One of the ponies proved a bit wilful and Peggy 'expelled' it. I thought this pony (Julie) was great fun to ride - really cantankerous but a great character. A bit of a tank but 'bolted' at all of 10 miles per hour! Peggy suggested the owners loaned her to me as I felt totally confident on her. She spent the rest of her life with me and we won lots of gymkhana and jumping rosettes. My parents then bought me a pony who I gymkhana'd, jumped and hunted with the Weston and Banwell when Len Morse was Master (that dates me!).

During school holidays, I worked at a holiday camp (how true to life was Hi-De-Hi!) teaching holiday makers and taking out trekkers. In between office jobs, I worked in a riding school and an eventing yard that took liveries to make ends meet. From there, I went to a National Hunt yard for a season. Talk about adrenaline! Schooling thoroughbreds at speed through the day and parties most nights! We lived off coffee as most of us 'wasted' hoping for a ride in public. The money was good but I have never broken so many bones in such a short period of time.

After the National Hunt yard, I went to an international dressage yard and stud. Hard work is a total understatement but, gosh, the experience was worth it. We did the competition circuit and I schooled advanced and grand prix horses with 'big name' trainers. There was a sister yard, which took 'delinquents'. My employers had a reputation for re-schooling wayward types. We were really taken to the wire with some of these characters and the experience still comes in useful now.

By now I was back in an office environment as funds were low. I trained at Talland with Adam Kemp, and did jump training at Curland with the great Alison Brown and her friend Mary (who completed Badminton). I passed my Intermediate teaching test in 1985 at Yetminster near Sherborne. I spent a year specialising in retraining ex-racehorses and had a season endurance riding on my ex-racer, which was surprisingly exhilarating.

Since that time I have become fascinated by the discipline of dressage. I was fortunate to find the horse of my dreams , Donna Vita, and we are currently competing successfully. My trainer is the Grand Prix rider Rhegan White, who keeps us up to the mark and I love my training sessions with her - even though they are exhausting!

After a successful affiliated season (five wins and five second placings), we qualified for the South West Regional Championships. As you can see from the photo (right), we got placed! We are training hard now and getting ready to move up a level.

We have recently added a News section to the site. In this section, we will be posting articles to allow you to track the progress of Donna Vita, as well as selected clients and their successes - keep checking, the next article might be about you! 

I hope you enjoy your riding - stretch yourself, but be safe.


Diana Higgins