My love for horses started when I was two years old when I met a donkey named Patrick on Rhyll beach.

It was thirty years later before I got my own horse, Jack, but I worked with many hundreds of horses before he came into my life. I didn't realise that not everyone had the insight into each individual horse that I did, and I fully didn't grasp this until I read 'What horses reveal' by Klauss Ferdinand Hempfling. He describes a range of particular archetypes of horses, explaining how each type will react and what they need from their owners and riders. As I read this, I realised that this was something that I had always done! Doh! I should have written the book :-)

I have made many mistakes with my horses along the way and suffered crippling confidence issues at one stage, when I was ridiculed and dismissed for my methods. But they worked and, in time, I proved all of those people wrong when Jack and I were consistently in the ribbons. So I began to find my way and I gained confidence. But it was a long painful journey, fraught with dilemmas, tears and dramas. One of which included me trying to give Jack away to a charity and then, when that failed, putting him out on loan. I could not cope with his behaviour so I gave up. It is a wonderful story, with a happy ending and suffice to say that Jack came back after six weeks, and has now been with me for twenty years! This is a story that will be in my book, when I get around to finishing it!

I believe that every horse has the potential to be more than he is, but that may not appear to fit in with what you want for him. Sometimes we might have to rewrite our scripts, or realise that our own issues have been holding the relationship back.

As far as humans go, I believe that we have unlimited potential and can be so much more than we could ever dream of. Sadly, most people don't allow themselves to dream beyond what they perceive is possible. I like to smash that myth on the head pretty quickly!

I have taught my horses many things, and work on new aspects of my horsemanship every day. Lately I am working on getting my dominant Welsh Section A to go back into his starvation paddock after he has had half an hour on longer grass. After two weeks of daily training, three days ago I pointed and he put himself 'to bed'. It was an awesome moment.

I like to 'Police Train' horses, teaching them that nothing in life is really scary. This may not look pretty in the first instance, when a horse may fear his own fear, but in a very short space of time he will gain a massive increase in his confidence and self esteem. I discovered the power of this when Danny came into my life five years ago. He was afraid of everything, literally everything. I spent nine months doing groundwork with him before I rode him. I taught him to be curious about the things he was afraid of. I knew we had cracked it when one day he was spooked by something, hen taking a big sigh be walked up and sniffed it, all of his own accord! He is pretty much bombproof now, which is unfortunate as he now has secondary laminitis, bought on by Cushings Syndrome :-(

I believe in trying to achieve a 50/50 relationship based on respect as the platform for love, affection and the desire to work well for us.