Juggling school with horses
Horse-mad teens will head back to school with a heavy heart this week. Amy Mathieson asks top riders how best to juggle studies with launching your riding career
Top riders on how youngsters can best balance studies with riding
AT the end of a long summer break, the cries and complaints of reluctant offspring about heading back to school are inevitable. And for pony-mad kids it’s not the early alarm call that’s the biggest shock (they’re used to that already, after all), it’s those horse-free days. Mornings of grooming their ponies, afternoon hacks and weeks at Pony Club camp are replaced by chemistry and double maths.
Obviously the riding doesn’t have to stop when children and teens return to school, but it’s much more of a challenge if they want to pursue a serious career in the sport, and requires some serious juggling.
GOLD medal-winning para-dressage rider Natasha Baker credits her school for being supportive, but also warns that there’s a lot of self-discipline required.
“I was so lucky,” she says. “We had a mutual respect, my teachers gave me extensions on coursework when needed and I never pushed the boundaries.”
Natasha did her A levels over three years as she was trying to qualify for the Beijing Games at the time. She missed a lot of school, so did her second year twice to ensure she gained the results she deserved.
“It’s important to be open and honest with your school,” she adds. “Keep them up to date and tell them well in advance when there could be times when you’re competing, so you can come up with a plan for extensions.”
Young eventer Chelsea Pearce agrees it’s not easy juggling competing at a high level while taking your A levels, and that it requires strong willpower, and support, to do both.
Despite being focused and disciplined with her school work, Chelsea admits that it was high pressure at times, especially as she was also fitting in taking her driving test, an advanced apprenticeship in sporting excellence at Hartpury College and trialling for the junior European Championships all at the same time.
“In my first year of A levels it was easier, but in the latter months before the exams, there were two or three occasions where it got a little bit on top of me,” she says.
“It’s crucial to have a good support team around you — my mum spent a lot of time doing the horses so I could concentrate on my A levels. Without some support I would say it is impossible to combine both.”
‘Mum made me promise I’d be back from riding by 8.15am so that we could get to school on time without me looking too dishevelled’ JOCKEY RICHARD JOHNSON
NATIONAL HUNT jockey Aidan Coleman, whose parents are both retired teachers, supports getting a full education as a back-up for the future.
“When I was at school I only rode out at weekends,” he says. “I think it’s very important to finish school, especially with how competitive it is [in racing] these days.”
Aidan’s older brother Kevin was also a professional jockey, and finished his studies before taking a licence. After stopping riding around 10 years ago, he then went to university and took a sports science degree, showing that completing school is important in case you have a career change down the line.
Dressage rider Hayley Watson-Greaves agrees with this. “School was obviously of high importance and I had to make sure homework and coursework were done on time,” she says, adding that she spent her school holidays riding for Jane Gregory.
“When it came to A levels, I gave up the horses and focused on achieving them. I then came back into horses when I was 21 as I still had ambitions to make a career out of it.”
Polly Eddis, mother of showing riders Lucy and Susie, says school is a priority for her girls. Lucy is about to start university at Edinburgh, while Susie is a full boarder at St Mary’s Ascot, and comes home every three weeks to ride. If the girls have a qualifier, they will go straight to the competition and meet their mother there.
“It’s all about a balance,” says Polly. “My girls take booklets of vocab or set text to do at competitions to keep on top of homework.”
She also notes that it’s vital to work within your means as a parent, and not set yourself unrealistic goals.
“It’s important to plan your ponies around your home team’s capacity,” she says. “If you only have a mother doing them, don’t have two ponies for each child. We keep them ticking over as then they are always ready to go when the girls are home.”
MANY of the top riders left school early and although not right for everyone, it has been successful for many careers.
“I wasn’t a fan of school at all and rode my
‘A clash with the national championships and a swimming gala required military precision’ DRESSAGE RIDER STEPH Croxford
ponies before and after,” says eventer Laura Collett, who left straight after her GCSEs.
She adds that it took a lot of persuading to be allowed to take this route, however.
“I got on the World Class Programme at the beginning of my GCSE year, so I used the line ‘They think I’m good enough at eventing so you should let me give it a go full-time,’ and luckily I was able to,” she says.
Champion National Hunt jockey Richard Johnson also left school after his GCSEs.
“I wasn’t the most academic and was keen to leave school,” he says. “Also I was fortunate as I had somewhere to go [to ride at trainer David Nicholson’s], so it was a good stepping stone for me.”
While he was at school he still managed to ride every day, and as his mother and grandfather were trainers, he was well placed to take up the sport.
“I got the bug. Mum made me promise I’d be back from riding by 8.15am so that we could get to school on time without me looking too dishevelled,” he laughs.
“I loved the summer holidays, but I think the ponies were delighted when I went back to school as they had a rest.”
Having family support is a major benefit, and the main reason that many top riders got where they are today.
Richard has three children himself, who are all into ponies, which has made him realise how lucky he was to have the support of his family when he was younger.
“All they want to do is ride,” he says. “And now I really appreciate the time and energy my mum put into ferrying me around. I hope I can do the same for mine.”
Hayley credits her parents as a big part of the routine.
On the days Hayley had a lesson, her mother would pick her up from school in the lorry with the horses on board. Other days it would be a matter of just jumping on the pony.
“After riding was done, I would then do my homework, that was the deal,” she says.
BUT what about the parents? Back-toschool time might be dreaded by kids, but it also gives competitive parents much-needed time to work on their training.
Dressage rider Steph Croxford has two children — seven-year-old Ben and 10-yearold Annabelle — with whom she has to balance her riding career.
“It’s like being any other working mum really and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but it’s a balancing act for yourself and your kids, so back-to-school-time makes life easier for me,” she says.
“When the kids are at school, you have that window from 9am to 3.15pm to ride.
“You don’t want to force the direction of interest, like say to them, ‘It’s horses or nothing’, but it’s hard to juggle. We had a clash with the national championships and a swimming gala, so there was a military precision to get it to work.
“How as a parent can you ever justify your needs over your child’s? You can’t and it’s incredibly complicated, but if you want it to work you find a way forward, and it’s useful if you have supportive friends and families to help.”