Chatting with Leonie Saffy

Based in Wrexham, North Wales, Leonie Saffy, is a very talented and truly inspirational grade 3 para dressage rider who combines riding with her university studies. The hard-working and determined Leonie has enjoyed many successes to date including winning two consecutive national titles and representing GB. Leonie has an extremely rare genetic condition known as Multiple Pterygium Syndrome (Escobar type), a condition which affects muscle tissues, connective tissue and joints, including curvature of the spine.

Currently Leonie has two horses. The first is Jack, her twenty-six-year old retired superstar that she has had for nearly 11 years. She calls him a one-in-a-million pony and says “I will forever be grateful for the experiences he has given me, from representing both Wales and GB to winning consecutive national titles. Jack gave me the confidence in riding that I had lost after my fair share of cheeky ponies and following my unfortunate accident in 2020, came out of semi-retirement to act as my safety net to get me back in the saddle”. He is now living a well-deserved retirement in the mountains and Leonie visits him every Sunday to spend the day with him.

Her other horse is eight-year-old mare, Forrests Blackdiamond (aka Tia) who has been the competing for just over a year.  Tia and Leonie became a combination in May 2021 and since starting to compete in late 2023, have won both the grade 2 Winter and Summer Equissage Silver Para Championships. Having recently been internationally re-graded to a grade 3, Leonie will be tackling the grade 3 gold level with Tia in the summer of 2025. She says “Tia is a true sassy queen with a kind heart and a very brave soul, and I am so very proud of the mare she is growing into”. Alongside her para dressage career, Leonie has also completed her MSci in Biochemistry at Keele University and has just been awarded a research PhD that starts in February 2025 at Liverpool John Moores University. Leonie’s aim is to pursue a career in research on the molecular biology of disease to aid the development of new therapeutics.

How did your dressage journey start and what does it look like today?

I began my journey with horses at Clwyd Special Riding Centre (CSRC) in 2012 on advisement from my spinal surgeon with the aim to strengthen my core in preparation for a major spinal surgery. Horse riding did what was thought to be impossible by doctors, it strengthened my core to point of preventing my spinal curvature from worsening resulting in my major operation being postponed by five years. In 2016, I had full spinal fusion and had 2 Harrington rods and 20 screws inserted.  When joining the RDA centre in 2012, I started Hippotherapy classes on a Friday afternoon and soon moved up to Thursday CSRC classes. I took part in the countryside challenge at the RDA Regionals for my first year and qualified for Hartpury RDA Nationals, placing third at Nationals. In 2014, I participated in the dressage class at the RDA Regionals on a little chestnut pony called Chester and winning my class was just the start of my passion for dressage. To this day, I go back to volunteer at CSRC during my free time from university and my own horses and it truly inspires me to work with such an incredible community. In the following years, I was lucky to eventually find my pony Jack who I competed in both para and able-bodied classes, went on to represent Wales and GB and won several national titles together. In May 2021, Tia and I became a partnership and at this time, I had very limited experience with young horses and so we moved to Anna Brown’s dressage yard in late 2022, and Anna has truly supported both mine and Tia’s education on our journey together. We have been competing as a partnership since late 2023 and in this time, have won two para national championships at grade 2 silver level. This past year, I have seen Tia grow in both strength and maturity, and I could not be prouder of the beautiful mare she is developing into. It’s been a long journey with Tia but I am so excited for our future together.

 

Who do you train with?   

My coach is Anna Brown, and she has been a fundamental part of our journey. Anna works with Tia herself 3-4 times a week and gives me a lesson on Tia once a week. This type of training schedule has made things much easier while keeping on top of my degree the past year. Anna has been my coach for just over two years and in this time, I have learnt so much both on and off the horse about the training and education of horses. At the time of becoming a combination with Tia, I was still recovering from nerve damage in my right leg from my unfortunate riding accident in March 2020. While I recovered from my nerve injury, Anna developed both Tia’s education and strength, and our success as a partnership would not have been possible without Anna’s phenomenal horsemanship.

What does a typical day for you look like?

I am very lucky that I am able to have the support of someone else helping to look after my horses day-to-day. On a training day, my typical day consists of university from 7am-3pm which includes commuting to and from, and then I drive to the yard for a lesson with Anna on Tia. I also weightlift 3-4 times a week and try to slot this in where I can. Research can fluctuate and my hours in the lab can therefore change from week-to-week but I feel I have worked out a good balance between work, life and the horses. I try to compete 1-2 times a month and work this around university too. I am an extremely organised person and always like to plan my weeks ahead.

What are you and your horses currently working on?

