‘It’s a different way of eventing here’ – meet the US-based British rider at Kentucky

We’ve long been accustomed to seeing Leslie Law as a US-based British representative at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, but this year he’s joined in the Cosequin CCI4*-S by another British rider who lives over here in Lucienne Bellissimo.

Lucienne (née Elms) has been based in the US for five years and married to Mark Bellissimo for nearly four. Mark is the CEO of Equestrian Sport Productions, the company behind a number of large scale US equestrian venues and events, including the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, and Tryon International Equestrian Centre, the venue for the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

“In the winter we’re in Wellington, then through the summer and majority of the rest of the year, we’re in South Carolina, about 20 minutes from Tryon. It’s a great location for hillwork and obviously fantastic to be near that facility because they’ve got everything you need for training for jumping and dressage and they have a four-star long there as well,” said Lucienne after her first dressage test in the CCI4*-S yesterday.

The 40-year-old rider said that “it’s a completely different way of eventing” in the US compared to Britain.

“There’s a lot more travelling, obviously – now my local show is three to four hours away and it’s normal to be on the road five to seven hours. That took a little while to adjust to.

“But I have to say in America, they invest so heavily into the facilities. You get a little bit spoilt – you’ve always got fantastic footing for your dressage and showjumping, your warm-ups. When you get what feels like a wet day here, you forget how privileged you are because in the UK you’re running on wet, deep ground all of the time.”

Lucienne also has a business called Horse Scout, which she started in 2010.

“It began as an online marketplace and I sought some European funding for that and we scaled it up in the UK and Ireland,” she explained. “Then it became a services profiling system as well, then we started Horse Scout agency as another pillar of that brand.

“My aim at that point was to be able to support the riders with sponsors, support any brands into the equestrian market with a better understanding of how that will or won’t help them meet a new set of customers. That went really well.

“When I started Horse Scout, it was to enable me to be carrying the lifestyle I am now so I’m very, very fortunate things have accelerated and I’ve sort of started riding again seriously.”

Lucienne has nine horses in work, ranging from four-year-olds to a 13-year-old.

“The plan is to produce all of them hopefully through to either team level or five-star and sell one or two good ones a year,” said Lucienne, who currently rides for Britain but says she thinks it’s likely she will switch to compete for the US in future.

“I’d love to try and get on a team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics for the US – that would be a dream and if it doesn’t happen, we tried,” she said.

Lucienne Bellissimo: her Kentucky rides

Lucienne has two horses in the CCI4*-S at Kentucky this week, both 12 years old and running under the ownership of Horse Scout Eventing. She did her dressage yesterday morning on Tremanton, scoring 35.5. This mare is British-bred by Preci-Spark. She is by Grafenstolz out of the Hand In Glove mare Trevia.

“I’ve had her about four and a half years. The rider before me, Hannah Bate, is a good friend in the UK and she produced her to two-star,” said Lucienne, who was pleased with the mare’s initial trot work yesterday and said she then became a little tight in the canter.

“Overall that’s more atmosphere than she’s ever had, so I was actually really pleased that she’s been in that stadium and can hopefully return here next year for the next level up.”

Today Lucienne will start her campaign on Dyri, who she bought from Dirk Schrade in Germany. He is 12 years old, by Diarado, out of mare by the thoroughbred King Milford.

“He’s upgraded really quickly – he didn’t start evening until he was nearly nine and he’s been very consistent,” she said. “He’s done one four-star long, at Morven Park, and jumped a double clear for fourth. So of the two of them, I’m probably a little more excited about him and his results here. With the mare, I just need to keep her confidence at this time.”

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