I graduated in 1996 form the Writtle Agricultural College after studying a BSC in Equine Studies. My first thought was that I wanted to do something practical , and as I was always keen on Dressage I went back to Germany to world in a Dressage yard.

My first job lasted exactly 10 days. I did a big mistake, because I did not go and see the place and had no interview. I went there and the people had no idea about horses. The worst was the way they broke in a horse. First day the Bridle, the second day the saddle and the third day the rider. The poor horse didn't even know how to go properly on the lunge. That I took for a reason to work there!!They told me it was due to economical reasons they were breaking horses in that quickly. But I have worked in top marketing places such as Hannoverian auction, Trakehner Elite auction and these are places that live from dealing, but even there the horses learn to be lunged properly before somebody backs them.

So after the 10 days I phoned two really good friends, whom I have worked for before. Peter And Kim Weston. They actually taught me the first things about proper Dressage. As it happens they had just opened a new stable near Münster, so they could need a bit of help. It is not so easy for an Australian to survive as a Dressage Rider in Germany but this stable now exists since 1996 very successfully.

From Peter and Kim I learned a lot about the behaviour of horses and how you can use it when breaking in youngster. I also learned about Dressage and used a lot of my knowledge in a practical such as in the feeding which was very helpful. We decided I would work for them for one year.

Having completed my year there, I wrote a lot of letters!! One was successful and it was to the National Trainer Klaus Balkenhol. This was a great opportunity to work for him. Mr Balkenhol was in the middle of building a new stable, so he said he would employ me in a years time, so I needed a fill in for the year. So I wrote to Paul Schockemöhle, as I knew he had not only jumpers but also some Dressage stallions standing at his stud. I got an interview, which considering all the College interviews was pretty easy. My jumping was not really good enough, but he only has riders there that jump top national level, I was not disappointed.

After the interview they actually offered me a job as a second rider to Otto Becker, my first feel of the international circuit.

My College time at Writtle did help me a lot, because you have to know a lot about preventative Medicine, training program and feeding. Our horses were top athletes so we had to look after them accordingly. We had a vet coming every week just to look them over. I learned that at this level you rather find out the weak points before and prevent lameness rather then wait that the horse becomes lame.

Paul Schockemöhles yard has about 200 horses on training and another 1000 standing at his stud in the former East Germany. The most prestige auction the PSI auction is also organized by Paul Schockemöhle. But at this time my first priority was to look after Otto's horses and get them fit for international competition. Meantime I was waiting to hear form Balkenhol.

I got an interview and rode for him, and he really liked it, but he said it still could take a while. But whilst working for Otto I went to drive one of our Dressage stallions for his trainer Ralf Hannöver. I watched him ride and liked his technique, and as I know that the best jobs come though word of mouth I asked him and his wife Martina Hannöver whether they knew somebody who needed a Dressage rider. They said they need somebody. So I had another interview and got my next job.

Martina Hannöver was with the stallion Rubinstein second reserve for the Atlanta olympics, so this time was in for a lot of hard work but learned a lot about Dressage and rode very talented horses. I got a lot of responsibility in the stable, and I drove with Martina to bigger competitions. I learned a lot about competing and competed a lot myself. Unfortunately Ralf and Martina split up and I moved with Martina up to Hamburg. This job had sadly not such an good end, as we had a big row and we split badly, but as this was not a nice experience and really sad because I enjoyed working for Martina, it taught me a lot.

Next Station was the Klosterhof Medingen. Here I was employed as a Bereiter and had up to 12 horses to ride every day and a groom who got them ready. This was a big center. It had a stud with about 10 or more stallion the most famous are Hohenstein and De Niro. Then we had the 100 day performance testing for stallions, the station test for mares, the elite auction and I was competing up Advanced Medium.

This was really interesting I learned a lot about the German system and how the horses are evaluated. Another thing I started there, was to translate auction catalogues from Gedrman into English, as I had so much fun doing it I decided now it is time to get more into the things I learned at college and went back to Schockemöhle to work in the office.

But the one thing I can't stop is riding, so in my free time I ride again for Ralf Hannöver and also have some horses in training with me. I still translate also in my freetime. So this is not exactly the career one has in mind when going to University, and a lot of people asked me why I studied. I do not need a University degree to muck out stable, but I do believe a lot of my jobs in the stables I would not have got without College.

At first it helped that I was in England, because the Germans like English grooms, and secondly nowadays to be good at top level one has to new a lot of things about veterinary matter, business matters, the newest feeding ideas, and how it is all put together. Grooms at top level do not just muck out!! They are most often responsible for the whole training of the horses, because the riders are hardly at home and the feeding and daily care is all in the grooms hand.

During all this time I also have the whole time helped my parents to built up a great working guest ranch and did their marketing in Germany and helped when they had questions about their horses. The internet was a great help- Now they are running in their third year and are already nearly booked out for this year. If you are interested you find their web page under the address: http://www.redwillowranch.com.

Writtle College has also helped me to think everything logically through and even that helped with Dressage because you have to decide how to ride a horse and what to do next. I would like to thank my College for the time I had there. And up to now although it has had its up and downs I am really enjoying my career.