A Journey with Faith

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In 2009 after 20 years as a marketing professional, I returned to horse riding and bought a mare off the side of a hill in Abergavenny!  I named her Faith. 

 

Investing in Faith became an investment in every area of my life; time, money, patience, perseverance, understanding...the list goes on! She was meant to be a 7 year old showjumper; however I didn’t discover until I got her home that she was a

5 year old and very green!

 

The process of training began and it became clear that she had never been flat schooled and probably never even been in a school! So flat and jump training began. Jump training was a like taking my life in my hands. She raced at the jumps in anxiety and tried every trick in the book to avoid going over. I discovered she was a spooky and opinionated Alpha Mare!

 

I realised the level of work that I had ahead of me, but determined we were a partnership that I was going to pursue as far as we could go. I put what had become years of patience and perseverance in corporate business into a labour

of love with her. I had spent all my life in high level business positions before having my son, and had spent years training individual people and teams to work to their greatest potential in harmony - now it was Faiths turn!

 

We continued flat work and jumping in the school, it was slow going and she was slow going as the work got harder. Very basic problems took a long time to undo. I endeavoured to give her as much variation of experience as possible and took her hunting with the Beaufort and fun rides for endurance, fittening and jump experience! When she hit grass               everything changed...she transformed into a very forward going, over excited horse! However my vision was to harness that enthusiasm for show jumping and dressage!

 

We went on to compete in BD Affiliated dressage. The training towards technically correct dressage movements and riding dressage tests were the key to turning Faith around, step by step. It continued to be a positive progressive development across all areas, including her jumping technique!

 

In 2014 she had improved so much that in a short few months we qualified and competed at the British Dressage PetPlan Area Festival at Novice. In 2014 we qualified for three BD PetPlan Area Festivals and the BD Regional Winter Championships! 

 

The journey of training in dressage and jumping and competing continued until mid 2017 when Faith went off to a lovely new owner. Her jumping was up to 1m 10 and she was competing at Elementary Affiliated Dressage. 

Never give up...a trusting partnership with a horse is worth its weight in gold and the sure road to success.

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In 2017 I bought an inexperienced/unschooled 6 year old Connemara/Appaloosa X and although she's had alot of health issues, we've now begun her education in dressage and jumping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qualifications/experience

 

I am a British Horse Society Qualified Professional in:

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BHS Stage 3 Flatwork/Dressage, Show jumping & Cross Country and Horsecare Award

Riding and Road Safety Award

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I passed my BHS Exams at Summerhouse Equitation Centre/ Talland School of Equitation / Wellington Riding

 

I produced my own horse to Affiliated British Dressage Elementary level and to 1.10m in show jumping with no previous education.

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In 2013 we were selected for Gloucestershire in the British Dressage Inter-County Championships at West Wilts.

In 2013 we qualified at Novice for the British Dressage PetPlan Area Festival held at Summerhouse Equestrian

In 2014 we qualified at Novice for 3 British Dressage Area festivals throughout the summer! 

In 2014 we qualified at Novice for the British Dressage Regional Winter Championships and competed at

Merrist Wood, Surrey in February 2015.

 

I am passionate about helping clients and their horses progress along their journeys.

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