We had an fabulous afternoon on Sunday meeting our 3 new Young Sponsored Riders for the first time! We were joined by our amazing sponsored rider and mentor, Natasha Baker, at Whatley Manor near Malmesbury, who came along to meet and give the girls their first mentoring session.

Left to right: Lottie Byrnes, Rachel Lade, Lydia Ward, with Natasha Baker, and myself, Jo Hansford.

Lottie, 15-year-old eventer, from Whitminster, Lydia, 16-year-old eventer, from Dumbleton and Rachel, 23-year-old dressage rider, from Painswick, were chosen by us from over 100 entries to our Young Sponsored Riders Competition at the end of 2017. They have each won two mentoring sessions with five-time Paralympic Equestrian champion Natasha Baker, an equine photoshoot with us with a framed print, and a branded rug and saddlepad for training and competitions with their horse.

Sunday was a first meeting for all of us, we had a lot of fun getting to know each other better, and after introductions, each of the girls had their first session with Natasha. Rachel said: ” I loved meeting the other sponsored riders and Natasha last weekend. Natasha is such an inspiration, but so down to earth and my mentoring session with her was brilliant. We talked through preparing for a big competition, furthering my use of visualisation, and treating it just like any other competition day, as well as how to cope when things go wrong in the test. I can’t wait to try out the tips that she gave me!”

Pictured, Lydia with Natasha.

Pictured, Rachel with Natasha.

Pictured, Lottie with Natasha.

This is the third year we have held our sponsorship meeting at beautiful Whatley Manor in Easton Grey – a big thank you to the team at Whatley for looking after us again!

If you’re interested in finding out more about our young rider sponsorship, head over to our Equestrian Sponsorship page here. To enter our competition to become one of our 2019 Young Sponsored Riders, please just email jo@johansfordphotography.com.

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