It has always been Tessa’s dream to have her very own yard and to able to teach with her own horses and ponies.
Tessa is the main instructor for the school and specialises in dressage. She started her BHS training at the College of West Anglia in Milton, Cambridgeshire in 1995. She then worked in many different yards to gain experience, continuing to keep her training up to-date. She is a BHS AI and keeps herself up to date by regularly using different trainers. She is also the BHS Training Officer for the Cambridgeshire Area.
She worked hard to prove to people that you can do dressage on any type of horse. When she first wanted to compete at dressage, she only had Wesley, a gypsy cob. At first she got quite a few knock backs and discouragement from the sport since Wesley was not a traditional dressage horse. However, he was all she had and she was determined to succeed.
Since then, Wesley proved her detractors wrong and took her to top level competition. In 2004 they won the Pet Plan novice championship. In 2005 they won the Pet Plan Final (against some amazing horses) and came 9th at Elementary level at the Nationals. Wesley and Tessa competed up to Advanced Medium. They continually worked on Grand Prix movements at home, so that every time they went competed they came back with a 1st or 2nd place. Good old Wez!
In 2005, following an article in the Daily Express about them, Mountain Horse approached Tessa regarding sponsorship and have sponsored her ever since. Thank you Mountain Horse.
Wesley has now retired from competition, but still enjoys his life as one of our school horses. Now Wanda, one of Tessa’s home bred mares, has taken over from Wesley as Tessa’s competition horse. Although Wanda is only five years old, she is already showing great promise.
