Janet Christie - Hunter/ Jumper Trainer
Janet Christie has pursued her dreams as a showjumping rider and trainer for over sixty years. A hands-on horsewoman, there’s almost nothing related to the hunter/jumper world that she hasn’t tackled. She has coached her students and their mounts to compete in Medal Finals, Pony Finals, the North American Young Riders Championships, Prix de States, and Gran Prix. She has also been a judge and course designers at major horse shows across the country. In 2012 she received a lifetime achievement award from the Texas Hunter and Jumper Association.
Janet was coached and inspired by many wonderful horsemen. Many of them were the founding fathers of THJA: Charlie Zimmerman Jimmie Burr, Col. John Russell, Orley DeHoyos, Bill Robertson, and Mike McCormick, to name just a few. Her career began in Houston at Parish Stables with retired cavalry officers as teachers. She rode and showed whatever horses the stable offered her. When she was 14, her dad finally was persuaded to buy her a horse, which he got at a stockyards. My Own, this 16 hand mixed breed gelding, would become jumper champion of Texas for 10 consecutive years. It was during that time that Col. Russell told Bert DeNemethy that he should “take a look at her”. That led to a trip to Boulder Brook, in New York, where the team was training. She trained there for a short time, just long enough to become fascinated with the classical method Bert DeNemethy taught. She knew she had learned something very important, and she has worked a lifetime to perfect it. She says it is a work in progress, sharing it with her horses and students, and learning from each of them.
Besides My Own, there were many other wonderful horses: Take Ten, with whom she jumped 7’6” in the high jump at San Antonio, Compleat Angler, 6’11” puissance wall, Vixen’s Echo, Bold Replica, Fighting Irish, Higher Power, and French Twist, to name a few. She has taught clinics all over Texas, some in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, and three different years in New Zealand. Her travels have lately been to Germany for buying horses for her students, and to Canada, England and France to watch International Jumping.
When asked what her greatest achievement is, she quickly says, her children. She has four, two boys and two girls. All of them rode, growing up, showing during their school years. They have all made successes of their lives, and have, to her delight, produced 5 grandchildren. When not teaching, riding, or cooking for her family, you might find her fly fishing, watching bull riding, or studying international jumping events on tape.