Georgie and Westy eventing
My name is Georgie, I live in Yorkshire and currently have one horse, a 21-year-old thoroughbred called Westy who is enjoying his retirement.
How did your horse come into your life?
My mum comes from a very horsey family and I’ve been riding for as long as I can remember. I got my first pony at nine years old and have had horses ever since.
How long have you been riding?
Since I was about four I think.
When and where do you ride?
I try to ride as much as I can, at the moment this means borrowing a friend’s horse, so I encourage my friends to go on holiday as much as possible so I can ride more!
How did you start riding?
At my local riding school and whenever we went on holiday I’d go trekking.
What you and your horses currently working on?
Westy is fully retired so he’s working on his grazing abilities at the moment, but I still like to do poll stretches with him and I do walk him up and down the lane where he’s kept. It’s also a public footpath so a lot of people always make a joke about him being a big dog!
What do you love about riding?
Georgie during a photoshoot at Tom McEwen’s yard
I’ve always loved being outside, I enjoy caring for horses and generally being around them as much as I do riding. I also love the small victories you get when you finally achieve something in a schooling session.
What you would you like to be doing in the future and do you have any goals?
I’d like to get a youngster to bring on as I love the process of teaching them from scratch. The older I get, the more holistically I look at riding. It’s no longer about competing or having set goals to work to, if my horse is happy, sound and a pleasure to be around, competitions come second. I’ve put too much pressure on myself and my riding in the past and learnt that it doesn’t get you anywhere!
Have you ever had to deal with nerves in riding?
I used to event and for some reason always got nervous before show jumping. Looking back, I don’t think the nerves were linked to jumping, I think they were about forgetting the course and making a fool of myself in front of a crowd!
How did you deal with them?
Someone once asked me how many times I had taken the wrong course and was it a “thing” I did a lot that led to the nerves. It made me realise that I’d never actually got lost in a show jumping ring so why worry about it?
Your Top Tip
To have fun and set yourself goals but be very flexible to them changing. And definitely don’t compare yourself to others, everyone has their own speed of doing things. Go after your dreams and cheer others on in pursuit of theirs.
The Final Furlong
Who would be your dream horse to ride?
I always loved Vicky Brakes event horse Looks Like Fun. He wasn’t the classiest horse ever, but he looked game for anything, and I bet he was awesome cross country.
Who is your equestrian hero?
Piggy French, when I was younger, I loved that we had the same first name (her real name is Georgie)!
If you could have 5 people to dinner who would they be?
Jonny Wilkinson, Jessica Ennis, Piggy French, Clare Balding and Dan Walker from BBC breakfast.
