“I’m 15 and from West Yorkshire. I’m not the greatest rider, or the tallest and strongest person in the world (I’m 4ft 9, really small!) but I have a dream to one day become a Dressage rider.
I’ve only been riding 9 months. At my yard I have been doing prelim dressage tests on my sister’s Shetland because I have nothing else to ride. He can be so challenging but we got a 89.3% in our second dressage test. I will never give up on riding because I’m so passionate about what I want to do and am willing to do anything to be where I want to be.
I just don’t have a clue what path to follow… I know I can’t just sit on a horse and ride it in the arena – what I want is to be a successful rider.”
Oliver answers: I don’t think there is just one path to follow when trying to make it. I’m not a pure dressage rider so can only talk from an eventing point of view, however my advice is to just work hard and then try and get a job with a top rider to learn from the best. Never think that you know everything, always observe, listen and learn. Even if there are methods you don’t want to personally use in the future you need to learn as much as you can along the way. And then hopefully, if you have the talent and the drive, you will get a lucky break and go from there.
I hope that helps and Good Luck for the future.