After a successful junior career, Los Angeles native Lucy Davis made a splash on the international show jumping scene with Old Oak Farm’s Barron (For Pleasure—Vita Van’t Riethof, Nabab De Reve) as a young adult.

Together, the pair competed in the 2014 and 2015 FEI World Cup Show Jumping Finals and were on the U.S. team at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (France) and the 2016 Olympic Games (Brazil), earning team bronze and team silver, respectively. The gelding also gave Davis plenty of experience at the five-star level and on Nations Cup teams across the world.

Barron retired in early 2020, and Davis jumped her last international grand prix in March of that year aboard another horse, Tucada Della Caccia, before taking a break from top sport.

At the end of 2023, Davis gathered support from a group of owners under the Old Oak Group name, who purchased Ben 431, a 13-year-old Westphalian gelding (Sylvain—Quipolly, Quincy Jones).

“Ben” had competed at the FEI European Show Jumping Championships (Italy) in 2023 and the 2022 FEI World Cup Final (Germany) with German rider Gerrit Nieberg. With plenty of five-star experience, he was the perfect horse to get Davis, now 31, back to the top level.

After a successful Florida winter season this year, the pair headed to Europe to work with Laura Kraut and Nick Skelton, and they were chosen to compete on the U.S. team in the FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show, held Aug. 16 in Dublin, Ireland.

Alongside teammates Spencer Smith, Aaron Vale and McLain Ward, Davis and Ben helped the team to victory in the prestigious class, hoisting the Aga Khan Cup at the awards ceremony. It was Davis’ first time back in Dublin since she competed there in 2015 with Barron.

We caught up with Davis to learn more about her new horse, her emergence back on the international scene and how Kraut has been inspiring her return.

Congratulations on a great showing in Dublin. What did it feel like to be back riding on a team?

I said to [U.S. team chef d’equipe] Robert Ridland, in my opinion, the Dublin Horse Show—and the Aga Khan in particular—is the best in our sport. There’s so much tradition around it, and everyone in Ireland is paying attention. It feels like everyone’s there, with the packed crowd. It’s just a super exciting scene and stage to be back on, and to come out with a win, beating Ireland by very close margins at the end, was just such a thrill. I was grateful to just be in it—and of course didn’t want to let the likes of Spencer, Aaron and, of course, McLain down—so I’m happy we could contribute.

McLain is sort of the ultimate American hero. I think he has saved and/or won Nations Cups for the U.S. and for teams I’ve been on more often than not. We always seem to put him in that position, and he delivers. It was definitely a team effort, but he once again sealed the deal.

It’s motivating because you want to be your best for him, and you know he will always bring it. It makes you up your own game. It gives me confidence knowing he has faith in me to put in a clear round.

[My horse] was fantastic. We’re a new partnership, and although we’ve both jumped at that level before, it’s only our second five-star show together, so to win a Nations Cup was very exciting. I’m hoping we can move up the ranking and get back in there a bit more.

How did you get the ride on Ben? 

When I stopped riding, I sold or retired all the horses I had around COVID time. I really needed to rebuild. I realized about two-and-a-half years ago that I did not like not riding, and that wasn’t going to work for me. I had to figure out a way to support it at the top level.

I spent about a year raising capital to the point where I was able to purchase a horse of that caliber. I just so lucked out that, after raising the money and looking for a horse who could put me back in it, the Nieberg family out of Germany were thinking about selling. It was one of those “stars aligned” moments. I was fortunate to be able to get to work with Laura Kraut and her partner Nick Skelton, which further accelerated my ability to get back in it quickly, with their tutelage and support. 

It’s been something. That a year ago [I was] sitting around watching all these shows every weekend, to now being in it and winning a Nations Cup, is truly a dream. I’m definitely much more grateful, having gone through building back up from the bottom—and extremely grateful to the owners who put their support in me to get to this stage again.

What stood out to you about Ben? Why did you think he’d be the one to bring you back to the top level?

I spent a lot of time in Germany training with Markus Beerbaum and Meredith [Michaels-Beerbaum]. I’d known the horse for a long time with the Niebergs, and I’d always liked him. He won the Grand Prix of Aachen [Germany] when he was 10. He just has so much jump and ability. I think he’s a winner. He’s very quick as well as scopey. I didn’t want just a horse who could get in and jump it. I thought his ride and ability to be quick and forward if I get in a jump-off was definitely attractive. He’s a bloody type that I thought would suit me.

