A little history.

I am often asked about my life and how i got into horses and Wild Oats Farm.

The picture is of my Great Grandfather and my Grandmother. He was a Milkman in London with his horse drawn milk float and his lovely horse called Bess. Apparently he could whistle for Bess and she would move up and down the streets to meet him.

As for me, well according to my mother i could ride before i could walk. I was born into horses.

My Grandfather who was the true horseman, had race horses and all the jockeys rode in my Grandmothers family tartan colors. We had a riding school in the UK in which i used to work along with Pony Club and and Eventing. My Grandfather  when i was a teenager bred me a very lovely Cleveland Bay Event horse. Until then i rode the riding school ponies.

My father, who once was a jockey and later found his love in carriage driving and competed with the Duke of Edinburgh. They were exciting times!

However i wanted to upskill and studied Psychology and along with this degree my passion of Fine Art and trained as a print maker….go figure!!

Further training for another 4 years as a Art Psychotherapist.

I worked for 24 years in Child and Family Mental Health within the NHS and Child Adolescent Family Therapy.

I then met a kiwi, worked in the shearing sheds in Western Australia ( i was useless) and later moved to NZ. I worked for a further 5 years with Relationship Aotearoa and moved to the Tasman .

From there Wild Oats Farm was born. A picture of our first trek.

At 50 years of age i wanted  my own horse and went back into competitive riding. I have had fabulous weekly instruction from Anna Terrell who has enabled us to keep on winning those red ones!

My dream is to create an environment that enables young and older riders, to experience  both the mental and spiritual energy, growth and wellbeing that a Horse or Pony can create. Riding out in the bush or finding that relationship between human and animal. The touch, the smell and the ability  to ride and become one with such a magnificent animal.

We started with two ponies and now have twenty horses and ponies, as adults wanted to join in the family fun.

Now i offer Treks, Parties, Lessons, Petting area, Educational visits and Therapeutic Intervention with many specialist areas. Systemic Family Therapy, NLP, Anxiety, Autism, self Harm Eating Disorder to name a few.

My passion continues to grow and my work is not done.