Jessica Rae Springsteen was born on December 30, 1991, the second child and only daughter of musicians Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa. She has one older brother, Evan James Springsteen (born 1990), and one younger brother, Samuel Ryan Springsteen (born 1994).[5] When she and her brothers reached school age in the early 1990s, their parents left Los Angeles with them specifically to raise a family in a non-paparazzi environment. The family owned and lived on a horse farm in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey. They also owned homes in Los Angeles, as well as in Wellington, Florida, and Rumson, New Jersey.
Springsteen attended the Rumson Country Day School[6] and Ranney School in New Jersey.[7] She earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University on May 11, 2014.[8] After embarking on a career as a show jumping rider, she also did some modeling and was named the equestrian ambassador for Gucci.[9]
Career
Springsteen has been riding since she was four years old,[10][11] with horses kept on the Springsteen family's 300-acre Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey.[10] She got her first pony when she was six years old.[12] As a youth equitation rider, she first won classes in the pony division, including the Washington International Pony Equitation Classic Final, and as a teen won the 2008 ASPCA Maclay National Championship in a ride-off where her particularly bold riding stood out.[13] She also won the 2009 George H. Morris Excellence in Equitation Championship.[3]
"After you have been to so many shows year after year, you realize how difficult it is and what an achievement it is. You also realize how good the other riders are and how much work has gone into it. You see a culmination of 13 years of riding come down to 1 minute and 30 seconds. That is a tough lesson in life. Musicians always get to sing it again; riders get one shot."
As an adult competitor, in 2011 she competed in the Royal Windsor Horse Show competing on her horse Vordnado Van Den Hoendrik. In September 2012, Peter Charles, who had represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Equestrian events, sold his team gold medal-winning horse, Vindicat W, to Springsteen. Springsteen herself was an alternate rider for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[14][15][16][17] In 2014, she won the American Gold Cup.[9] In 2016, she won her first five-star Grand Prix jumping competition with her horse Cynar VA,[18] but did not make the short list for the U.S. Equestrian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[9] In May 2017, she won the Falcon Stakes CSI 5* at the Royal Windsor Horse Show riding Davendy S.[19]
In 2021, Springsteen was selected in the US team to compete in equestrian at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] She finished equal 31st in the qualifying round of the individual jumping, but only the top 30 advanced to the medals round.[22] On August 7, 2021 she was part of the U.S. team that won the silver medal in the Team jumping.
