Bella Barr shares how spending time with trainer Sean Coleman helped her find the fun in riding.

The magic of being in the New Forest for four days is there are ditches and stream crossings everywhere. Sean set it up so we could spend some time on ditches, then go off fast across flat open country to work on opening up his stride, or weave in and out of trees in a wooded area working on isolating leg and hand aids, and then cross another few ditches as we went on to the next thing. 

It all started back in 2003 when I first came across a horse that will always remain dear to my heart. This particular horse’s mind was so messed up that I started to look down various avenues to learn as much as I could possibly absorb on horse behaviour, and the effects humans can have on them.