31 July 2010

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HORSE Magazine



Riding and University: a realistic combination?

Thursday 11 February 2010

The years that I spent at the stables invoke some of my fondest memories.

Horses came cantering straight into my life... and subsequently left it as abruptly.

A spur of the moment decision to visit my cousin's horse — who she'd been raving about for ages — meant I was thrown headfirst into the equestrian world.

I had always been an animal lover, and was a fairly — okay, excessively — sporty child.

Riding just seemed to fit. I'd even go as far as saying it came naturally to me.

I soon went from having weekly lessons to spending all my free time helping out at the stables.

And so it continued, until I chose to swap the green fields of Essex for the stony shores of Brighton, to pursue my ambitions of becoming a sports journalist.

It was the responsibilities of university that eventually tore me away from the hobby I had grown to adore.

Riding and university life seemed incompatible, and slowly horses seemed to fade from my mind.

It wasn't until I came to work at Horse magazine that I realised how much I missed riding.

And so, after an equestrian-fuelled week, I took to the saddle for the first time in a very long while.

My riding skills came flooding back to me instantly. It was as if I had never been away.

Now I have discovered my renewed love of horses, I am determined to do all it takes to carry on riding through my final months at University.


Rosie Richards undertook a work experience placement at Horse