Island Life June July 2015 June July 2015 | Page 23

INTERVIEW

N

ow enjoying a whole new way of life as a
fisherman and farm shop owner, John Day
is perhaps better known as the Island’s
most successful professional showjumper. We
caught up with him to talk about his stellar riding
career and find out what prompted this latest
enterprise at Delysia Farm.
You could say that John Day was
born to ride. Certainly, he’d taken to
the saddle by the tender age of four,
went from Pony Club to Riding Club,
and was riding competitively at 11
years old.
It helped that he grew up on the
family’s arable, beef and dairy farm,
Godshill Park, which was home to the
All Island Jumping Centre.
Sponsored by his late father Ron Day,
John was trained to a high standard
by Newbury-based showjumper Andy
Austin, now a TV commentator for the
BBC and Sky Sport.
There was never any doubt in his
mind that this was what he wanted
to do professionally - and over a 20year career from the age of 28, John
certainly brought home the prizes.
In fact there are four heavy suitcases
now sitting on top of his wardrobes,
all full to groaning - and that’s just
several decades worth of winner

rosettes. The rest of the house is full
of trophies.
“I’ve won so many classes that I’ve
lost count,” says John. “I certainly
had a good innings in the sport, and
enjoyed every minute of it”.
Highlights are too many to mention,
but he’s particularly proud of the
phenomenal results he had riding a
Molton Brown-sponsored horse worth
£60,000; being sponsored by the feed
merchant Triple Crown, and riding for
the New Forest-based international
instructor Kim Clark.
At the height of his career, John was
jumping three horses and had four in
the stable yard, so that he could rotate
them for travelling to competitions.
“Our biggest cost was the ferry fares
for the 10-metre lorry we used to take
all over the place - that was a fortune.”
But the extensive travelling - which
on one memorable long weekend
saw him win six major classes at three

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