British Dressage is very sad to learn of the passing of Esmé Jack, who died on 29 May just two days shy of her 97th birthday.
Esmé Jack was a leading light in the world of dressage. She played a major part in introducing music to the sport, ultimately widening its appeal to a whole new audience.
The first international dressage competition for dressage set to music was at Goodwood in 1979. It was the friendship between Esme Jack and the Duchess of Richmond, which led to this innovative event, and laid the foundations for the modern sport.
Esmé was a great exponent of riding to music, which she often incorporated when training her pupils. One of her pupils, the Duchess, thought riding to music in competition would be a good idea, so between them they suggested it to the FEI to get their permission for Goodwood.
From modest beginnings, the inclusion of musical tests revolutionised the sport and became an official part of international dressage competition, culminating in iconic events like the world cup series and crowd-pulling finales at the major championships.
Eileen Esmé Henderson (always known as Esmé) was born in Richmond, Yorkshire on 1 June 1917. In 1940 she married William Alastair Jack, and albeit a short union, she kept her married name. In the Sixties, Esmé, a keen point-to point rider, moved to Sussex, buying Chantry Farm in Storrington. At this time she set up a riding school at Coldwaltham House, which ran for nearly three decades.
Coldwaltham House was one of the first riding schools to offer tuition to disabled children. As an early supporter of Riding for the Disabled, Esmé Jack was also involved with riding activities for pupils at Ingfield Manor, a school for the disabled near Billingshurst. Princess Anne visited Coldwaltham House as a teenager and later became a patron of the school.
Esmé Jack went on to become a List 1 dressage judge.
Old age didn’t stand in the way of Esmé enjoying an adventurous, rich life. On giving up riding in her eighties, as a substitute she took up gliding at the Southdowns Gliding Club and in her mid-nineties was thrilled to ride pillion on a Harley Davidson owned by her dentist!