I was recently re-graded internationally to grade 3 and this introduces a few extra complex moves into the para test. We have currently qualified for the grade 3 silver level winter championships that are taking place in late March 2025. Through the winter, we have been introducing a few of the new gold level moves such as pirouettes and trot leg yield. I wanted to give Tia plenty of time to learn these without too much pressure and Anna has been a huge helping us both to learn these together as a combination. The main goal for 2025 is to enter Tia at gold level and qualify for the grade 3 gold summer para championships.

What challenges have you faced on your dressage journey?

My equestrian journey has had its fair share of challenges. In 2016, I underwent a full spinal fusion as my curvature had rapidly progressed and was affecting my lungs and heart. This took me out of the saddle for nine months however, I must be grateful to my fantastic surgeon who let me finish my competition season beforehand. The recovery from this surgery was probably the hardest things I have ever had to do, re-learning to walk and managing the pain was a major challenge. Another challenge was my unfortunate riding accident in 2020. I broke my pelvis in multiple places, broke my hip and fractured my femur bone. I am extremely difficult under anaesthetic so it was deemed safer for me to heal naturally so it was a long road to recovery. I had just been selected for the GB P3 squad so this just felt like a major setback to be back to square one on another journey to get recovered.

It takes a team to do dressage, who is in your support team?

I am so grateful to my team around me for the continued support that makes it all possible; my incredible coach, Anna Brown, who goes above and beyond to support us through every step of our journey, my veterinary physiotherapist, Lesley Williamson, for ensuring Tia is always in fantastic condition, and of course to my friends and family that are always cheering me on.

What do you love about riding?

There is no way to describe that feeling of the bond between a horse and rider. I have had some tough times in my life over the years, but horses have become my place of peace. One thing I love about riding is that feeling of the partnership growing, when that little bit of communication you’ve been working on with your horse in training starts to become clear and you feel a sense of togetherness as a combination. I love that each horse has their own personality, and this makes each ride on a different horse unique.

 

What are your future aspirations?

In the saddle, I would love to have that proud moment of competing Tia at an international level. A goal of mine is to build up our gold level scores through 2025 and then enter for the 2026 GB podium potential P3 squad trials and earn a place. My ultimate goal would be to climb up the GB squads to P1 podium and I would love to go to an Olympic games in the future. Out of the saddle, I want to graduate with a PhD research degree and pursue a job in research on the molecular biology of disease. I would love to travel for my research a little and have the opportunity to present my own research one day.

What are the highlights of your dressage journey to date?  

A major highlight for me was getting to take my pony, Jack, to compete 2* for GB. Jack was always the smallest pony in the competition by a mile and so to trot down that centre line in front of 5 international judges and place 2nd was a very proud moment on my journey. I was also awarded the OCS young sportsperson of the year for the Wales and West region in 2017. This was a very proud moment to receive such an honour of an award at such a young age and I got the chance to meet some incredible athletes, both para and able-bodied from a range of sports. Another highlight was to have been selected for the GB P3 podium potential squad back in 2019. Some recent highlights of mine have been winning two consecutive national titles with my beautiful mare, Tia. In such big atmospheres from wind and banners to flowers and crowds, Tia was so brave and strutted her stuff with confidence. Doing that final centre line halt and to find out she’d won was an indescribable feeling and still makes me smile, I felt like a proud parent.

 

Do you have any rituals before competing?

Something I have started doing as a necessity is a visualisation either the night before or the morning of a competition. I visualise a positive and relaxed warm up and carry this through to envisioning my test from start to finish, going through each movement while affirming to myself what I need to remember to correctly execute each movement. I also do a positive affirmation meditation for athletes which is a major part of maintaining a positive and confident mindset throughout the competition day.  

 

 

Your Top Tip

There are a lot of ups and downs in this sport and it is a very competitive but a tip I would give any rider is to always make sure your having fun because that is what it should always be about.

 

What is the best piece of advice that you have ever been given?

‘If you can aim to always find one positive improvement, no matter how big or small, you will always have a good ride. It is progress over perfection’  

       

Down the Centre Line

 

Who would be your dream horse to ride?

My dream horse would probably be Lottie Fry’s Glamourdale. Wow, what a beautiful moving horse with such elegance.

 

Who is your equestrian hero?

The first person that comes to mind is Sir Lee Pearson. I have warmed up with Lee several times and had the privilege of having lessons with him, and I can honestly say for someone who has achieved so much in his career at such a high level, he is the one of the most down to earth people I have met. Sir Lee has always been quick to give me some ideas to help me work through training obstacles in the past. His horsemanship is incredible and truly inspiring.

 

If you could have five people for dinner, who would they be?

Carl Hester, Lottie Fry, Sir Lee Pearson, Emma Watson and Dwayne Johnson – a bit of a mix!

 

Favourite horse event?

The Olympics and Paralympics

 

Want More?

If you enjoyed meeting Leonie you might like to view more dressage rider “chatting with” interviews here.  You can keep up with Leonie’s progress and visit her instagram page here