Julie Davey celebrated her 50th birthday on board her trusty horse, LT Holst Freda, at the Longines Jumping World Cup Final in Texas. Photo / Shannon Brinkman, FEI
Living with MS, Kiwi showjumper Julie Davey and her loyal grey mare became one of the standout stories at the World Cup Final in Texas
If multiple sclerosis were to stop Julie Davey from riding tomorrow, she’d accept it, knowing she had stood tall among the world’s top showjumpers – aboard her one-in-a-million horse, Freda.
The Hawke’s Bay horsewoman marked her 50th birthday competing at the FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Fort Worth, Texas – the event she’d dreamed of contesting for 30 years.
What makes last month’s performance even more remarkable is that for the past two decades, Davey has lived with MS – a condition where the body’s immune system attacks the protective covering of nerves.
“For 20 years, I’ve had the same attitude. If I can’t ride, but I’m healthy enough to walk and garden, then that would be enough,” she says.
“But I love to ride and I will do it until I can’t ride properly anymore.”
She rode in style at the World Cup Final, finishing 19th in the testing elimination competition with her long-time jumping partner, LT Holst Freda. The 12-year-old grey mare, who’s been with Davey since she was two, emerged as one of the most talked-about horses at the prestigious international event.
Now the pair are in the Netherlands, taking a much-needed rest before their next monumental challenge – the world equestrian championships in Aachen, Germany, in August.
Davey has been riding since she was 4, introduced to horses by her father, Russell, who worked as a shepherd. Her mum, Jenny, was wary of horses, but would go to every show Davey competed at and pitch in.
Her parents died three years ago, within six months of each other. An inheritance meant Davey could make this trip overseas.
“Without that, this wouldn’t have been possible,” she says.
“They would have given anything to come and watch us – they loved watching the World Cup Finals. They were at the very beginning of my journey, and now they’re at the tail-end too.”
Davey and her husband, Andrew Ormond, live on a lifestyle block in Clive. For the past four years, they’ve focused on getting Davey and Freda to compete in the Northern Hemisphere.
“We’re just normal people. My husband is a farrier. Everything we have has gone into this trip,” she says.
Davey wanted to give Freda the chance to compete against the world’s best jumpers – confident the horse could match them.
They’ve been together since Davey and Ormond bought the 2-year-old from successful Taupō horse breeder Ewen Mackintosh.
Freda’s mother, LT Holst Andrea, has also been a champion showjumper with rider Brooke Edgecombe.
“Freda is really like our pet. We know her so well – so lovely to handle, to ride and just to have around,” Davey says.
“She’s not a ‘marey’ mare. You’d think she was a gelding, which is quite rare. She can be a bit naughty in the warm-up, a little bit horse shy. The fresher she is, the better she jumps but the worse she is in the warm-up. That doesn’t bother me now.”
At the age of 7, Freda showed real potential to jump fences, but Davey had always believed in her.
“You have to have a bit of faith in your horse all the way through. Most people would sell a horse as a 6-year-old – they wouldn’t risk it not being any good,” she says.
“But every now and then you get a one-in-a-million horse. And I know I won’t have another Freda in my lifetime.”
In 2025, Davey and Freda claimed the national showjumping double – the Olympic Cup as Showjumper of the Year, and the New Zealand league of the World Cup Series.
The latter earned them a start in last year’s Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final, but they turned it down because of the hefty cost. Luke Dee and Gangster WW took their place and finished 32nd.
Davey wasn’t going to contest this year’s New Zealand league in January, as it clashed with Freda’s flight to Europe. But when the event was brought forward, the pair were able to successfully defend their title.
After 30 years of watching the World Cup final from afar and dreaming of riding there one day, Davey decided to go to Fort Worth.
“It was always my goal to do a big trip overseas with Freda” Davey says.
“I felt her talent was wasted if we didn’t try to see how good she was. But we knew there was a risk she might not come home.”
Bringing Freda back to New Zealand is logistically complicated and costly. While it’s not Davey’s plan to sell her horse, it may ultimately come down to necessity.
She was approached by potential buyers at the World Cup Final – after commentators called the mare “phenomenal” and “the talk of the show”.
The multi-day championship has three different competitions that test speed, precision and consistency.
“Every day is a huge day, and it’s stressful trying to stay in the competition,” Davey says.
After the first day, Davey and Freda sat in 30th. On the second – Davey’s 50th birthday – the pair had a clear round, with just two time faults, to finish 10th and move on to the final day.
Davey was worried Freda wouldn’t have the energy for the last stage, but the mare performed admirably to end the competition 19th in the world.
Cheering from the stands were Davey’s coach and Australian Olympian Jeff McVean, and Freda’s breeder Mackintosh. While Davey was thrilled with her result, she was disappointed there was no time to celebrate with her supporters immediately afterwards.
“We couldn’t sit down in the stables and have a quiet beer to reflect on it, because they wanted all the gear packed up within an hour of the competition finishing. And the horses were on a European plane flight at eight the next morning,” she says.
“But to be part of it was unreal. If something happened tomorrow with my MS and I couldn’t ride again, that [event] would be the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Davey and Freda are now staying with fellow Kiwi rider Miranda Harrington at her stables in Ospel, in the Netherlands, easing back into training before building up to the world champs.
Davey has been careful to give both her horse and her body time to recover.
Last September, Davey switched to a new MS medication, which has been life-changing.
“I’d been on the same drug for 20 years and I used to feel nauseous every day, but I thought that was normal. It was a good decision to change – I feel better than ever,” she says.
Her routine has largely been shaped through trial and error. She tried to find another New Zealand high-performance athlete with MS she could ask for advice on fitness and nutrition.
“There wasn’t another person,” she says.
“Stress can make MS worse, and trying to be a top sportsperson is probably the worst thing to do,” she says. “People have no idea how tough it is trying to manage it. It’s been a hard road.”
But one she’d travel again in Freda’s saddle.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.