Club member’s profiles 

Isobel’s story 

“ I started riding when I was around 10 years old. My mum had me going out on 1/2 hour lead rein rides until I could attempt proper  lessons. I eventually learnt how to ride, all the way through to canter and popping small jumps. I was never brave enough to take jumping  further. Throughout my adult life I ridden here and there. More recently, when I realised that I couldn’t ride anymore, due to stubborn weight issues and newly diagnosed with arthritis, I found carriage driving . This has brought me back to horses, where I feel like I am riding, but, sitting on a more stable base.“

Goals & Ambitions 

Isobel is focused on improving her accuracy ,in both the dressage and cones phase of carriage driving. Having been successful in our monthly carriage driving competitions. Competing online, worldwide, with Dressage Addicts, receiving excellent 60% plus scores.

It is Isobel’s goal to one day loan her own pony and have her own carriage.  Wanting to continue to drive for as long as possible. Enjoying being part of a friendly club that supports each other in competitions and training sessions.

Ambassador 

Isobel is an enthusiastic advocate for non visible disabilities, neurodiversity and health conditions. Assisting our club in promoting the many benefits that interacting with horses, horse riding and carriage driving can bring to this community. Making her an excellent ambassador for both our club and the sport of carriage driving.

Wendy’s story 

“ I had ridden in the past and I have enjoyed being able to restart being active around horses after a 26 year break, by learning to carriage drive”

Goals and ambitions

Wendy is focused on improving her accuracy at both the dressage and cones phases. On a regular basis Wendy gets great pleasure out of developing a bond with the horses. Making them clean and comfortable, keeping them fit and healthy.

AmbassAdor

Dylan is Wendy’s favourite horse and the feeling is mutual. If he is turned out in the field on a Saturday, he stands and whinny’s at the gate until he is fetched in. He only does this on the days that Wendy’s family visits. This is due to the vigilant care and attention to detail that Dylan receives from them.

Wendy enjoys learning a new skill, encouraging and supporting new members of the team. Having to concentrate in the moment, relieves the stresses of life.

Being part of the club improves physical health, mental health and overall resilience to life.  Wendy enjoys the social aspect of carriage driving  competing with other club members.

Mazie’s  story 

 My favourite horse is Huey, pictured far left. He is such a gentle horse and is also a such a gentleman  when grooming and tacking him up. Overall he is a  very well behaved horse , including riding him for my lessons. 

My favourite thing about him is when his bottom lip drops and his tongue sticks out.

I enjoy the most the excitement I get when I’m around the horses. They bring me so much joy , peace and always put a smile on my face whenever I see them.

Goals and ambitions

My riding goal is to become a show jumper or a cross country rider. I also enjoy being on the carriage for the cones phase and driving around the local area.

i enjoy being able to work with the most talented and wonderful horses.

My favourite part about our club is the relationships with clients and staff and having a brilliant bond with the horses. 

Being part of the club gives me so much confidence. I’m able to learn new things like how to train horses and learning the different dietary requirements for each horse.

AmbassAdor

Mazie is an ambassador for being an Apprentice with our club. 

The learning aspects are delivered at the yard, working with the National Horse racing college to achieve NVQ 2

MADISON’S  story 

I started riding when I was around 7 years old with another riding school in group lessons, then had to stop for awhile. 

I visited G. O. Equestrian Club CIC looking for somewhere to start riding again. 

Gemma and all the staff made me feel really welcome  and right away I knew I wanted to ride here.

I’ve been riding for around 8 months with Gemma and feel like I have really experienced the horse world. I live for Saturdays and spending all day at the stables.  My riding has really improved and I’ve experienced jumping, pole work, cross country  riding , hacking, dressage ,carriage driving, backstepping on the carriage, plus SO many new skills. I love G.O. Equestrian Club and all the people involved.

Goals and ambitions 

My long term goal is to become a horse riding teacher like Gemma and to be able to jump a course on Dylan.

My favourite pony is Molly, pictured centre and right.  I enjoy grooming , tacking up and riding.  My favourite activities are carriage driving cones phase, showjumping, hacking out and carriage driving around our local area.

AmbassAdor

As our youngest club member, Madison is a voice for our junior members. As a community interest club, we place great emphasis on everyone having a say in the direction and decisions made for the club.

Madison is able to do her favourite pastime every weekend in a safe place with her family and friends. These experiences of riding and horse care, she will treasure for the rest of her life.

Craig’s story 

From a young age I have ridden and been around horses, I then had a break from horses.

At the age of 14 years I lost my mum, it was then through coping with my grief, I started riding again. Being around horses took my mind off things , not just my personal  ones, horses just bring me peace of mind. If I’m struggling to put a smile on my face, I always know that being with the horses will certainly make me smile. 

