A chat with Strelley based showjumper and lion keeper Reece Oliver uncovered his opinions on showjumping, his animals (both exotic and equine) and his ambitions linking to both sports and animal conservation.

Reece’s name is one that has cropped up on numerous occasions over the last few months, and not without some forms of controversy… but throughout this he has not been one to shy away from the camera! The showjumper has made numerous TV appearances so far this year, whether it be his feature on Ross Kemp’s ITV documentary “Britain’s Tiger Kings” or through his campaign to become a Councillor for Nuthall and Kimberley. But alongside all of this it is his extensive international showjumping career, which has seen him travel Europe and the world, that he discussed with the Nottingham Sport.

“I’ve recently come back from a show in Belgium, I competed last Autumn in Spain… I did 3 or 4 months at a place near Valencia. I do a lot of competing abroad up to a fairly good level!” Explained Reece whilst also giving a brief insight into day-to-day life on his busy yard “We get up between 6:30 and 7:00 every morning. We do perimeter checks, feed all the animals, clean all the animals out, then about 9:30 I ride 3 or 4 horses and then maybe 1 or 2 in the afternoon… we lay food and we do enrichment with the animals. We might hide feed in boxes, put food on top of posts, things like that.”

Oliver has ridden since the age of 11 and discussed what made him want to break into equestrianism saying, “I used to play rugby, and then the rugby team I was playing for stopped and my mum said, ‘Do you want to come to the stables with me?’ And it started there… when you get hooked, because the wins are so addictive, you just keep doing it.

“I had a good horse called Veroniek… that was my first best horse! I competed that when I was 17-18. She took me from jumping smaller stuff to Grand Prix and we competed all over Europe, jumping up to 1metre 50. She was a great horse, sadly she passed away 2 years ago.”

Although Reece is already well established in the showjumping industry, with his career spanning over a decade, he admits it is becoming more and more challenging to compete at the top level “It’s become a very elite sport, showjumping. It’s a very affluent sport. There’s the elite rich who are involved in the sport like Bill Gates’ daughter, Abramovich’s, Bruce Springsteen’s daughter… they’re all very high level and since like Qatar and Saudi have started getting involved in the sport the prices of horses have gone drastically through the roof.

“It’s very different to other sports, you can be the best rider in the world, but you need a good horse… but then a good horse makes a good rider so it’s a bit of a catch 22!”

“It’s become a very elite sport, showjumping.”

The 30-year-old continued to talk about how he looks to improve in the sport “You have to be realistic in your goals.” He reveals… “You should always keep trying and keep practicing, it can be very demoralising… there are more lows than highs, but the highs are really high! You need to take the positives over the negatives because if you go on the negatives, you’ll end up depressed about it.

“People who are in good form in the sport are winning because they are confident, it’s all to do with your mindset… if your head’s not in the right place you are not going to get the results that you set out to get.

“I just want to produce nice young horses, jump up to 3-star grand prix levels and go to Spain, go to the nice shows and get placed in those ranking classes.”

“It’s all to do with your mindset… if your head’s not in the right place you are not going to get the results that you set out to get.”

The Strelley Lion Keeper also spoke about the people who have influenced his career in equestrianism “I’ve had a few good people in my career. I learnt at a guy called Andrew Saywell, he’s someone who’s based in Nottingham… he is a really good producer of horses he’s rode some fantastic horses. He’s somebody who is very talented and he kind of gave me more motivation, I learned a lot from him.

“And then I went to Tony Newbury’s who’s based down south, and my riding career changed there because when I went there it kind of changed my perspective, my training techniques, you learn more. I was a bit of a Jack the lad when I was a kid, so I think when I moved there, I grew up.

“After that I went to Michael Whitaker, he’s based in Nottingham. I went there and we have a horse together now and that was kind of like the next stage again. Michael is a great rider, and his mentality… he’s just so calm thinking, you can learn a lot from even just watching him, he’s probably someone who’s inspired me the most to try and get to do it as well. I think those 3 people have been very influential in my riding career.”

Over the past year equestrians have had to adapt to a lot of new rules and regulations, not just with the Covid-19 outbreak but also with a dangerous spread of Equine Herpes causing more quarantine and restrictions. “Yeah, it (Covid) hasn’t really affected me so much in my life, I think showjumping has still carried on a little bit outside of Europe. I sent a couple of horses to Spain in the winter and there was a deadly virus which was killing horses called EHV (Equine Herpes Virus).” Explained Oliver “I mean that was really like killing loads of horses. There was a show just down the road and a show I go to as well in Valencia and 7 or 8 horses died!

“It’s a neurological disease which takes over the mind, they lose balance and when they fall to the floor, they can’t get back up so it’s a horrible disease… that halted shows again and they’ve just started opening.”

Outside of showjumping Reece keeps himself busy with not only his passion for exotic animals and  his political venture, but also his family business. “I have a company that I run with my family called Equibox. We manufacture show jumps. I do jumps for all over, some world cup shows, some of the biggest horse jumping shows in the world we’re very niche and different you know we don’t just build the standard what you normally see. We make them from aluminium, fibreglass it’s really bespoke.”

Reece’s rescued lions Rocky and Rora and his puma Rogue have gained him a lot of attention recently featuring on ITVs “Britain’s Tiger Kings” with Ross Kemp and he will soon appear on a documentary with Stacey Dooley, “Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over”. This attention, however, has not come without controversy with some people in the local community and further afield unhappy with Reece’s involvement in exotic animals. Reece admitted “I can understand why they’re scared… some people are scared that these are going to escape and attack their children. I completely understand that but I’ve offered people to come here and look so I can show them that the animal welfare and the security is top dollar, it’s top notch.

“But there’s a high-speed train coming through the village so why not help try and stop that?” Questioned Oliver.

“There’s people who live the other end of the village… I would say the chances are higher of them getting hit by a train than getting eaten by animals. But I completely understand their concerns.”

“The security is top dollar, it’s top notch.”

Amidst rising uproar from the locals since the arrival of the big cats, Reece is still adamant that keeping these animals in the Nottinghamshire village is safe. “We have a really high security situation here.” He explained “Everything’s electrified as you can see. All of the gates have alarms on. All the doors have text message facilities… we’re really on top of things.”

“The difference with zoos is we don’t have that many animals so we can focus on the animals that we have, and if we can make the welfare better than zoos we will, and we do.”

Admittedly, having grown up around animals Reece would not know what to do without them in his life now “I’d become a pilot or something.” He joked “I don’t know it’s hard to say isn’t it… it’s a completely different life, I’d have to restart my life and see where it went.” But Reece’s future definitely lies in the hands (or paws and hooves) of his animals as he states “I’m going to carry on being a showjumper… I’m going to carry on trying to win competitions and I’m going to carry on providing for these animals and giving them the best care possible and carry on everything that I’m doing in the right direction.”

*Article provided by Matthew Benton-Smith (Sports Correspondent).

*Main image @matthewbsjourno Reece Oliver in action with horses and at home with lions.