I was born in 1963 and I learned to ride when I was three years old a Joy McMahon's stables in Hopwas. It was fairly inevitable that I would take to it as my mother didn't stop riding until she was eight months pregnant. I had my own pony when I was seven. He was called Smokey Joe and he was the standard grey Welsh Mountain pony. I always had a way with horses, I was often called on to deal with difficult ones and I could usually able to just get them going again. It seemed to me that most horses' problems were solved by doing some genuine work and going out and enjoying themselves.
If only Monty Roberts' techniques had been taught in those days I might have been more successful more quickly and more quietly........
In 1984 I graduated from the University of Manchester and a year later I qualified as a barrister and began to work in the Magistrates' Courts. I became the youngest deputy Clerk to the Justices in the 1990's and passed my MBA but my career aimed low and fell short and after 20 years, I had had enough - too much bureaucracy and a judicial system I just didn't believe in any more. Throughout all of these years I had kept and trained my own horses, taking part in long distance rides but mainly having horses for pleasure.