A favourite story of mine,  is the day me and Gemma hacked out together. We were both able to enjoy the peace and quiet and had a great laugh.

We are like a big family , there’s no judgement, we all help each other and teach each other new things. 

When I first starting riding at G.O. Equestrian Club CIC, the first horse that I rode was Huey. This was after a break from riding and my previous experience was in the racing and showjumping world. Then I rode Jack, he became my favourite, so much so, I ended up buying him.  We developed a great friendship and I would never part with him.

Jack pictured far left and right. Centre is Monza, a youngster that I’m reschooling

Goals and ambitions 

I have worked alongside Gemma for over a year now, and I’ve learnt so much. I’m much more open minded to the other equine disciplines . Instead of always being focused on racing and jumping , my goals now about dressage.

AmbassAdor

Craig considers himself to have invisible disabilities and to be neurodiverse, making him a very empathetic ambassador for our club.

Being part of the club has enabled him to regain his confidence in himself and in his riding. He is looking forwards to his confidence continuing to grow with the support of the club and its members.

Craig is also proud to be an ambassador for the LGBTQ community, as horses have been his therapy through life changing experiences. He wholeheartedly promotes the benefits that being around horses, horse riding and carriage driving can bring to all communities.

Samantha’s  story 

Horses have been a part of my life for many years, I love everything about them. From the smell to the comfort horses and ponies bring to me when I’m having a bad day.

Due to ill health I had to give up my own horse. 

I’ve now discovered this fantastic yard that don’t judge, and 100% understand if I am unwell.

I am looking forward to a new direction, carriage driving. It will mean that at last I can be involved with horses again.

Even though I have just joined the group, I can tell already that for as long as possible, I can now be a part of the equestrian world . Which I have missed immensely.

Goals and ambitions 

Samantha enjoys both horse riding and carriage driving, her favourite pony at the yard is Tommy.

Samantha is looking forwards to going through any equine assessments and exams to learn to be the very best horse person that she can be.

AmbassAdor

Personally speaking, when attending Bawtry festival, Samantha was the perfect promotional ambassador for our recent project; Carriage Driving for Our Community

The National lottery and the community fund, believed in this project, and we received funds that not only allowed us to purchase a wheelchair accessible carriage, but enable us to offer a buy one get one free introduction to Carriage Driving.

Samantha is also an ambassador for invisible disabilities and chronic health conditions . She faces challenges herself, offering empathy and support for others in similar situations ,comes very naturally to her. Easy to talk to, with a great sense of humour, making her an excellent mentor for our club, and raising awareness of non visible disabilities, neurodiversity and health conditions .

Julie’s story 

Horses have always been in my life at some point…. I was horse mad… I even had horse wallpaper on my bedroom wall.  When all my friends had pop stars on their walls, I had horses, which caused a lot of amusement.

I was lucky as opposite my mum and dad’s house there were horses. I was always there learning and helping . If mum couldn’t find me, she would look out of the window and there I was with the horses.

The top of my Christmas list to Santa was always a pony . Sadly mum and dad couldn’t afford one, so I volunteered as much as possible at the local stables. I had lessons and spent as much time as I could, with these magnificent, powerful , beautiful animals.

Then arthritis got the better of me, one of my discs in my back, worn to the bone and fused together. I was then advised by doctors that horse riding wasn’t a good idea.

When my husband bought my carriage driving taster session with Gemma, I was so excited. It was the next best thing to riding….. I loved it.

This is now the next chapter of my equestrian journey and I’m so excited to see what happens.

Goals and ambitions 

Molly is my favourite pony ( pictured far left and centre) she is a sweetheart. She is a dream to drive, she enjoys it so much, you can almost see her smile. Molly loves affection too, she is very partial to a polo or two or more !

My long term ambition and goal, is to be the best that I can be at carriage driving. I’m looking forwards at driving all the multiples, pairs, tandem and even teams. Competing at all aspects of carriage driving, both at indoor and outdoor events. 

To win rosettes would make me feel incredibly proud for both myself and the club. 

I would love to continue to be in the “Events Support Crew”  having the opportunity to groom at National events with Gemma, promoting our club at events and festivals, attending wedding fairs and anything else that I’m given the opportunity to be involved with.

My goals are to gain the knowledge and experience within the sport of carriage driving that I need to make my dreams come true, to compete. Gemma offers this opportunity to compete with her ponies, harness and carriage, because she is so passionate to support carriage driving trials at the grassroots level.

I am looking forwards to being part of a team, where I can support other people achieve their own ambitions and dreams. I’m sure that I will make new friends that will last a lifetime. 

AmbassAdor

Whenever Julie is at the yard, her happiness, and sense of feeling content ,is infectious. You would never know that Julie has an invisible disability. This makes Julie  a perfect ambassador for our clubs ethos. Our goal is to share that simply being around horses, horse riding and carriage driving can become your coping mechanism for chronic pain.

