Jay was born in South London to non-horsey parents, and his family moved to Essex when he was two years old. There he became entranced with a little chestnut pony he saw every day on his way to school. Riding lessons soon followed, with Jay giving up all his spare time to work at the stables, cleaning tack and mucking out in return for lessons.

He had a number of ponies on loan, before finally getting a pony of his own at the age of 13. Initially bought as a show jumper, the pony soon showed talent for eventing. Jay’s abilities were soon noticed and he started being asked to ride horses for other people. He wasespecially good at being able to make progress with horses that other riders had struggled with. After taking part in a Young Riders’ International show jumping competition, his then top horse was sold so Jay took some time out from horses. He completed a course in Land and Environmental studies and worked in London for a year before realising that he wanted to be a professional rider.

At that point, he landed a job with top international show jumpers Tina and Graham Fletcher, staying there for four years and gaining invaluable experience training and producing top-level competition horses. Jay rode many horses during that time who went on to international success.

Just before his 21st birthday — and armed with just one bridle and £1,000 — Jay made the decision to set up his own yard. He borrowed the money to buy a horse, which he soon sold on for a profit, enabling him to buy more horses and continue the pattern. Among the horses Jay produced and sold was Hello Sailor, who went on to Nations Cup glory with Tina Fletcher.

Jay was achieving consistent results at pre-novice and novice level, but it was getting the ride on Ellfield April Joy in 2006 that allowed him to step up to international level eventing. In their first season together, they won an intermediate section at Aston-le-Walls, finished 8th in the two-star at Ballygraffan, and were 11th at the Scottish Championships at Thirlestane. Among his string at this time were Kilfinnie II, who finished 4th at Houghton two-star and has gone on to four-star level; and French Folly, who was placed in the British Eventing young horse championships as a five- and six-year old and was one of only five British horses to be invited to compete at Le Lion d’Angers for the 7-year-old championships. Other notable placings include being 5th at his debut Bramham and 18th at his first Blenheim (where they also won the ‘Best First Timer’ and ‘Best under-25’ titles).

Jay now has had a small but talented team of horses competing at all levels of eventing. He shares a yard in Gloucestershire with Grand Prix dressage rider Spencer Wilton with superb purpose-built facilities,including international-sized indoor and outdoor arenas. Jay and Spencer have a Labrador called Babs, nine naughty chickens and a field full of young homebred horses.