Derek

I was born in a little village called Musbury between Axminster and Seaton in Devon.  My Grandfather had a farm just down the road and I spent every possible moment there.  My Grandfather ploughed using a shire horse which is my first memory of horses.  An Uncle also farmed a few miles away and had 2 horses, a hunter Lorna and a pony named Pixie.  My cousins had riding lessons and rode but I was unable to and was insanely jealous of them. If ever I was missing my parents knew I would be in the stables with the horses.  I remember being taken to Dartmoor for days out and the highlight of my day would be seeing the wild ponies there.

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Anne

I first rode as a child, about nine years old I think, and used to cycle the 5 miles to the riding stables in Arundel West Sussex and five miles home again at the end of the day.  My first pony was a little bay called Robin. The day of our first gymkhana I groomed and pampered him for hours. We rode into the ring with a course of tiny jumps and Robin ran out on the first one! It didn’t put me off though.  My love of horses and ponies was fuelled by many hours reading ‘horsey’ books and fantasizing about being a top show jumper. 

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