wright equestrian

What I do

I am a freelance riding instructor and take in horses for schooling and competing. I also like to breed one or two sport horses and produce horses to sell, more details about these things and others in “Services”.

It all started when I was eight years old, after watching my sister have her first two riding lessons, I wanted a go. That was it, I was hooked and she now has a proper job! On leaving school at sixteen (as soon as possible) I went to Moorside Equestrian Centre in Baildon to train for my BHS exams and left with my assistant instructors certificate (BHSAI).

The second year of my course was when I got bitten by the showjumping bug. We had to go to a yard for experience and I was fortunate enough to go to Robert Smith’s showjumping and dealing yard in Essex for 12 months. Then it was back to Yorkshire and I went to work for Harvey Smith for the next 6 months, gaining more showjumping experience and learning a little bit about racing too.

My move from Harvey’s yard was to find a job where I would get more chance to compete myself. That opportunity arose when I was introduced to Terry Wharton via Katie Butters, one of my trainers at Moorside. Here I learned my trade! Out of all the people I have ever known, Terry Wharton is top of my list of great horsemen. He had a superb eye for a horse and could fix any problem equine related. During my time here I got to ride some really good horses, hunted two or three times a week, learnt how to break horses in (properly) and competed in showjumping and mainly eventing. My greatest achievement here was getting the very exuberant bucking bronco known as Oscar to conform to hunting, then eventing (never out of the top three). Oscar went on to international 3 day level, a definite success!

After Terry’s I got the opportunity to become yard manager at a livery yard, which enabled me to develop an understanding of running a business. I was able to buy and sell horses myself and compete anything we bought in. I started to build up my clients, both in teaching and on the breaking/schooling side, this made the step of going self-employed slightly less daunting.

Now, several years on, I have my own yard, which my wife helps me run as well as doing her full-time job. I now school clients’ horses and train the horses that I compete in various disciplines.