And photographs, if you have any.
Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Sue Wylde
Where
would we be without the Sue Wylde’s of
this horsey world?
They are the foundation upon which we all depend. They make the wheels go round. They sit by cross-country jumps in the pouring rain. They train young riders. They attend no end of committees. They run everything from jumble sales to horse events.
And if that isn’t enough, many of them also have successful riding careers of their own.
Take, for example, Sue Wylde. She is not only Chairman of the East Sussex Committee of the British Horse Society, she is also one of the most successful prelim – novice level dressage riders in the South East, having won over 80 rosettes out of 90 competitions in just seven-years
Most Sue Wylde’s of the horsey world are born into horsey families. Many are not
Sue was not. She was born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire. Her
father was a Valuation Officer for the local council.
Her mother was a housewife. One of her earliest memories,
however, is riding on the beach at nearby Redcar when she
was just four-years-old with her father and younger
brother, Peter. Why her father, who was not a particularly
horsey person, took them riding on the beach she can’t
remember.
Most Sue Wylde’s are horse mad from the beginning. Sue’s interest in horses, however, took time to develop.
Sue may have started riding on Redcar beach with her father when she was just four-years-old but her real interest in horses was sparked by a school friend, Jill Baddiley.
<< Sue with her brother about to ride on the beaches at Redcar, North Yorkshire, late 1950s
“It was in the 1960’s,” says Sue. “We
were living in Doncaster at the time. About a mile
from the racecourse. We occasionally went there. But I can
remember on race days we could hear the noise from the crowds
and the horses from our house.
“I went to Doncaster High School for Girls. There,
I met Jill. Jill had ponies at home. I used to go and ride
them at weekends. I also rode at other local riding stables.
I even started hunting. At one meet, I even did the unforgiveable.
I rode in front of the Master.”
Sue in the 1960s at shows in South Yorkshire >>
Many Sue Wylde’s have had a full-time career working with horses.
Sue did not. Her father was not keen to let her have a career with horses. He said there was no future in it. Instead he insisted she became a secretary. She did as she was told and became a fully-qualified secretary eventually working for Professor Sir Peter Hirsch at Oxford University.
Says Sue, “After we did our GCSE’s, Jill went
off to train for her BHSAI. I wanted to do the same. But
my father wouldn’t let me. He said there was no future
in it. Instead he made me take a secretarial course. In the
1970’s I decided there was more in life than Doncaster
so I moved to Oxford where I got a job as secretary to one
of the professors, Sir Peter Hirsch. It was there that
I also met my husband, Mike. He was an engineering graduate
from Balliol College, Oxford University. He wasn’t
interested in horses either.
<< Sue in the 1960s at shows in South Yorkshire
“By now Jill had qualified for her BHSAI. Her family had expanded their property so that it now included a riding school. I used to go down and see her. I used to ride her horses. I did everything. Dressage. Cross-country. Jumping. Horse trials. Even musical rides.
“My favourite was Little Joe. He was a bay. 15.2. When I got married, Jill gave him to me as a gift from everybody at the stables. There was this big house near where we were living. The people there said I could keep him in their stables and paddock rent-free. They told me they had had horses themselves when they were younger and liked to see them in their paddock. I was very lucky.”
As husbands move around the country because of their work, so do the Sue Wylde’s of this horsey world. But they keep up their riding, maintain their contact with the Pony Club, the BHS and other organisations and often take the examinations they were unable to take when they were younger.
Says Sue, “In 1976 we moved to Bewdley in Worcestershire. I took Little Joe with me. By then he was becoming old and arthritic. The following year I had to have him put down.
“In 1979 I achieved my childhood dream. I took my BHSAI as an external candidate. At the time I was at a riding stable near Stratford on Avon.
“I bought another horse from Jill, Venture. A cross-bred. Dapple
grey. 15.2. I wanted him for cross-country trials. I kept
him at the riding stables where I was teaching at the time.
I also bought Shebe. A bay. Also 15.2. All my horses
have been about 15.2. I used to take her hunting
with the Clifton on Teme. I remember I fell off her going
over a jump. I broke my collar bone. I couldn’t ride
for weeks. That was in 1981.
Sue competing in Hunter Trials in Worcestershire on Venture in 1979 >>
“In 1982 we moved to Clipston, near Market Harborough in Leicestershire. At first, I borrowed an Anglo-Arab from a friend. Jed. Nine-years-old. Then I bought him. We used to do dressage and endurance.
“Then I bought George. Ten-years-old. Roan. I won Best rider Competition with him. We also did a lot of dressage. Then I sold him.
“In 2002 I bought Bluestone. Twelve-years-old. Piebald. He was a twin by the coloured stallion Lostock Blue. The other twin died. Bluestone failed a five-star vetting. But I still bought him. I competed him in dressage at Moulton College, Northants and at Rugby Riding Club. He won a sash and a cup. “
In December 2002 came another move. This time to Kingston, near Lewes in East Sussex. Next door to a riding stable. Since moving to East Sussex Sue has competed at Plumpton Agricultural College as well as at Golden Cross Equestrian Centre as well as Crockstead Equestrian Centre. She qualified for the South East Unaffiliated Dressage Regional Championships in 2003 at Hickstead. She came sixth out of 30. Between 2003 and 2009 she knotched up 43 dressage points which is very good, she says, for an old horse.
And, of course, from being ordinary members of the BHS the Sue Wylde’s become committee members, take on special responsibilities and eventually end up as branch chairman.
No sooner had she arrived in Sussex than Jackie
Rowland,
who is a near-legend among BHS Access Officers for her five
year fight against Telscombe Town Council for the string
of illegal anti-rider measures they have taken stopping
riders from riding on the Downs and a near neighbour,
persuaded Sue to join the BHS. She did so and before long
was an assistant bridleways officer to Jackie fighting to
protect riders rights. In 2008, she
was elected Chairman of the East Sussex Committee. Today,
it is one of the most active in the region.
<< Sue riding Bluestone at Golden Cross at an affiliated dressage competition in May 2009
They have organised a wide range of activities ranging from Le Trec training days to a special winter dressage series not to mention a whole series of riding and road safety tests. They have also, of course, concentrated on solving a string of access issues and problems
Not surprisingly, having trained hundreds of children in her time, Sue is a strong advocate of training.
“I believe in training,” she says. “When I was young I had little encouragement to continue my training. I think that was a great pity. Today, young people should be encouraged to get all the training they can. The BHS provides all the services and facilities that riders, young and old, can want. There is no excuse. They have every facility and every incentive to succeed.”
Sue believes in training so much that she regularly goes to all the training sessions and conferences she can in order to keep herself as up-to-date as possible.
Would she like to rise further and further up the BHS hierarchy?
“No,” she says. “All I want to do is to compete with my horse once again.”
To read more about Jackie Rowland's fight against Telscombe Town Council click here