Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2009 | Page 80

life

EQUESTRIAN - Sponsored by Brickfields and Froghill Tack

In Pursuit
of Top
Hat and
Tails
Like so many of us, Martine Harbour from Godshill has
always wanted to compete in dressage at the highest
level, wearing her top hat and tails - a dream unlikely
ever to come true. Until now.
Born and bred on the island, Martine (44) is from a
non-equestrian background, but has always wanted to ride. She
began as a child having one riding lesson a fortnight at a small
riding school in Sandown owned by Dylis Chandler.
“I used to beg and borrow ponies,” says down-to-earth
Martine, who didn’t have a horse of her own until her mid 20s.
“My first horse was Roger, a Welsh cob that I bought from the
late Phil Legge at Brickfields. Roger was three and I didn’t know
a thing,” she laughs.
“It was the blind leading the blind, but I trained him to novice
dressage level. A friend helped me and then I had lessons with
Daryl Smith. I thought I wanted to do showing, as very few
people on the island did dressage then, but I got bitten by the
bug,” she explains.
After Roger came Red - a just-broken four-year-old and
Martine planned to try all equestrian disciplines with him.
“Red was a Hanovarian/Thoroughbred with lots of attitude and
I trained him to medium dressage level by myself really. Daryl
helped me in the beginning and there were people who used to
visit the island to help us occasionally.
“I’ve always wanted to push myself to see how far I could go
and this was my chance. I had a trailer and Red and I competed
all over the south of England, but the older I grew, the more
interested I became in pure dressage.”
Six years ago, it became clear to Martine’s non-riding partner
Andy Baskill, that Red had reached his limit. He clearly wasn’t
as keen on dressage as Martine was, so Andy convinced Martine
that she needed a horse that was designed for the job.
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