I bought my lovely Connemara mare back in July 2014, she had just turned 7 years old. Missy had been broken for a matter of months (broodmare for 1 foal), she had no clue how to canter without losing her mind, trot was only at break neck speeds, would fix her neck if you asked her to slow down, everything was scary, loved a tantrum and couldn’t possibly try anything different without making a huge drama of it – luckily she has a loving personality so you forgive the diva moments!

By the time I found Sharon we’d come a long way but still had a really long way to go, her brakes where still tricky to find, being on the contact was a high hope and staying with me for the length of an entire dressage test seemed like a pipedream… but I’m stubborn and knew this little lady had potential, luckily Sharon agreed.

Over the last year we’ve worked really hard in regular lessons with Missy’s way of going, how she dealt with what I asked of her and getting her not to blast off down the long side given half the chance! There were definitely times I felt defeated, definitely times she got the better of me but Sharon was there to give me a reality check and keep us focused on the end goal as well as what we’d achieved to date. Miss is by no means an easy pony to ride but once she gets something she’s a joy to ride. 

Over the last year we’ve gone from low to mid 60%s in Prelims to regular 69%s and knocking on the door of 70%s, our Novice has gone a similar way and with every test we do she gets better and I’m loving every minute of the journey,we’re aiming for Elementary by the end of 2017 – we owe a lot to Sharon and her patience with Missy’s tantrums (and mine)… although sometimes when she makes us do difficult things I think my pony likes her less than I do ;-)