I am originally from Mid Wales, which was the ideal training for an endurance rider, literally hundreds of miles of mountains to explore, and that’s how I spent most my childhood, out exploring on my pony. I now live in Staffordshire, where the horse training isn’t so good but job opportunities are plenty. Adulting for you!
I work full time as a Physiotherapist but my true passion, has always been and I think always will be, training endurance horses. I started endurance when I was 8 years old on a Welsh Section A pony called Amigo, you know that one horse that teaches you to ride (aka misbehaves so much you acquire the staying on skills of a pro bull rider), Amigo was that pony for me. Nevertheless he started the bug, we would travel the UK with my Mum on her Irish Cob and my Dad on his Welsh Section D and rode up to 50km on all 11hh of him. He loved it, he had the extended trot of a horse three times his size and was rarely seen behind anything, loving to lead the way.
The beginnings of my endurance career I believe stood me in good stead because I didn’t start on an Arabian. In my opinion Natives are harder to get fit, harder to crew, harder to pace and don’t have the natural stamina of an Arabian. Starting with natives meant I learnt every trick in the book to train smart, to recover my horses quickly, to crew well and to learn how to ride to effort not speed. I also had a great foundation of competing for the Welsh Team on my Dad’s Section D, Elin, at the age of 12, so from the start I knew what it was to ride for a team. When I started riding Elin my feet didn’t pass the saddle flaps but we competed up to 64km and did 25 rides together. My Dad had handed over the reins to me and got himself a coveted Arabian, Xerina, the first arabian at our yard and she was all sass, speed and beauty.
For me, then came along Tissy, I was 10 when she first set hoof on our yard in Wales. Little did I know the adventures we would go on, the huge part she would play in my life and how much I would love her. She had a horrific field accident in her first year with us and it took her 18 months of specialist care to recover, for most horses it would have ended their ridden career in its tracks, Tissy however is special. She was extremely challenging to ride at first, she would buck, rear, plant herself and spook uncountable times in the space of a mile. She hated training at home but loved it out on new trails. But I was young and had no fear, and lets face it didn’t have much else to do up in the hills, so we persevered. Now riding her makes me feel whole, I know her every move and trust her completely, she knows her job and she’s damn good at it. Tissy and I have been competing since 2005 and in that time we have represented Wales, Great Britain at Young Rider and Senior level, competed at the World Equestrian Games, won a European Championship medal, got a Gold at the Golden Horseshoe, Met the Queen after coming 2nd at the Royal Windsor Horseshow, Won The Red Dragon and been all over Europe. Twenty years later and I still ride her every week, she still loves new trails and she does not act her age!
As Tissy came to the end of her career I had a 16.1hh Arabian called Pria, she was ready and waiting in the wings to takeover the FEI career. I trained her better than I trained any horse, I applied the knowledge I’d gained as a Physio and as a Certified Strength and Conditioning specialist, I researched nutrition, recovery, training. I did everything evidence based science could throw my way. But one year into her FEI career something was just not right, the effort going into her wasn’t paying off, my equine Physio refereed her to Newmarket Equine Hopsital, we were due to do a 120km race at Windsor Horseshow in 6 weeks and just to be better safe than sorry we were sent for a full check up. The results weren’t good. Pria had stress responses throughout her skeletal system and issues in her sacroilliac joints, we could have been just one more training session away from a broken leg. A year of rest and I bought Pria back into work, she had always been sound but I wasn’t willing to put her at the risk of high level endurance training so we spent 3 months bringing her back up to fitness and making sure that she was well behaved and well mannered enough for me to feel comfortable about selling her. She went to a wonderful home, who years later still sends me updates. Tissy and Pria often meet up for the odd Pleasure ride and its the best feeling in the World knowing you’ve found a forever loving home for your horse.
It takes 4 years of training to make it up to competitive FEI level in Endurance (Sure you can probably do it quicker but that’s my ethos) I always treat the 1*’s and the first of the 2 & 3*’s as training, so for me I don’t even contemplate starting to think about placings until those are done. With Pria gone I had to start all over again, however I learnt that I enjoy the journey and the process of bringing a horse on as much as I enjoy the feeling of racing the last loop of an endurance ride. So along came Azid.
Azid is a force of nature, he has so much personality it just spills out of him. He has not been easy, he acts before he thinks, he’s the biggest wimp but incurably curious, which usually results in him investigating something that then terrifies him. His favourite dance move is the rear, spin and get out of here. Despite this he has been a superstar to compete, he won all his Novice Performance Formula classes, he’s the most balanced responsive ride, his presentation times are phenomenal and he goes into vettings like he’s been doing it his whole life.
Over the years I’ve also managed to fit some other activities in. I’m a black belt in karate, I did a spell of Krav Maga. I’m a scuba Divemaster and spent some time in Egypt guiding dives. I love to snowboard, surf and cliff jump. Put me in the Sea and I’ll try any water sport. I love hiking, mountain biking and climbing, just being outdoors and doing something adrenaline fuelled basically. But really my life has revolved around horses and I’ve always had just the one competing to really concentrate on, but now I’m older and on a better wage what better way to use a payrise than to expand my herd a bit. Que Qantas, the most recent addition to the Langley Endurance team. He’s a year younger than Azid, I bought him from one of the best Endurance yards in the UK , and he is ready to do his Novice season.
So here I am documenting my journey in the pursuit of my dreams, to once again represent Team GBR and compete on the World Endurance stage.
Beth Endurance 