Biography
Born into a horsey family, I was put on my first pony at three. My parents’ interest was showing and so I started out in lead rein and show pony classes. At 13, I lost interest in showing and joined the Wilton Pony Club, where I became part of the dressage, show-jumping and horse trials teams. This is where my love of eventing really started.
When I was in the sixth form my parents bought me my first proper event horse and I started to compete in BE events. At this stage I was aspiring to be a professional event rider and also wanted to train to be a PE Teacher. Unfortunately the horses took over and so I didn’t qualify to go to Birmingham Sports College.
Instead, I applied for an HND at Hartpury College and in my gap year worked for Karen Dixon and Leslie Law. Those years were great fun, hard work and a huge learning curve. After college I returned to Leslie and met Harriet Law who helped me build on the foundations my parents had laid for me - high standards of horse care and turn out. I moved on to spend 2 years as Nick Burton’s head girl and, following that, based myself at home competing and training event horses. I also worked as a freelance event groom.
Then, by a twist of fate, someone introduced me to Pippa Funnell and she asked me to be her head girl. These were some of the best years of my life. I travelled everywhere and was a major part in the best years of her competitive career, so far. I worked with some wonderful, talented horses and gained a huge amount of experience and many friends.
In 2003, I set up with my long term partner Chris King. We now have our own yard of 14 event horses and are living and working our dream.