Jessica DiCostanzo never outgrew her childhood dream of a life with horses.
“I feel like the ultimate horse girl,” says the trainer, competitor and business owner. “I started riding when I was 6 and I’ve been a barn rat my whole life.”
She wears many hats in the horse world.
Jessica owns and operates the boutique boarding and training facility, White Rose Ranch. It’s based in Orange County’s unique equestrian community, Nellie Gail Ranch, where Jessica is active in efforts to preserve that lifestyle.
She owns Equivont equestrian online marketing platform with her partner Jaclyn Burke and is persuing her USEA Eventing Coach Program certification. Along with sale prospects, Jessica is prepping two of her own horses – Cocoa Z and Willis — for Preliminary and Modified outings at the Galway Downs International Horse Trials next month.
As a young rider, “I was torn between jumping and dressage,” she shares. “I loved it all.” A particularly challenging horse led her first to “cowboy camp where I learned how to move my horse off my aids.” In effect, she was learning dressage fundamentals, which piqued her interest in the discipline. “When I started taking ‘real’ dressage lessons, I saw how much it helped my horse’s jumping and I went hard core on dressage for a while.”
While earning a psychology degree at UC Santa Barbara, Jessica focused on dressage in her own riding and worked at dressage and hunter/jumper training programs. The psychology degree has been “more helpful than I could ever imagine,” she says. “Whether you are managing people or horses, understanding where they’re coming from and having a little empathy are very helpful.”
Two Worlds Collide
Jessica’s one job outside of the horse world set the stage for launching Equivont. “I was working in the software world, and my whole job was to coach entrepreneurs on how to run their marketplaces.”
She realized there was a “huge gap” in the equestrian world when she pondered a move to another part of the country. Online searches to help locate horse people, facilities and services were unsuccessful. “I found it impossible to find reliable information online.”
“That’s when my two worlds collided.” The software she’d been representing in her corporate job was an ideal marketplace platform, so “I quit and became one of their customers.”
Jessica and fellow “horse girl” and software savvy friend, Jaclyn Burke, launched Equivont in 2018. “There’ve been trials and tribulations, but it’s something we are both very passionate about,” Jessica says of the “one-stop equestrian marketplace.”
“I love being able to help people as a resource for services or products.”
In enabling equestrians to find everything they need for themselves and their horse in one place, Equivont strives to strengthen the equestrian community.
Stable supplies and supplements have long been strong performing categories, and the platform’s scope extends well beyond that. Many of Jessica’s training and boarding clients at White Rose Ranch are adult amateurs who’ve returned to the sport after long absences.
Helping them re-acquaint themselves with the horse world illustrates one of the needs Equivont fulfills. “A lot of horse professionals have been in the industry for a long time and they assume that everyone knows them,” she explains. “Yet, for people re-entering, it’s very different than what it was 20 years ago. Often they have no clue where to start in getting back to riding. Even if a trainer goes to every show, that’s unlikely to put them in front of a returning rider. We able to help them connect with quality trainers.”
Equivont helps professionals keep their sale-horse listings current with regular check-ins for updates and coaches busy trainers to present all aspects of their business for maximum impact.
As a competitor, Jessica initially made the mistake of trying to compete and do business at the same time. “It turned out that I was not doing either very well,” she says. “Now, when I am competing, I am very focused on prepping my horse, going into the arena or out on cross-country. After my ride and when the day is done with my horse, I’m happy to talk business with people.”
Out and About
All the boarders at Jessica’s White Rose Ranch are hand-picked as high-quality people looking for good horsemanship in a low-drama environment. “I’ll take a nice human with a mule over a really nice horse with an owner that can be difficult.”
Most clients take both competition and fun seriously. Field trips to horse-friendly destinations are a big part of the program.
There’s horse camping at nearby Caspers Regional Park and weekends camping and trail riding at Montana de Oro State Park in San Louis Obispo. The latter adventure is often paired with visits to Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles for tune-ups with Bec Braitling. Fiesta Island in San Diego is another favorite jaunt for beach rides.
“That’s the beauty of having a small program,” Jessica says. “There’s time to step away. We have a low-pressure environment, and a lot of my clients are excited to do fun outings.”
She also loves variety in her coaches. Show jumper Lane Clarke and trainer Mickey Hayden are just around the corner at Nellie Gail Equestrian Center and Galway Downs-based Katy Robinson is “amazing.”
When Jessica broke her leg in 2020, she sent Cocoa Z to work with Bec Braitling at Twin Rivers. “I’ve known her for many years and I love her coaching style.” A veteran coach’s coach, Bec is helping Jessica’s quest to get her Eventing Coaching certification this year.
Her greatest coach may be Cocoa, Jessica’s partner for 8 years. Their learning curve intensified after a schooling crash a few years ago and the journey back to confidence has been filled with lessons. “It was a hit to the ego, for sure,” Jessica says. “I quested a lot and was pretty bummed out about it. When it happened, I determined that this is an opportunity to fill in any training gaps.”
Through every step of Cocoa’s comeback, Jessica has told the mare she can stop – and become a mother – at any time. “We’ve started back very slow and each time she was totally game for the next step. We have much better connections than we had before and she has already given me more than I could ask for.”
