I started riding at age 6 when my father decided to start learning to ride.  We went together to various riding schools, some rather questionable in their teaching practices and standards. I spent a lot of time being bucked off and run away with, and at times, I am amazed that I continued to ride. When I was 9, we started riding at Stoneacre Equestrian Centre, owned by Geoffrey and Ann Chandler, both Fellows of The British Horse Society (FBHS) - the highest attainable BHS qualification - and their daughter Sheila (BHSI). It was here that everything changed for me. We rode high quality, immaculately turned out horses to classical music as a standard lesson, as well as lessons in cross-country and show jumping. The standard of horsemanship and riding far exceeded anything I have ever experienced.

When I was 10, through Stoneacre, I bought my first pony. Over the next few years and on several different horses, I started competing at the lower levels. I slowly worked my way up into eventing (Preliminary), show jumping (4'6"), fox hunting, team chasing, and basically anything I thought I could manage. I was very active with the local pony clubs and riding clubs. I continued to ride with Sheila (now Sheila Roughton) and trained under her as a working student, towards the British Horse Society Assistant Instuctors Exam. Sheila was a Chief Examiner for the British Horse Society, and also an incredible rider and horsewoman. During my training, I had the opportunity to ride and school a lot of top quality horses in dressage and over fences, as well as starting young horses, retraining off the track TB's and exercising steeplechasers.

In 1979 as a qualified BHSAI, I started a free-lance teaching business. I drove around from farm to farm, teaching anyone with a desire to learn, and training every type and breed of horse & pony. I was a regular instructor and examiner for the Cambridgeshire, Fitzwilliam, Burghey, Newmarket and Thurlow and Littleport Pony Clubs and for numerous riding clubs. I continued to compete and train my own horses and in 1982 took and passed the BHS Intermediate Instuctors Certificate (made up of two separate exams – BHS Intermediate Teachers exam and BHS Stage IV Riding and Stable Management exam).

The two exams basically covered the following – riding two horses on the flat at 2^nd/3rd level and two horses show jumping and cross-country (3’ 6” courses), followed by evaluation/ recommendations for training the horses; teaching private and group lessons in dressage and jumping; lunge lessons for both horse and rider; stable management & veterinary care; and lecturing to a group of students in a classroom.

 In 1983 one of my students approached a local community college about hiring me to teach stable management classes. This led to me designing 10 classes for novice horse owners who had not had the chance to come up through the pony club and learn along the way. The course was so successful that the following year a further 9 colleges requested I run the classes, as well as a repeat course at Comberton. In the spring of 1985 Comberton College asked if I could be in attendance for a visit by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh. During his visit, I was presented to HRH for an informal talk and, of course, the subject was horses.

Since moving to America in 1985, I have continued to teach and train horses on a free-lance basis in various states. For 15 years, I owned Winterbourne Farm, a boarding and training facility in Tennessee. I bred and trained horses for resale, including Radiance, who I trained to Prix St Georges level in dressage. I instructed several pony club dressage teams to the  National Championships and judged 4H dressage at State and Regional level, as well as working with individual adult and junior horse owners. I presently teach in Maryland, and the surrounding states, on a daily basis, and I am available for clinics nationwide.

I love to teach and take pleasure passing on my knowledge to junior and adult riders, and gain as much satisfaction working with beginners, as more advanced riders. The British Horse Society system has given me not only the skills to ride and train horses, but also the theory of how to teach. I acknowledge that any exam certification is merely a good stepping stone, and with that in mind I continue to keep learning to improve as a rider and as an instructor. 

I have ridden in clinics with John Lassetter (Spanish Riding School & Saumur, France, trained rider), Major Anders Lindgren, Volker Brommann, Hokan Thorn, Sue Ash (S) Bill Woods (R), and Jeff Moore (S) (and others); taken regular instruction from Tami Crawford (2x USA Olympic long listed dressage rider); gained inspiration and knowledge from auditing clinics with Reiner Klimke, Kyra Kirkland, Conrad Schumacher, Steffen Peters, Jane Savoie (and others); worked under Therese Spaulding (Chris Cox Horsemanship 1-4) ; and regulary ride and study under biomechanics expert, Mary Wanless, the author of “Ride with your Mind” book and DVD series.  I am not yet accredited with RWYM but I am working towards that goal.