Mounted on her dark bay showjumper, Lily Freeman-Attwood, 23, looks every bit the accomplished equestrienne she is.
An international showjumper who has clocked up wins everywhere from the Royal Windsor Horse show to Fontainebleau in France, her bond with her home-bred horses is a joy to witness.
Although she’s now predominantly based in Belgium, Lily is hosting HELLO! for an exclusive shoot at her home on the Waddesdon Estate in Buckinghamshire, the Rothschild family seat since the 19th century.
She’s joined by two of her string: 11-year-old showjumper Johnnie Walker and 15-year-old Leon, the horse that carried Lily to her first five-star win (the highest level of international showjumping) in 2023. Lily explains fondly that he’s "one of the horses who really changed my career".
This weekend will see Lily and Johnnie Walker in action at the Royal Hospital Chelsea as the Longines Global Champions Tour returns to London. Afterwards, Lily flies to Corfu for a holiday on the family’s 30-acre estate. "I’m going the day London finishes," she smiles.
An affinity with horses is in the blood; Lily’s late grandmother, Lady Serena Rothschild, was famed for her success with the racehorses she bred at the Waddesdon Stud on the estate, which was established by James de Rothschild in 1924. They included Nathaniel, a horse Lady Serena named after her son, which won almost £1.6 million in prize money.
It is Lady Serena whom Lily has to thank for sparking her passion for riding. "My earliest memories are at my grandmother’s house in Wiltshire. She always had a pony, and [Lily’s first ride] was a little fat brown-and-white Shetland."
Lily grew up in North Wales with her older sister, Ivy, 26, a film producer who lives in London, but sadly, she has few memories of her grandmother’s racing prowess. "I remember going to two races, but I was very young when she did it week in, week out. I wish I’d been a bit older so I could remember more."
Keeping it in the family
Lady Serena’s legacy continues, however, in the form of the partnership Lily has with her mother, Emmy, who is the sister of Nathaniel, Lord Rothschild.
"Luckily, we have the stud now for the showjumpers," she says of the operation she and Emmy run, where they breed horses on which Lily will eventually compete. Of her mother, she adds: "She loves it. She’s out there every day with the young ones."
Emmy has championed Lily since the early days, when she started out three-day eventing alongside her sister. She found showjumping "much more exhilarating," however, and has been competing internationally since she was 13.
At 16, Lily was on the brink of doing her A-levels, but showjumping won out. At 17, she moved to France to work for a British rider, Guy Williams, which is when she "started doing the international shows week in, week out".
A year later, she moved back to Waddesdon, competing professionally until she joined the prestigious Global Longines tour in 2022.
Showjumping is quickly establishing itself as one of the most exciting sports around. While the horses sell for millions of pounds, the riders, such as Bruce Springsteen’s daughter Jessica, hail from celebrity families and the upper echelons of society. The prize money is a fortune: the total Global Longines Tour pot is worth more than £30 million.
The sport made the headlines in July when the tech heiress and showjumper Eve Jobs married British showjumping scion Harry Charles (whose father, Peter, is a gold medal Olympic showjumper) in a lavish £5 million Cotswolds ceremony.
"The whole showjumping community is very close-knit," Lily says of life on the circuit. "We’re all friends, we all see each other so much, it’s really nice."
From Mexico to Shanghai, to Cannes, St Tropez, Paris and Monaco: just like a Formula One driver, a showjumper’s life is truly international and non-stop.
"The biggest trip I ever did was to Miami and Mexico, which are always back-to-back," Lily says. "The horses flew from Belgium to Miami, and when the competition finished, they went to Mexico.
"That week, I was competing with different horses in France, so I went to Miami, France, Mexico, France and then back. I was a bit crazy to do that!"
And the most glamorous location? "Monaco," she says. "The warm-up area is where the pit lane is, and you jump on the track. You have F1 drivers coming to watch, famous tennis players, the royal family of Monaco. It’s really special."
Making a new home
In April 2023, Lily moved to Belgium. "Since Brexit, it’s made it very expensive and time-consuming to travel to Europe, and that’s where I compete, mostly."
It’s also where she met her showjumper boyfriend, Constant van Paesschen, 31, whose father, Stanny, is Lily’s trainer.
Away from the ring, they’ll go out for dinner, or Lily will cook or bake – "that’s how I switch off" – but both are familiar with the intense schedule that their careers demand. "He’s in Slovakia at the moment, but we try to do similar shows."
The career of a showjumper sounds like a rollercoaster; even with a clutch of top wins under her belt and nine horses in her string, Lily is looking to move away from what she calls "a bit of a rough patch" over the past couple of years.
"Because my horses are older, they’re a bit more fragile, so that’s something you have to overcome," she says.
"They’re horses at the end of the day, not machines. Sometimes, when they’re all off and injured, I don’t want to carry on, but I have to think about all the young ones [horses] I have coming up.
"You can be the best rider in the world, but if you don’t have a horse, you can’t make it. That’s why I have to produce [breed and train], because we just cannot afford to buy a top horse. For the top of the sport, you’re talking between £1 million and £6 million."
This summer, she has enjoyed being back in England, attending competitions at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, and will return to Belgium in September. "It’s nice to be at home and with Mum. I’ve been doing a little more on the English circuit."
As for the future, her greatest hope is the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 – but she’ll need to find a horse to take her there. "I’m going to try to be in the right place at the right time. A lot of luck is needed in this sport."
PHOTOGRAPHER: STEWART BRYDEN
STYLIST: KAREN MUNNIS
HAIR & MAKE-UP: LUCIE PEMBERTON using by Sam McKnight
Makeup: NARS
