My story is not your typical horse person's story. It is a story to give hope to every rider and child with a dream, with a passion for something that moves them.

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I grew up in the city, with lovely parents, a twin sister with an elder and younger brother, but not horse people in the slightest. I saw horses ridden past our suburban house every Saturday afternoon. Packs of very rough and ready horses and dare I say, riders, rode past bareback. I told my parents that I wanted to ride horses. Goodness knows why, I just did. I begged them to increase my pocket money from 20c a week to 50c a week so I could pay for my riding. Finally they agreed. I rode every Saturday rain, hail or shine. Two years riding bareback around the streets, and within 5 years I had won at the Australian Dressage  Championships as a 16 year old, beating 90 adults in heats, semi finals and then the final and also winning at the NSW Country championships in dressage.

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I also won eventing, showjumping, hacking, champion rider classes and sporting on borrowed horses and finally my own, mostly purchased cheaply, with problems for me to fix as that's all I could afford. 

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Who'd have thought from these humble beginnings I could have achieved so much as an educator, coach, rider and judge. Successfully riding at FEI, coaching students to achieve Olympic and WEG Medals and Winn ing a CDIs and Short listed for dressage selection, Judging Dressage at the Highest Level available to me in Australia, and now becoming a Level 3 Eventing Judge, judging at the enormous and famous CHIO Aachen and the European Championships in 2019. Add Coach and Judge Educator and the picture is quite a complete one. 

All the while pushing onwards and upwards, despite repeated challenges and roadblocks to my progress. Find out how I overcame these roadblocks and how you can too. 

Photo credit _ Dr Phil Janson - Willows Leap