with huge amounts of scope and a very kind nature. Very excited to see what the future holds for us and what we can achieve together. Our main aims this year is to qualify the Bronze League Semi Finals to then hopefully go on to qualify HOYs. Also the Amateur Finals at Aintree and potentially the Royal International next year. We’ll also aim to jump some Working Hunter qualifiers. PJ showjumps in the Eco Rider Freedom headpiece, Eco Luxe noseband and Juliette Browband. His working hunter bridle is the Galway Bridle.

Raye is my youngest horse, she’s a 4 year old Dutch Warmblood with incredible breeding and so much natural ability. I bought her as a 3 year old, she was feral and unhandled. I’ve taken my time to form a bond with her, doing lots of long reining and join up work so by the time it came to me backing her she was very relaxed and the perfect horse to break in. She’s been a dream from the very first day I sat on her, she rides so well on the flat with beautiful natural paces and perfect changes. Her ability and natural technique over a fence is simply wonderful and I’m super excited for our future together. She’s already qualified and jumped a 4 year old Grand Prix at just her second show. My aims this year are to jump at the Royal Highland Show and Arena UK’s festival in the 4 year old classes. Next year Raye will jump in the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses qualifiers at Hickstead. Raye wears the Ecorider Claddagh Bridle, Nouveau browband and the ultra comfort bib martingale.