Biography…
Lottie has been told she could ride before
she could walk and has spent her life around horses, which perhaps
explains why she understands them better than
humans!
Her grandmother was
a prolific horse woman in her time and as children, bought Lottie, her
brother and sister a pony to share.
This pony was a yearling, costing just £25 from Gloucester market.. Mickey, as
he became known, was a dun 12.2 pony.
Lottie's grandmother broke in the pony for the children and it
was thanks to her that they learnt to ride.
Mickey was biddable but cheeky. He would never let the children
come to any harm but also made sure that they learnt to ride in order
to operate him otherwise he refused.
Most of Lottie’s natural horsemanship is inherent from her mother and
grandmother – the rest was learnt on the hunting field where from
a young age she learnt that if you fell off not only did it hurt but
also everyone left you behind – so she quickly learnt the art of staying in
the saddle no matter what and tackling whatever fences her mother took
for fear of being left behind again! Despite her pony only being 12.2hh
and her mothers 16.2hh – Mickey was incredibly brave.
full From
Mickey – Lottie went on to Rufus a young flighty pretty chestnut
13.2hh who would jump anything – providing she could hang on and
not interfere with him too much.
It was on Rufus Lottie attempted her first British Pony Team
Trial when she was 12 yrs old. All was going swimmingly until her
hat fell off and not wanting to dismount for fear of incurring
penalties – Lottie had to wait for a rather overweight fence
judge to retrieve it for her – so she finished clear but with
time penalties. It was also on
this round that she was talent spotted by the team selector and scooped
up on to team training. She was
then given the ride on The Minstrel 14.2hh.
The Minstrel was
the most amazing pony she had ever sat on – and with some
training by Lady Mary Rose Williams – Lottie was selected for the
British team and competed in Stockholm,
becoming the best placed Brit aged just 14. From here Lottie went on to compete
at Juniors whilst juggling intensive schoolwork from Cheltenham
Ladies’ College – doing the horses before and after school
- and after her A–levels in Maths, Economics and German she took
a gap year to event full
time.
In the "off
season" Lottie went up to London to earn some money modelling - then in the new
year she set her sights on becoming a British Young Rider team member
and trained intensively for her goal.
In August that year she achieved her dream and was selected
through rigorous selection trials and training for the British
Team. As a member of the team, Lottie travelled out to compete in
Austria .
After competing in Austria, Lottie decided to study for a
BSc Hons in International Business
at the Royal
Agricultural College, Cirencester. Her main
reason for choosing this college was due to its close proximity to
Lottie's yard which would enable her to
ride every day and continue training.
While a student,
Lottie worked in the evenings as a waitress and continued to do some
modelling to help fund her college life and keep her horses going. Having graduated, Lottie then
decided to do a Masters to stretch herself and become a qualified
Management Consultant.
To achieve this
goal Lottie studied at the University
of Warwick as the
reputation of their business school is highly regarded. She did that for a year –
traipsing up and down the country between the yard and Uni with the aid of a Sports Bursary awarded to her
by the Uni. Lottie went on to attain her Masters Degree in 2001.
With her wealth of
impressive qualifications - just in case of injury - Lottie felt
confident enough to throw herself into her dream of becoming a
professional Event rider. Lottie
bought youngsters and brought them on herself which takes us to the
present day where she is competing at the top of her tree on her
home-grown heroes.
Lottie is also a
renowned trainer and teacher and has an extensive client list. She has attracted the backing of some
great sponsors who have helped her enormously and to whom she is most
grateful.
