One day back in October 2001 a group of people sat around Ian’s kitchen table at Elmleaze in Didmarton (round the corner from The King's Arms pub), and the Kings Leaze Riding Club was born!
Amongst those people who founded the club was a lady called Caroline Cartwright, who competed at dressage. Her twelve year old daughter Lucy, subsequently joined the club as a junior member. She had a lovely New Forest pony called Willoway Thomas on whom she competed with the club in both eventing and dressage., having great fun and much success.
When Lucy was sixteen she went to work for Carl Hester, staying for six years, and was lucky enough to ride Valegro as a four year old. Their first outing was to a judges seminar, followed by their first show.
In 2006 Lucy competed Valegro in the four year old class at Badminton Dressage Championships where they were first , beating Carl into second place with Uthopia!
The next year Carl competed Valegro and Lucy groomed for them. It was very wet at that time which meant that they could not drive back to Carl’s yard with the horse, so he went for a sleepover at Lucy’s mother’s yard. (I wonder if she has a plaque over the door?)
The rest as they say, is history.
We are very privileged to have had Lucy as a member of our club.
Amongst those people who founded the club was a lady called Caroline Cartwright, who competed at dressage. Her twelve year old daughter Lucy, subsequently joined the club as a junior member. She had a lovely New Forest pony called Willoway Thomas on whom she competed with the club in both eventing and dressage., having great fun and much success.
When Lucy was sixteen she went to work for Carl Hester, staying for six years, and was lucky enough to ride Valegro as a four year old. Their first outing was to a judges seminar, followed by their first show.
In 2006 Lucy competed Valegro in the four year old class at Badminton Dressage Championships where they were first , beating Carl into second place with Uthopia!
The next year Carl competed Valegro and Lucy groomed for them. It was very wet at that time which meant that they could not drive back to Carl’s yard with the horse, so he went for a sleepover at Lucy’s mother’s yard. (I wonder if she has a plaque over the door?)
The rest as they say, is history.
We are very privileged to have had Lucy as a member of our club.