This article first appeared in Issue 21 of Equestrian Life magazine, for more like this pick up a copy from your local Saddleworld, Horseland or Major Newsagent today. See a sneak peek of what's in the current issue here.

© Jamie and Jamie

By Amanda Ross

Having a competitive partner in the same industry can be tricky at times. When you both want to achieve similar goals, possibly want the same horse, like to use each others tack, & have to beat the other in order to win, you’d think this would be more than enough for a budding relationship to handle! Well… try both having the same name!!

Jamie Kermond (Kermo) & Jamie Winning (Jamie) are a seriously dynamic duo. The pair packed up a team of horses to compete in Europe. As a result, Kermo has secured a spot on the team, riding the stallion Quite Cassini, & Jamie is listed as 3rd reserve riding Wirragulla Nicklaus. Pretty exciting stuff, & it’s only just the beginning!
Catching a spare moment with the Jamie’s via email, I asked them exactly how they make their twin turbo relationship in balance…

Describe how you grew up, & where the horses came into your lives.

Jamie (Girl): I grew up in the city of Sydney, living in Vaucluse and Watsons Bay, I went to an all girls private school in Edgecliff.  A friend from school asked me to join her at a riding camp in the school holidays, which was at Kensington, and we rode the horses across Anzac Parade to Centennial Park.  I kept horses and rode at Centennial Park for 10 years, during which time I called myself an ‘Eventer’, had a fantastic horse called Blackjack, who I rode up to 2*. (We still have Blackjack at our Ebenezer property!)  In Sydney, we lived near the beach and my family was and is heavily into sailing, so I spent most of my spare time near the water.  I grew up with the closest group of family friends, pretty much an extended family of about 12 separate families.  It was like growing up with 20 bigger brothers and sisters and countless sets of parents.  That is probably what I miss the most when away with horses.  At 18, I finished school, packed up myself and Blackjack, and moved into my gooseneck at the Coman’s property in Morpeth, NSW near Newcastle.
Kermo: I was always desperate to be a jockey, riding track work every morning before school since I was 12 years old.  By 14 I was too big, but kept riding track work, that was about when my older brother, Gary, introduced me to show jumping.  I had a few horses to teach me the lows of the sport, when I started I was never much good, then at about 17 I started riding Stylish King, the horse I took to the WEG in 2006, when I was 21.  I loved playing footy (AFL) growing up, and wanted to pursue that also, but had to make a decision between the two.

How did you two meet? Did you gaze across a crowded warm-up, see the other Jamie & just fall in love?

We met at Sydney royal one year, Kermo obviously thought he was pretty cool, riding Stylish King J… I (Jamie Girl) was introduced to him about midday in the stables, had a little chuckle that we had the same name etc.  At about 5pm, he was with his friend Russ Morrison by the Dutch pancake stall (often found near food!), & I was with Hayley Coman who was good friends with both Kermo and Russ, so we stopped to chat.  Midway through conversation, Kermo turns to me and asked, “sorry… what was your name again?”… to which I answered, “it’s the same as yours you idiot!”.  We didn’t speak much at the show after that.

Describe a typical day for you both.

At the moment, things over here are not quite typical as everything is pretty focussed on the WEG and Quite Cassini (Ron). Our other horses are enjoying some well deserved down time for a couple of weeks of riding in the woods and time in the paddock.  However, a typical day generally includes working the horses, trying to get an abundance of washing done before the next show (horse and human), our girls are flat out unpacking the truck, re packing the truck, organising the vet if needed, a health vet for travelling if needed (that was hard to get used to!), and having the horses looking well (to clip or not clip, frequently asked question).  We generally have a 3-4 day turn over for shows, have more than likely driven over night, so could not do any of this without the amazing Alice Leeson who travelled over with us from Yandoo, as well as Sarah Pinout and now Moni Barrett.

What do you do for down-time… away from horses? Any normal persons activities?!

We love doing normal things. Kermo follows the AFL, but the best he can do is watch games on live stream.  We enjoy snow skiing, water skiing and pretty much any other outdoor activity!!! We just don’t have the time to do those things here sadly, we do go to the movies on occasion at night though.  We have a short trip planned home after WEG, Kermo is planning to go and see a game of footy in Melbourne and hopefully the weather is kind enough one day to go to the beach???  I plan to spend my time visiting friends.
What’s the best thing about being in a relationship with another pro-SJ?
You can be yourself.  We have different pros and cons, and we try to utilise that about each of us as much as possible

And the worst thing?! Who has annoying habits? Hogs the truck? Steals each others spurs/whip/draw reins?

Kermo steals all of my stuff!! I’m convinced he’s even trained Alice to pack all my favourite things when they go to a different show to me.  I have a tendency to, when something goes wrong, find a way that it was Kermo’s fault haha

Jamie Kermond and Quite Cassini.

© EQ Life/Sporthorseonpics

Does it get confusing having the same name?!

Yes. Not amongst ourselves or close friends, but at shows and meeting new people.  There was a funny incident with Marco Kutcher.  He deals in trucks a little, second hand sales etc.  I had been texting and calling him in regards to looking at some trucks, meeting up with people he had organised with trucks and so on.  Then at an indoor show Kermo was at, he went and introduced himself, as “Jamie”, and said “you’ve been helping us with trucks”… Marco looked shocked and said, “No, but you’re a girl!”.  Took a while for him to get his head around the fact Kermo had a girlfriend called Jamie.

How do you fulfil your own sporting ambitions, yet support your partner in the same game? What are the qualities/recipe required in order to both compete at elite level, & have a successful relationship?

Kermo is a bit of a freak, generally achieves everything he sets his mind to.  Australian Titles, World Cup League, World Cup, WEG…. And so on.  I (Jamie Girl) am more like a regular person, with ups and downs.  I try to see his success as our success, a team effort of both of us, and all our team. J Big mention to all our girls, home and OS: Alice, Jonezy, Amanda, Sarah, Moni.  Also, to all our owners, including my mum and dad, and our sponsors Antares Australia, Kingsland Australia, Horsepower Feeds and Supplements and Free Jump.

Jamie Winning and Yandoo Zenzel HBC.

© Michelle Terlato

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