Biography
Many people ask me how I have been fortunate enough to have a job that I love and one that takes me around the UK and to Europe.
All I can say is that I have been lucky, worked very hard on myself and I was in the right place at the right time. I have been very fortunate to find myself surrounded by some inspirational people to mentor me throughout my journey.
Without rambling for too long I will tell you who I am and where I came from.
I began riding at the age of 6 years old and spent the years that followed being a pony obsessed child and living a happy pony-mad childhood which consisted of Pony Club, gymkhanas and shows. I developed an obsession for showjumping and began showjumping BSJA in my teenage years, this lasted until I got the opportunity to head to the showring at the age of 18 years when I was asked to ride and produce some show horses for a local riding establishment.
I spent the following 7 years producing and showing ridden hunters and coloured horses for a few owners and teaching other riders in my spare time at local riding establishments. Away from horses I had worked hard in a retail career and gained promotion in my early twenties to middle management with a leading national retailer. At the age of 16 years I had expressed to my parents that I wished to work with horses full-time but I was told to get a proper job, I was assured that there wasn't a future in working with horses. Sadly it took me 14 years to realise that this was only someone's opinion and that;
'Life is what you make of it!'
My retail career was very successful but demanding, I climbed the management ladder quickly from an Assistant Branch manager role to Field Middle Management and found myself in a senior role in my early twenties, this took me around the UK on business, as a positive result of my position I was trained in coaching, leadership and management. I was fortunate that my employer invested much time and finance into my training which included attendance of seminars and corporate events around the UK with leading 'people coaches' and motivational speakers. Little did I know back then that I would be able to incorporate all of this experience and training in the future to help people with their horses.
When we were 26 years old Michael and I were blessed with the birth of our beautiful daughter Ayla and after maternity leave I returned to my retail career but I began to notice a change in my attitude towards my career. I was feeling a strong pull back towards working within the equestrian field. Something had changed in my attitude and I began to question what was different. It only took me a short while to realise that what I really wanted to do was help coach and train people and incorporate this into my love of horses, I was passionate about the training and coaching side of my position and I started to look into how I could pursue this within the equestrian field. It made perfect sense that I could direct my coaching experience and training towards something that I was passionate about and that others could really benefit from.
Around the same time I acquired 'Bryndir Flame', a very confused and mixed up Welsh Section D mare whom I saw as a challenge and a bit of a project, little did I know that this was to be a huge turning point in my life and where the next chapter was to begin. True horsemen say that;
'A certain horse will come into your life at the time that you are ready to learn something'
Flame came into my life as a bad livery debt whereby I ended up taking the horse in payment of the bill and I have been learning from her everyday ever since. You can read her full story under the section My Horses.
To cut a long story short about Flame, basically this was the begining of my realisation of just how much I had to learn about how horses think and learn. Flame was a run-away both in-hand & under saddle, she hated being in the stable and would barge anyone and anything out of the way to leave, she would take me ski-ing on the end of the leadrope unless she was wearing a bridle, if she got loose she would then panic as she didn't really want to be on her own and even though she would load onto a trailer if you weren't quick enough to get the ramp/partition closed on the trailer/wagon she would barge straight back off again over the top of you and when you were quick enough everyone in the county knew that she was on there by the noise from the constant whinnying and banging, upon arrival at our destination I would unload an animal that looked as though it had ran the grand national as her chestnut coat would be white with sweat, I tried for the first 6 months to settle her on the hunting field, thinking that a few hard days hunting would settle her down, to an element it did help but the days were not fun at all and I spent most of the day prior to hunting getting myself stressed about how to stop her running over the top of someone at the meet and whether she would overtake the fieldmaster with me as a passenger. The turning point was the day that I had taken her hunting as second horse for the day, a friend had led her and rode my friends second horse half a mile from the wagon to meet us in a field, my friend said to be careful as she had been a wild to get off the wagon, what happened next was the final straw, as I put my foot in the stirrup to mount her, she galloped towards the main road, thankfully I managed to get aboard and turn her left just as she exited the field, this was the day I realised that my horse was dangerous to myself and others and that if I
'continued to do what I'd always done I was always going to get the same result as I'd always got'
I turned to groundwork and Natural Horsemanship and Flame became my 'Parelli' horse and I worked through my Parelli levels, Parelli Natural Horsemanship had just hit the UK at this time. Nobody could believe 6 months later when I was able to ride her in a halter and line that she was the same horse, I began to realise that my horse had never been trained in a language that she understood and as a result she had learnt to use her strength and size to keep herself safe and escape pressure, she didn't realise that she was being 'naughty' she was just reacting by her survival instinct. Over the years that followed I turned my once runaway welsh section D into a super riding horse whom I did quite a bit of local competing with and now use as a schoolmistress. The 'lightbulb moments' that I had over the following years made me realise that the key to it all was 'communication' and the stronger your groundwork skills and ability to 'read what a horse was thinkning' led to how a horse would interact with you.
