About Us

Claire Lilley

has been teaching riding both overseas and in the UK for over twenty five years She offers tuition for both horse and rider from novice to advanced levels in dressage and jumping. Claire believes that training should be enjoyable for  everyone to achieve their goals and takes a sympathetic approach to training horse and rider. She values the importance of lungeing and in-hand work in every horse's schooling.

After completing her British Horse Society exams, Claire received extensive training for three years in Germany, riding up to Grand Prix dressage and grade A show jumping. She taught quadrille riding, show jumping and dressage, and trained many young horses for competition, as well as doing remedial work with problem horses.

On returning to England, Claire developed a large livery yard from scratch. She then went on to become Chief Instructor and Yard Manager of Orchard Cottage Riding School in Surrey, which was voted Riding School of the Year during her time there. Claire followed this appointment by running her own training yard, working with youngsters and educating clients with their own horses.

Now concentrating on freelance training and writing, Claire is a regular contributor to Your Horse Magazine. She runs courses, clinics and demonstrations in the UK and overseas.

Here Claire puts her Swedish students attending a clinic through their paces after breakfast, correcting their posture and suppleness before they all go out to ride. It is just as important for the riders to loosen up as it is for the horses!

Travelling around by car, plane and train and sitting in airport terminals and traffic jams to stand all day in the pouring rain is not everyone's idea of fun, but all part of the life of a riding instructor. Claire has been chased by geese, goats and had a run-in with a very loud black cockerel in her efforts to help people with their horses!

Teaching in the rain in Sweden- all part of the job!

Claire keeps her three competition horses and youngsters at her own private yard in Wiltshire. She is a listed dressage judge under her married name Claire Ballardie.

She judges dressage competitions locally and finds that it is a great responsibility to send each rider home with a score sheet that makes sense, and helps each competitor to improve on their training for next time. She finds it less stressful actually competing herself! Training as a dressage judge helps tremendously in understanding the requirements of the dressage test, and what the judge is looking for when it comes to giving the marks. The trilogy of judging, riding and teaching go hand in hand to create a true understanding of horsemanship.

Dougald Ballardie,

Claire's husband keeps the office work under control, - you may get him on the other end of the phone when you ring us.

After a long career as a financial director, his expertise is invaluable in developing our company for the future.

He is also kept very busy at the yard, doing all the jobs we are incapable of doing!

His practical side comes to the fore when it comes to re-designing the yard to maximise its efficiency (and ours!) and gets him away from the computer for a while. 

Louise

joined us in May 2006 as trainee and part-time groom. She works well with the horses, and has already been in two photo shoots and our jumping DVD.

Here she is in action for the camera with Amadeus……

....and here she is taking a well-earned break with her young Thoroughbred, Lulu, who is just two and a half years old and needs her beauty sleep!

The Importance of being Ernest - Standard Black Poodle (Sammy)

Sammy the standard poodle is 2 years old and loves to be involved in everything we do. He has a long pedigree (below), and is open to offers for breeding this season!

Sammy is a friendly, well-behaved dog with an excellent pedigree.

Contact us for details.

 Bagpuss,(Baggy)

is chief mouser and patrols the yard diligently in return for a bit of TLC. Even Sammy is kept in his place!

We will be out and about to shows and demonstrations in our new lorry which has been custom built for us by www.championhorseboxes.co.uk, so look out for us and come and say hello.

Claire is sponsored by www.horsedata.biz