Whenever you need anyone to help or support, Julie is one of the first people to volunteer. Therefore, I feel that Julie is also an ambassador for teamwork, this is always done with a smile on her face. 

Having Julie on the yard supports me in maintaining high standards for both the horses and the humans. Anyone that truly appreciates the value that first impressions makes, is a  true mentor  for club. Many consider me to be on the OCD side of cleanliness and an impressive turn out. The saying being that “you never get the chance to make a good first impression again”. is something I truly believe in. Especially for Unique Carriages, when we provide transport for clients weddings. We appear on their wonderful photos for a lifetime, so it’s essential that we all look our very best.

Janine’s story 

I started my riding journey, at around 8 years old, on a little fat Shetland called Nero…. OR …Nero-you-pig….as he was renamed by his owner. This was after a particularly vicious nip on his bum. I rode for a couple of years , mostly hacking out,and then, due to moving around a lot whilst I was young, I didn’t come back to riding until I was in my mid twenties.

I rode often at a local riding school for a number of years, enjoying hacking out, group lessons, jumping, and I even managed to pass my BHS Stage one and BHS Stage two exams. 

Very sadly the riding school had to close down and I needed to find somewhere that would support and challenge me with my riding. It was at this point that I found Gemma…..and dressage. I had never tried this discipline before but, with Gemma’s teaching was inspiring and I loved learning new skills and improving my riding with her. I was definitely hooked, Not only did I learn a lot about different dressage ways of going and lateral movements, but I have very happy memories of hacking out. Riding on the beach, and at Clumber Park, and even taking part in a musical ride for an Open Day. Even now, every time I hear Scissor sisters, I do r feel like dancing, it takes me straight back to that moment in my life.

unfortunately, life has a way of throwing a spanner in the works and I had to unexpectedly stop riding. This was due to health reasons, but also financial reasons.

Over the following ten years, I had some difficult times with my health , but I still yearned to be back in the horse world again. I continued to follow Gemma from afar on Facebook and, in February, I noticed a carriage drive around the local area and asking for people to contact her if they were interested. I gathered up my courage and messaged her. It was such an enjoyable experience, and absolutely wonderful to catch up after so much time. 

I shared with Gemma that I would love to ride again, but, due to a health condition, it probably wouldn’t be wise to do so.

”well what about carriage driving ?”, she asked.

It had never even entered into my head ! 

Shortly afterwards , I booked my first carriage driving lesson and, again, I was hooked. I am loving learning a new discipline and I’m so grateful to Gemma and her team, for supporting and encouraging me on this new, challenging, exciting and exhilarating journey 

Goals and ambitions 

I want to continue to improve my confidence with carriage driving and my competency, and accuracy in dressage tests.

I would also like to be  more confident driving different horses and maybe even work towards driving a pair.

My ultimate aim is to be a member of a team representing;

”G.O.Equestrian Club CIC “  at driving trials competitions.

I consider it to be a privilege to be able to be around horses. It can be an extremely immersive experience and definitely stress relief. Whether I am driving, grooming, tacking up, or even picking up droppings from the arena, the whole experience is calming and relaxing. I particularly love all the different characters and personalities of the horses and ponies at G.O. Equestrian Club CIC 

If asked to choose my favourite horse or pony, I couldn’t possibly choose. Bailey because he is a gentleman and the first horse that I started riding with Gemma, Huey because he taught me so much about dressage, Dylan because he is such a character to ride and drive, Molly because she is the first pony that I drove and she never puts a foot wrong and Tom because he is making me “think” more about my driving, rather than being a passenger.

I certainly think that both my physical and mental health have improved by being part of G.O. Equestrian Club CIC. I’m much more active, getting more exercise and fresh air, plus I’m able to switch off and have some time to myself. Whilst I’m helping on the yards or driving, “me time” is very important.

It definitely feels like family ! I’m always made to feel very welcome, and everyone is always so kind, supportive and encouraging.

AMBASSADOR 

One of the aspects of Gemma’s work that she is incredibly proud of is maintaining her relationships with clients that become friends and family. Janine is an Ambassador for this Loyalty. Even when she was unable to support the riding school physically, there were always supportive words via Facebook. So now that Janine has returned, it now feels like she has never been apart.

Being the business owner and instructor comes with all sorts of stresses and strains. Combine  that with going from a person suffering with invisible disabilities to visible disability, Janine is one of the few people, that Gemma never worried about being accepted by when Janine rejoined G.O.Equestrian Club.  

Janine is an ambassador for putting people at ease, and being a naturally easy person to get along with. I’m so pleased that Janine has fully immersed herself in the club and become a Trustee. Therefore, we are very excited to see what the future holds both for the club and to see Janine compete representing our team.