The years that followed saw me helping many people with their horses to address handling and behavioural issues whether it was a loading issue, a leading issue or even not standing still to be mounted. At the same time I walked away from my retail career in a quest to help people and their horses and threw all caution to the wind.
One day I sat down with 'Horse & Rider' magazine, I wasn't one to normally read magazines but as I always say;
'everything happens for a reason'
As I flicked through it I spotted an advertisement for the first UK Centered Riding Course, my instructor at the time was constantly refering to Sally Swift and 'Centered Riding' so I was intrigued to learn more, I took myself off to Scotland that weekend as an unmounted spectator and learnt so much that I felt as though someone had turned all of the lightbulbs on at once. As a result I trained as a Centered Riding Instructor and qualified as a level 1.
I also headed to Walsall and over the time that followed I trained as a Certified Saddle fitter with David Johnson (Master Saddler & fitter of 45 years). This was following my introduction to 'The Balance Saddling System' and Carol Brett. I had ridden all of my horses in either Balance saddles or in wider saddles with the Balance saddling pad system for over 2 years following the introduction to this saddling theory by one of my instructors, this approach to saddling really allowed for my horse's natural movement and I had felt a huge difference in them during this time, as a result I felt I needed to learn more. I was thrilled when Carol Brett invited me onboard with BALANCE as a Test Ride Facilitator which gave me the opportunity to help others and their horses to experience the possible results of this approach. I helped BALANCE in this important role for almost 2 years before choosing to go my own way and launch my own range of saddles. I continue to visit my original clients and I remain fitting saddles using a similar approach to BALANCE. Please visit the section Saddling on the site to learn more about this area of my work.
I decided that it would be a wise decision to take my British Horse Society stages and BHSAI in order to give me an internationally recognised equestrian qualification. Many people who are interested in Natural Horsemanship make the assumption that I passed my BHSAI many years ago and 'then' discovered 'Natural Horsemanship' in a pursuit of a 'better way', they couldn't be further from the truth.
Whilst 'Natural Horsemanship' programmes and methods can certainly help people with their 'feel' and understanding on the ground so can correct handling & lunge/long-reining lessons from qualified and experienced horsemen, it is in-fact purely down to 'training', training of the horse and training of the handler/rider.
One of the main benefits of the BHS training system that impresses me is the health & safety aspect, instructors are trained to think how best to keep people safe when riding and handling horses and I am proud to be on the BHS Instructors register.
In 2008 I met Nelleke Deen, a level IV Centered Riding Clinician from The Netherlands and began training with her on a regular basis, Nelleke is a good friend and I value her opinion, Nelleke has helped me immensly with all of my horses and my own teaching and coaching over the years.
I would never class myself as a naturally talented rider and I have strived to improve my riding and 'feel' in order to help others who have a big 'lightbulb' moment as I did.
By request I started to give lecture demonstrations to groups and clubs on horse behaviour and confidence clinics and this lead to a demand for my unmounted workshops too, I named these 'Reflective Riding' workshops and these grew in popularity to the point where I wrote a series of 8 workshops which I now deliver to groups across the North and Scotland.
2011 saw me travel and train in The Netherlands and following a trip to exhibit at 'Your Horse Live' in November 2011 with my fellow UK Centered Riding Instructors I returned home to County Durham inspired and realising that I needed to let more people become aware of the help that I could offer them in all areas of my work. I had been getting pushed and driven by a number of my friends and long-standing clients for months about this and decided that this was;
'my way of putting something back into the melting pot'
In 2011 I had my first written article published in 'Natural Horsemanship Magazine' This was an article on how crookedness in the rider can effect the horse's straightness, 2012 will see me write more articles and hopefully have them published for you to read.
There are a number of other qualifications which I haven't mentioned yet which I have gained since I began my journey, it is perhaps easier to list them below;
BHS Riding & Road Safety Trainer
Equine Specific First-Aider
BEF Child Protection & Duty of Care
Reiki 1,2,3 & Master/Teacher
Life Coach - Aset level 3
BHSAI
UKCC level 2 Equestrian Coach
Centered Riding Instructor level II
Certified Saddle Fitter - Saddle Company
Remedial Specific Saddle Fitter - SH Saddles & Services ltd
Pony Club Instructor
Crystal Healing Practitioner
My personal aims for 2012 include;
Sports Psychology & Coaching Qualification