Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2008 | Page 83

EQUESTRIAN - Sponsored by Brickfields and Froghill Tack
“I really liked riding her and asked if
I could ride her more,” explains Gemma.
“Then, one day, I asked Mum if we could
even buy her? A few days later, I got home
from school and saw there was a notice
on one of our stable doors at home saying
‘look inside for a big surprise’. I opened
the door and Tara popped her head out!”
Secretly Gemma’s parents had already
bought Tara and sensibly sent her to the
riding school so that Gemma could get
used to her before she went to live with
them at home. Tara, now 22 and retired,
still lives with the Maddocks.
Up until two years ago, Gemma had
been very much an all-round rider,
not particularly specialising in any of
the equestrian disciplines. She enjoyed
showing her next pony, Charm, with
success, but, when Gemma was 15 and her
parents found Ryan for her, she realised
that dressage was really her thing.
“Ryan used to event and he does
everything, but I’ve got more confidence
doing dressage on him. I ride him at
home at medium level, but he competes at
elementary. We started affiliated dressage
competitions as soon as I got him. He’s
been my best pony.” With Charm still
going strong, it seemed only natural that
Gemma should start teaching her to do
dressage too and they won the Riding Club
Pairs at the National Championship at
Lincoln last year with Jessie Vanassche.
Once Gemma decided that dressage was
for her, Ryan’s career went into overdrive.
The two of them joined the British Young
Riders Dressage Scheme (BYRDS), which
is a group set up for riders aged between
12 and 25 where high quality, affordable
dressage training is available.
The British Dressage website says, ‘If
you have ambit