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March/April 2023 issue

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  • Off duty

Jessica Grove, Student member, HS administrator, Peregrine Live Foods

Open-access content Wednesday 8th May 2019
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

When you first start riding, you learn on an experienced pony, and you always have someone there who knows what they are doing to help you. As you become a better rider, you can think about taking on horses and ponies that are less well trained.

You can start training a horse from when they are about four years old. When I was in my twenties, I trained a couple of horses up to Olympic standard, but it takes time -- around ten years in total. It's a long process and not something you can do quickly.

I entered my first riding competition aged four, but you can start competing at any age. In fact, the Olympic Games' most decorated rider of all time, Isabell Werth from Germany, didn't start until she was around 16 or 17. It isn't one of those sports you must have been born into. How successful you are depends on having a good relationship with the animal.

How successful you are depends on having a good relationship with the animal

Jessica Grove

I remember watching the Olympics once and thinking, "I want to be riding all the time". I was so focused on it that I didn't want to go to school. My path to competing professionally started when I had just got my first green pony to work with, aged 13. I was chosen in a talent competition and started training with one of the judges, who was a British Pony Team trainer. He said I had potential and asked me whether I wanted it to be a hobby, or whether I wanted to compete. I said the latter, and that's when I started competing to get points. I went to the regional competitions, then the nationals, and I was selected for teams.

My aim always was to get to the Olympic Games. I competed for Team GB, but my horse wasn't of the Olympic calibre. In the end, I reached about two levels below that.

In 2012, I decided to get a "proper job".

I gave up competitive riding for about four years until I came across a pony that needed rescuing and decided to take her on. Within two years we were competing at national level. My aim now is to enjoy it -- apart from anything, I don't have the funding to do it as I used to. We are working to reach quite a high level, but it's a bit more leisurely than when I competed before.

The thing I enjoy most about dressage is taking an animal that is so scared and doesn't know what this human wants from it and building a partnership where you know the horse will give you everything. It's amazing, and such an adrenaline rush -- that's the addiction. I don't think you really get that in any other sport. It's about gaining trust. Once you get the feeling that the horse trusts you, you know it's going to give you 110%.

I've been working in safety and health for a year now and it has definitely changed my attitude to risk. With riding, things become second nature: I think I can read horses' body language, and I don't feel in danger. But knowing more about safety and health has made me rethink things. For example, I used to think nothing of riding out by myself into the woods for a couple of hours, but now I have an app on my phone that's linked to my husband's so that, if something happens and I don't come back, he can locate me. I've become much more conscious of what I'm doing.

The highlight of my riding career has been competing for Great Britain. One of the most disappointing times was last year. We'd qualified for the nationals, but my pony went lame just a week before they took place -- a result of her earlier neglect -- and she had to have an operation. It was really upsetting because we had worked so hard. She had to have seven months off, but she's getting better and hopefully we will qualify for the nationals again by the end of the year.

I'd recommend riding to anyone. You can start at any age, so it's just a question of finding a good riding school and giving it a try.

You may also be interested in...

 Malcolm Patrick Tech IOSH, director, Lincoln Safety Advice and Training

Tuesday 9th April 2019
I used to swim competitively as a teenager, but when I was about 18 or 19 I dropped out and didn’t swim at all for the next 15 years. I was in the armed forces and there wasn’t a pool near my posting.
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Thursday 18th July 2019
I started rock climbing about five years ago with my brother, who is a year older than me. It was his birthday and he had asked for a climbing experience as a gift (we don’t do traditional presents). So, we went along to our local indoor centre and enjoyed an evening of top-rope climbing.
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 Drew Cook, Tech IOSH, freelance health and safety consultant

Thursday 14th February 2019
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 Adam Faunt CMIOSH, human resources, health and safety manager, WE Rawson

Wednesday 23rd January 2019
Community first responders are volunteers who work for the ambulance service and attend the highest-priority emergency calls, such as cardiac arrests, heart attacks, strokes, choking incidents and diabetic emergencies. If you phone 999 because someone is not conscious or breathing, the call handler might inform a nearby community first responder that a job has come in. The responder then calls to find out the details. It might be: "There's a patient in cardiac arrest three miles from you - can you attend?" Then you jump in your car and go.
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I’m not great when it comes to going to the gym. I find it fairly repetitive and tedious, so I’ve always done classes to keep fit. A couple of years ago, the teacher who took most of the classes went on maternity leave so someone suggested we try going to an aerial studio.
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When I explain what adventure racing is, I always says it’s a bit like a triathlon in the mountains. Typically it involves biking, running and canoeing around a course.
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 Martin Marmoy-Haynes CMIOSH, Health and safety consultant, JEM Safety Management

Monday 18th November 2019
My first experience of the Pennine Fells was at junior school. A group of us went on a camping trip to Hathersage in the Peak District: we tried potholing, climbing and abseiling. It was my first ‘outdoors’ experience.
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