Biography...

Lottie has been told she could ride before she could walk and has spent her life around horses, which perhaps explains why she sometimes understands them better than humans!

Early Years

Her grandmother, who was a prolific horse woman in her time, bought Lottie, her brother and sister their first 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 inherited from her mother and grandmother – the rest was learnt on the hunting field where from a young age she realised that if you fell off not only did it hurt but also everyone left you behind. She quickly learnt the art of staying in the saddle no matter what and tackled whatever fences her mother took for fear of being left behind again! Despite being only 12.2hh and dwarfed by her mothers 16.2hh, Mickey was incredibly brave.

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 that 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 on this same 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. After her A–levels in Maths, Economics and German she took a gap year to event full time.

Late Teens and Early Twenties

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. The close proximity of this College to Lottie's yard happily enabled her to ride every day and continue her 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.

Recent Years

With her wealth of impressive qualifications which give her security in the face of possible injury, Lottie has been able to pursue her true love of eventing and is now a respected professional Event rider. Lottie buys youngsters and brings 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.