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My Story

My journey started quite a few years ago, so I’ll just give you a brief background if you’ll bear with me.

I don’t know where my love of horses comes from; I only know that it has always been there, ever since I can remember. A passion inherited from my mother, who loves them too and rode as a teenager, but was firmly steered into a more sensible career.

I, on the other hand knew exactly what I was going to do with my life and nothing would persuade me otherwise. Fortunately for me my parents were supportive, buying me my first pony when I was about 10.

Leaving school in 1976, I spent a year as a working pupil, training for British Horse Society exams, at Porlock Vale Equitation Centre, which in those days was the place to go. After qualifying I spent a few months in a racing stable, before taking up a position as an instructor in a large riding school in Birmingham.

Since then I have worked in practically every type of yard that you can imagine; show jumping, hunting, eventing, dressage, studs, showing, livery and teaching yards and even driving horses. I spent several years abroad, Italy, France, Germany and Holland and I have been fortunate enough to have worked and studied with some really talented people. And best of all, I have cared for and ridden the most amazing horses.

Sounds like a pretty traditional story… Yes, I guess it is. But then, back in 2002, a very special horse came into my life. At the time, I didn’t know he was special, in fact for quite a long time I thought Rocky was anything but special! He certainly had a very low opinion of humans, me included. But ever the optimist, I was confident that given time and with all my experience I could make some thing of him… But I was wrong.

Rocky’s behaviour was not just challenging it was dangerous. He had learned that humans were not to be trusted and at times used aggression to protect himself. Conventional training methods did not work.

Eventually, desperate for answers, I took Rocky to a Natural Horsemanship Clinic, as a ‘problem’ horse. Amazingly I saw improvements almost immediately. I’d like to tell you that I had found the answers I was looking for, but actually it took me a long time to really understand what I had seen, because I wasn’t asking the right questions. I thought it was about tools and techniques, and it was to a point. So, for a couple of years I practised ‘Natural Horsemanship’ with my ‘problem horses’, and conventional training methods with all the others. And Rocky improved… to a point!

During this time I was also instructing full time at the Royal Naval Saddle Club, teaching NVQ students, kids, adults and feeling pretty worn out and rather disillusioned with my lot. I wasn’t sure who was more unmotivated, the horses or the students! So as a treat I decided to take myself off on a Natural Horsemanship course up on Exmoor for 5 days, with Jackie Chant, a Parelli Professional from New Zealand. This time I took ‘Socks’, my daughter’s event horse, a pretty uncomplicated chap if a little spooky at times.

I hadn’t met Jackie before, or any other Parelli Professionals for that matter, but I’d heard some really good things about her and I was really looking forward to meeting her. I was pretty confident that she would realise immediately that I was quite experienced and that Socks and I had a good understanding of each other. In fact, to be honest I was expecting a pat on the back!

Well, I didn’t get one. And for a couple of days I felt distinctly uncomfortable. It’s not easy to accept that maybe there is a better way of doing things, when you’ve been doing what you do for thirty odd years! And as I’ve heard so many times since I didn’t know what I didn’t know! But slowly and surely I started to see things in a completely different way because I started to look at things from the horse’s perspective. Jackie was inspirational, but without a doubt the best teacher of all was Socks. I just hadn’t been able to see it before and Jackie showed me how. Think like a horse!

So, what happened next? Driving home from the course I decided that if I was going to continue teaching and working with horses it would have to be as a Parelli Professional. Which meant studying in earnest, and with help from Socks, working my way through the Levels programme and hopefully head for the Pat Parelli Centre in Colorado. That was summer 2006, since then I have attended more clinics and classes, with Jackie and with Adrian Heinen, Eddy Modde, David Zuend and of course, our own Alison Jones. Spring 2007, I spent 6 weeks in Colorado at the Pat Parelli Centre, on the Liberty and Horse Behaviour, Fluidity I and II Courses, a truly life changing experience. Then, on 3 April 2008 I received a phone call from John Baar, the Head of Faculty at the Pat Parelli Centre, to say that my application to join the Parelli Professionals 10 week University Program in Colorado had been successful.

So, if you are interested in finding out more or would like to keep track of my progress, then please take a look at My Blog. I would like to thank my existing students for all their support, teaching you all has been a pleasure and I have loved every minute of it, and please keep in touch via this website. For any new enquiries including liveries, please see the Contact Page. I am leaving the UK mid June and should be back mid September.