Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Lucy Chester
Films v. Horses. Lucy chose horses
Lucy Chester talks about her decision to quit the film industry to pursue a career with horses and Parelli Natural Horsemanship.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you first became interested in horses?
I'm 26 and caught the horse bug, aged 2. Despite hopeful predictions from my parents that I would grow out of the 'horse phase', I never did and my fascination with them only seems to get stronger.
I studied English and Film at Southampton University, where I competed on both their equestrian and polo teams, before pursuing my dream of working in the film industry.
My life was going according to plan - I worked my way up and loved my job in casting. After three years, I'd saved enough money to finally be able to buy my own horse; and he changed everything.
I chose an eight-year-old haflinger who ticked all my boxes, but he had a lot of emotional baggage that I hadn't anticipated. Once I got him home, I discovered he was extremely herd-bound, which meant he frequently 'left' me at speed to return to the herd.
This caused him to climb over his stable door when another horse was led past, box-walk so much he made himself lame, bolt on a number of occasions, and not be able to cope with any pressure at all.
His anxieties made him dangerous because he would just run through me, and I hit rock bottom after the first week when I realized that I couldn't even lead my new horse out of his field.
I was savvy, but not savvy enough for him, so I called Parelli Professional, Tracey Duncan and she couldn't have been more helpful; but most importantly, she gave me hope.
During my first lesson, she equipped me with the tools I needed to be successful – it was the most valuable two hours of my journey. As soon as I changed my mentality, my goals and my expectations – just looking for that 1% improvement, Tao made progress and I could feel positive about leading him 10 meters away from the herd without him thinking back to them.
Almost two years on and Tao is a different horse – he's confident in himself, his environment and in me. We still have regular lessons with Tracey, and we've progressed further than I could ever have imagined was possible when I think back to those early days.
It was hard for me to accept that I was the one who had to change, I labeled him a 'problem pony', but really it was me who was a 'problem human' and having such an expressive horse has been fantastic because his feedback is always so obvious - he's been a great teacher.
Of course, the change in me impacted other areas of my life and I started moving further away from the person I needed to be in order to be successful at work. Tao helped me to realize who I am and what I want from life - there was a pivotal moment where Tao was mirroring my anxiety and I finally realized that the anxiety I was feeling wasn't caused by work (it hadn't changed) but more from the fact that it was no longer where I was meant to be – I resigned at the end of last year. I owe a lot more to the programme than merely improving my horsemanship
2. What was life like in the film industry?
I don't regret my time in the film industry for a second. It's fast-paced, brimming with opportunity if you're ambitious and seriously addictive. I was lucky enough to work with some of my favourite directors, producers and actors, which made the long hours and high-pressure environments worth it.
But it comes at a price and the job is a lifestyle that you have to dedicate yourself to 100% if you want to be successful. When you're working on multiple projects for America, you work on the UK and US clock so days are long and it doesn't leave much time for you to have another time-consuming passion like horses – especially when you're having to go to the theatre a couple of times a week!
Over five years, I worked for a number of different Casting Directors across projects ranging from UK television, to US pilots and feature films, and I lived and breathed my job. I had a share pony at weekends to satisfy my horse addiction and his owner was happy for me to follow Parelli Natural Horsemanship, so for a while the balance worked. But having a horse like Tao was a whole new level of commitment, so juggling my time only worked for so long before I had to make a choice.
3. How did you first get into Parelli?
I have always been searching for a better way to be with horses and used to read any book I could get my hands on, as well as attending demos and spending hours watching YouTube videos about how to create a bond with a horse.
I dabbled in other natural horsemanship methods, but there was never an actual programme to follow, so invariably, I slipped back into the only way I knew.
Then around five years ago, I stumbled across a video of a man called Pat Parelli talking about the 7 Games and I liked what he was saying so much, I immediately bought my first carrot stick, 12ft line and 'Starter' DVD that was an introduction to the programme. I found success with my share pony at the time and have never looked back.
4. What are your Parelli goals?
I'm trying not to have specific goals anymore, but to strive to be the best human I can for my horse and to never stop improving.
5. Do you do any Parelli volunteering?
Yes, I recently volunteered at the Parelli event in Addington (One Day with Pat & Linda) and it was a fantastic way to meet like-minded people. Getting to watch some of the demos and meeting my heroes was a bonus
6. Have you worked with any famous people in the film industry?
Yes, I have been very lucky to work with a number of my idols. Most recently, I worked with Casting Director, Gail Stevens on projects for Director, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later), Director and Writer, David Hare (The Reader, Turks & Caicos) and Producer, David Heyman (Gravity, Harry Potter and Paddington) amongst others. A large part of casting is working with actors, so I met a lot of my favourite stars through the job like Kristen Stewart, Johnny Depp and Kit Harington.
7. What would you like to be doing in five years time?
I would like to be helping horses and humans, doing something I love every day
For more information contact Parelli Natural Horsemanship UK on 0800 0234 813 or visit www.parelli.com