About Julie

Julie Watchorn started riding at the age of six in hunter/jumpers and English equitation with professional Quarter Horse trainers, Lisa and Tim Stanton. She moved to England in 1999, and bought Quintesse in Germany as a jumper. The pair continued to compete in jumping competitions but also began taking lessons from Rosemary Lord who persuaded Julie to try Dressage.

Upon her return to Canada, Julie began taking dressage lessons with Gillian Sutherland and regularly attending clinics with FEI Junior/Young Riders Team coach, Albrecht Heidemann. Over the next few years, Julie had the opportunity to compete with several horses at the FEI Junior/Young Riders level, including: Ravel, Picasso, Don Campione, Darius and Karolos .

Julie and Quintesse rapidly progressed from Basic 4 through the FEI Junior/Young Riders levels. During that time, Julie competed for Canada in the FEI Coupe Des Ameriques with Darius, owned by Karen Soupcoff, winning the bronze medal with teammate Rebecca Elming. In 2003, Julie and Quintesse campaigned successfully in the FEI Junior division throughout the summer, before making their debut in Florida the following winter where they made a clean sweep of all three FEI Young Riders classes at the Zada Enterprises CDI/Y.

The pair went on to compete at the North American Young Riders Championships in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, Julie and Quintesse placed 4th individually and were part of the Canadian Silver Medal team with Veronique Lavalle, Alexandra Hosein, and Leah Wilson. In 2005, they placed 6th individually. That same year, she was invited to take part in the first ever FEI Young Rider World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany where Julie and Quintesse placed 11th overall.

Julie began training with former Olympian and 2003 Pan Am Silver Medalist, Evi Strasser in 2006. That November, Julie and Quintesse took part in the Royal Winter Fair Grand Prix Quadrille, where she rode alongside nine other accomplished Canadian Dressage riders in front of over 3,000 spectators.

In 2007, Julie qualified for the North American Junior/Young Riders Championships with both Quintesse and new partner, Dobble Tyme. She and Dobble Tyme took home an individual bronze medal for the FEI Young Rider Freestyle and contributed to a 4th place finish in the team competition with teammates Alexandra Duncan, Brittany Fraser and Danielle McKinnon.

In 2008, Julie stepped out of the Young Riders’ division and moved up to the Advanced level with Quintesse. That year, Julie and Quintesse claimed multiple victories including a score of 66.083% in the Intermediaire I test at the CDI-W Blainville International Classic. Julie and Quintesse were also long-listed for the Canadian Equestrian Team in 2008, marking the fourth year in a row for the pair to have earned this distinction.

In 2009, Julie competed with both Quintesse and Dobble Tyme at the Advanced Level, continuing to impress the judges and take home high scores. At the CDI-W Blainville International Classic, Julie rode Quintesse to 3rd place and Dobble Tyme to 6th place in the Intermediaire I – she and Quintesse were victorious in the Intermediare Freestyle with a score of 72.000%.

Julie continues to train with Evi Strasser and rides out of Stirling Hill Farm in Schomberg, Ontario. In addition to competing at the FEI level, Julie is bringing her young horse, Godiva up through the ranks as well as training her students. Her future goals include representing Canada at the World Cup, World Equestrian Games and Olympics.