At the age of 8, I had to make a choice – ballet or horse-riding. I chose riding.
I had weekly lessons and by the time I was a teenager, I was spending all my weekends and holidays helping out, watching and learning. I was small, so I also got to back and ride away the young ponies.
I left school at 16 and became a working pupil at a riding school/livery yard/stud and took my BHSAI a year later. I spent a season working in a leading showing yard but I soon returned to teaching and was the head girl in a riding school/livery/competition yard for a while. I then decided I wanted a “proper job” so that I could, for the first time afford my own horse, but continued to teach freelance in my spare time.
In 1991 I took my BHSII and by this time I was starting to compete regularly in anything and everything on my own and others’ horses. My interest started to focus on dressage and I was more drawn to the classical training methods but still enjoyed competing. Over the following years I remained a keen student and in addition to continuing the classical training, I also explored natural horsemanship.