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James Fairclough II grew up idolizing female American show jumpers.
“When I was growing up, it was all girl power all the time. At least that’s how it seemed,” he said. “Leslie, Laura, Lauren, Margie—there were just ferocious women. I pored over every page. I wanted to be them so badly.”
Those riders defined the sport of show jumping. They were brave, gritty, and visible, competing in packed stadiums on difficult tracks with horses the public knew by name. For Fairclough, they represented something uniquely American. “The United States has always produced the best female riders in the world,” he said. “We’ve always done that.”
So when Fairclough looks at the modern show jumping landscape, one question keeps resurfacing: where did that pipeline go?
A Sport Still Powered by Girls
On paper, the American system hasn’t changed as much as it might appear. The hunter/jumper pipeline remains overwhelmingly female, particularly at the junior level. “Our sport is still so incredibly female under the age of 18 in this country,” Fairclough said.
Walk any junior ring, equitation final, or medal class, and the picture is clear: young women dominate participation. They train relentlessly, and they dream big. But Fairclough argues that something breaks as those riders move up.
“Somehow, when owners go and buy horses for other countries, they’re not picking from what the vast majority of our riders under 18 are,” he said.
The Sponsorship Disconnect
“If you can sponsor someone and you’re going to be going to Dublin, you’re going to be going to Aachen, you can’t blame them,” he said. “They want to be in that VIP tent.”
The problem, he argues, is structural. The FEI system rewards riders who already have access to Nations Cups, international entries, and global rankings. For sponsors chasing prestige and visibility, backing an international rider often offers a faster return.
American riders face steep barriers to entry. Without global rankings or international starts, they are often locked out of the very stages sponsors want access to. “It’s extremely difficult to get into these shows,” Fairclough said. “And it’s very tough to sit back and watch American riders get passed up.”
When the System Reshapes Opportunity
Fairclough believes this dynamic has gendered consequences—even if unintentionally.
Historically, American women rose through a domestic system where national shows mattered and selectors were present. Riders didn’t need a string of FEI horses to be noticed. One exceptional partnership could change everything. “Back then, if you had that horse of a lifetime, you had a shot,” Fairclough said.
Today, Fairclough says, riders have to “run around like crazy” just to be eligible—chasing points and access before talent can even enter the conversation. For riders who don’t have immediate access to elite horses or deep-pocketed backers, many of whom are women, the climb becomes steeper, longer, and more uncertain.
And it’s about visibility as much as access.
He believes that a generation ago, many owners with money and passion supported American women riders who went on to become the best in the world. That support helped create icons—riders whose careers young girls could imagine themselves following. Today, Fairclough fears that aspirational line has blurred.
When sponsorship and visibility skew toward international riders, young American women lose role models who came up through the same system they are navigating. If young riders no longer see a realistic path forward—if success appears to require endless money, nonstop travel, and international affiliation—the sport risks narrowing its future.
If people stop believing they can make it in this sport, participation will eventually fade. “If I can feel it,” he said, “you bet the kids feel it.”
Rebuilding the Bridge
Fairclough does not suggest that gender equity can be solved by policy alone. But he believes the sport must confront how its structures shape opportunity—often in ways that contradict its own pipeline. “We have the riders,” he said. “We’ve always had the riders.”
What’s missing, in his view, is a system that still gives those riders a real shot—one that allows talent, partnership, and perseverance to matter as much as access and optics. Because the ferocious girls are still here.
The question is whether the sport is still willing to meet them halfway.
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