Working & Winning with Danielle Simpson

As seen in the June 2019 issue of Horse Deals.

Danielle, what does a normal working week look like for you in your job as an Agribusiness Manager at Rabobank in New Zealand? I work 8.30am to 5pm, although my hours can often be outside these times. My job is to manage a portfolio of agricultural clients that the bank has provided debt funding to. In this role I work very closely with my clients to help them monitor the financial progress of the business and to help run through any potential opportunities or threats to the business that may require additional funding. I spend at least three days a week in the car driving around visiting clients, although am normally always home at night. 

What commitments do you have at the stables before, and after work? The stables are at home. I am very lucky because my partner James looks after most commitments at the stables before work. When I get home I try to work two to three horses (under lights in winter) and then do feeds and rug them up. Then it’s inside for normally a late dinner and straight to bed.

How many horses do you have in work and what is their workload? Normally two in full work and a young horse that is in light work. The two in full work will be ridden five times a week and the young horse often three times. I work out a schedule so that I am working one to two horses each night after work and they all get ridden both days on the weekends.

The pre-show work of grooming and trimming takes a lot of time and effort, how do you go about making that all happen and what do you do the night before the comp to prepare? The pre-show work is done every day after I ride I guess. The horses are always trimmed nicely and always rugged and clean. The night before a comp we give them a quick wash (primarily mane and tail), hot oil bath them and the plait. This is often done after work, therefore we wash with warm water and rug up and plait in the stables. Normally I will prep the horses, James will help wash and then he will pack the truck for me while I plait.

Do you do any fitness work other than riding? I play hockey competitively and also try to do a bit of running and cycling when I can fit it in, however that is not too often.

What are some of your proudest moments in your riding career and in your job? Winning at Grand Nationals is definitely a pinnacle at the moment for me in my riding career. Although actually just doing the trip to Australia and competing internationally was an incredible experience, even despite the win. Another proudest moment would be competing in my very first PSG dressage test on a horse that I had trained from scratch and at only 7 years old, he performed so well. The other would be winning the Diana Rainey Memorial Turnout class (our NZ equivalent to the Garryowen) on my homebred, self-produced horse; it took us four years but we finally got it!

With regards to work, I don’t have any specific moments yet, but I am proud of the vast progress I have made in my career to date. From studying a double degree in Law and Commerce at university for 5 ½ years, I then went straight into banking and became a rural manager after about 12 months. I am really proud of this and am now working my butt off to earn my stripes before I look at adding other strings to my bow with regards to my career.

Do you have a strapper to help you on the morning of a competition and what jobs do they assist with? No unfortunately not, it’s just myself and James normally, although he is the equivalent help of probably 1 ½ strappers.

What do you do after a weekend comp, to prepare for the next weekend’s comp? We get home, clean out the horse truck and clean all the rugs and gear needed for the next weekend. The horses all get appropriate vitamins and minerals to help then come back strong from a big weekend and then get to go out in the paddock.

Out of your four weeks annual leave, how much of that is used for competitions? Basically all of it, during the season I take quite a few Fridays off work to travel to competitions and they all add up very quickly.

How many events would you do in a year? I couldn’t say off the top of my head, we compete almost every weekend from the start of October to the end of March. We are quite lucky because NZ is quite small and we live in the middle of the south island, we don’t have to travel huge distances. It’s about five hours north to our furthest competition in the south island and about six hours south. We go up the north island once a year for Horse of the Year, and going forward we will make the trip a second time for the National Dressage Championships.

Do you do anything in the offseason with your horses? Yes, the offseason is used for training mainly but we also do some more fun things to keep the horses fresh, such as some eventing, beach rides, and fitness work on the farm. I also use the off season to break in my young horses and start progressing them into their ridden horse routine.

How do you balance work, family, social life and competitions? I don’t sleep... haha! James is incredibly supportive and he helps me do a lot with the horses which is probably the biggest thing that makes it all work. I also have a really supportive family who always make sure that I have the right facilities for the work I’m doing, and they also do a lot of the grunt work with the young stock and broodmares which takes a lot of pressure off James and I. I don’t have much of a social life to be honest, that is the compromise I guess. I have a good group of friends within my work circle and also have a small number of really close friends outside of work and horses, that I keep in contact with often via phone, however we are lucky if we see each other once every few months.

What sacrifices do you have to make to do it all, and do it all successfully? A social life outside of work and horses is a sacrifice, although not one that bothers me too much. Another sacrifice is probably relaxation... that is not something that I really ever have as I am always going 150% and put a lot of pressure on myself to perform both in work and horses, although I don’t regret it for a second. Money would have to be a big sacrifice, it is amazing how quickly it disappears running a team of horses, but you have to be smart about it and focus on what is necessary for performance rather than what would just be nice to have. Holidays is another sacrifice as with a team in full training, it is not easy to up and leave for two weeks on holiday, it impacts the training programme and can be very hard to find someone suitable to look after the horses whilst away. In this regard I am incredibly lucky to have an amazing family who will step in when needed.

What words of advice can you give to other amateur riders who want success in all aspects of their lives? If you are serious about it and you truly want to be the best, work hard to make it happen, no excuses. You don’t have to have the flashiest horse or pony or gear, you will be amazed at what you can achieve with some bloody hard work and dedication. And lastly, surround yourself with the right people; those who are positive and really want to be part of your journey.

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