“I am the Office Manager at Global Herbs, so I oversee the administration in the office as well as working on the advice line and liaising with our stockists. I have worked here for 5 years now so have gained quite a lot of knowledge on our products and experience on the advice line.
I’ve spoken to so many interesting people with a variety of horses and issues, so its not often I’m too surprised. The calls that start with “you might think this is a really strange question but……..” are normally not strange at all, though there has been the odd one that actually is a bit unusual! I really enjoy being a point of contact for our sponsored riders and following their progress, seeing how our products are helping them achieve success.
“I started riding when I was 4 years old, having lessons fortnightly at a riding school, then when I was 8 I used to go and help out at the weekend and holidays in return for free rides. I was lucky enough to be able to go to some shows on the riding school ponies and attend a few pony club rallies and camp. When I was about 13 the riding school stopped doing lessons and became a livery yard, but I continued to go up and help and ride some of the livery horses. After my A-Levels I decided I wanted a career with horses, but not necessarily practical work on a yard, so I enrolled at Writtle College, an agricultural college in Essex, to do a BSc (hons) in Equine Studies and Business Management. I really enjoyed Writtle and the opportunity to ride the variety of horses at the college, and became a yard supervisor, being responsible for the teams of students and 30 horses at the weekends. I came away from Writtle with a 2:1 honours degree, lots more equine knowledge and a fantastic experience of ‘student life’!
I had been desperate for my own horse or pony since I first started riding, but we couldn’t afford one. Just as I left for Writtle, the lady who owned the same livery yard where I had very first started riding, bred two foals, one of them being a naughty colt called Norman. I used to go back to the yard to help when I was home in the holidays and see Norman growing into a big boisterous lad and was upset to hear he had been diagnosed with a kissing spine after problems when he was broken at 3 years old. Vets advised he would be a good candidate for surgery, so his breeder decided to go for it. He had the operation and an unpleasant 6 months box rest, and was being brought back into work when I returned from University. I was asked to ride him and slowly his breeder and I worked with him and he started to move forwards more and become stronger and forget how uncomfortable he had been before. After a couple of years of continuing to ride him for the breeder, she decided it was time to sell him, and there was no way I was letting him go!
So aged 23, just when I also started working for Global Herbs, I finally bought my own horse. Norman was just turning 6 and that is where the real fun began! We are affiliated with British Dressage and have competed at Regional Championships at Novice and Elementary, most recently coming 4th at Elementary Restricted at the Southern British Dressage Regional Championships. We also enjoy jumping for fun, with the occasional trip to a cross country course or local show jumping competition. This summer we are looking forward having another crack at Summer Regionals to see if we can make the National Championships and also plan to make our debut at Medium level.”
Global Herbs 