He was developed incredibly well in the Niebergs’ system, but it’s always a risk to take a horse that’s jumped at that level and put him in a new place. 

He’s so intelligent, and he’s very sensitive. I think the more love we’re able to give him, the more you see his personality come out, and he’s accepted it wholeheartedly. It’s been awesome to see. My groom Charlotte Oakes spoils him, and he’s definitely taken to Nick and Laura’s program really well. We’re lucky he has so much ability and intelligence. 

You did your last FEI competition in March 2020. Besides COVID, what prompted your break?

I got to do a lot of amazing things young with a superb horse and the support of my family. As I emerged from the 2016 Olympics and tried to find my place in the business aspect of the sport, I trained at Old Salem [Farm in New York] for over a year, I developed some young horses that I bought and sold—I kind of tried a lot of things to see how people navigate it. I tried different ways to sustain competing and riding, and it didn’t feel like anything was quite clicking. 

I also had a startup called PonyApp [which closed during the pandemic] and later started Prixview which is working on the sports data side of the sport and building records on these horses. I’m still working on that. We have a scouting product where we’ve been able to create an algorithm sort of modeled after a [Oakland Athletics executive] Billy Beane-type platform that a lot of other sports use to identify young talents. We’ve been using that successfully to find new leads on horses that are in other national federations who have very consistent results [and] who I might not know of around the shows. That’s been exciting, to have been working on that for a couple of years, and now that I’m riding again to be able to use that in practice. 

In December 2022 I decided I needed to figure out my way back into the sport. I rode odd horses for people here and there. I came home to L.A. for a bit and was catch-riding for friends in New York so I could get in the saddle again until I was finally able get a horse and get going.

I never lost the itch to ride and compete. I called Laura Kraut two summers ago and asked her advice on how to build a business and move forward. I think she’s been able to manage not only riding at the top level, but she has a family, fantastic students and is just an all-around happy and wonderful person. I’ve always idolized her for all of the above.

I never truly left the horse world but took a pause from the riding component to figure out how to sustain it in a way that I would feel would be long term. It was also right around COVID, so there was a natural break. It took me time to build it back up. Now I really feel like I’m back where I belong, in the ring and working day-to-day, hands-on with the horses. I feel really lucky and so much more appreciative having gone through that journey of figuring it out.

Tell me about how Laura and Nick have changed your program and riding?

I’d ridden on teams with Laura for many years. She’s always been a mentor and an idol. It worked out that she and Nick could work with me in this next phase.

We definitely see eye to eye on the fact the horses are very much first. Laura’s probably the best horsewoman I’ve ever met and truly takes the time and loves and adores her horses. Developing them in a consistent system with that attention to detail has been motivating. 

I got very lucky to be able to work for seven years with Markus Beerbaum, who gave me an unbelievable foundation largely rooted in the more German system. Being able to couple that with Nick and Laura’s system, which they’ve adapted over the years as the sport has grown, has been really interesting. [It’s] really fun to learn and be a student again. 

You see a lot of older riders that did a lot of big things in their youth, but you look at Nick Skelton, who won the Olympic individual gold in his late 50s and winning just as much at the end of the his career than at the beginning, and I think it’s really a testament to him as a horse person and being able to find the right types of horses for the sport these days and know exactly how to educate them in a way that’s sustainable and thoughtful. I admire not only how they can ride but their program. Whether it’s getting a new one right away, like I did with Ben, or developing them from age 5, they really know what they’re doing, so I’m trying to soak it all up.

What’s next for you this year?

We’ve been based at Nick and Laura’s facility in the Netherlands since Florida, and I’m going to come back to California and show on the West Coast, which will be really exciting.

With this horse, he’s already taken me to places that I had only hoped and dreamed to go back to, so right now we’re just focused on continuing to perform at that level and getting to as many bigger shows as we can and get back up the rankings and onto a U.S. team.

Personally, [the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games] is a massive goal. It’s my hometown, and I think we’ve got to give it a go. Coming back to the West Coast, I’m hoping we can build our way up to that in four years.

I’ve got another young one I’m working with and hoping to find some good ones for the future now that [Ben’s] been able to bring me back into the big ring.

I would love to focus on finding and developing young talents in a system with Nick and Laura and gearing them towards the top sport or other top programs. I think that’s more my strength. That’s something you’ll never get bored of because the horses are always keeping you interested and humble.