Biography

I grew up on a small farm in Australia, near Melbourne, with two other brothers. We all loved riding and anything sporty really but as my mum bred Welsh Section B ponies, we ended up riding them. So we fitted in Pony Club, cricket, Aussie Rules but it was the horses that we did together as a family.

I played a lot of cricket at school, including touring the UK and Malaysia with the school team but in the end I gravitated towards horses as I so enjoyed all the challenges and the buzz you get from horse sport. I was never very successful with eventing as a teenager but I did manage to come 2nd at Gawler 3* CCI which, even now, remains the toughest terrain I have ever ridden around.

After obtaining a BA in Geography at Monash University in Melbourne I took a year off to travel. I began my travels by backpacking around Europe but then ran out of money so decided to try and get a job with horses in the UK to pay for it all. I actually first applied to work for Andrew Nicholson but he wouldn't take me - something we both joke about now! So then I applied and got accepted for a job working with Blyth Tait. Having learned a huge amount with Blyth I went to work for some show jumpers in New York which was a fantastic experience.

However, I was drawn back to the UK when I got a job as a back-up rider for Matt Ryan. I stayed with Matt for three years and it was during this time that I started to get my own horses and my first owners. I left Matt's yard with a team of horses and have since been short listed for the Athens and Beijing Olympics. My top horse, Happy Times, has achieved some fantastic results including winning Saumur 3* CCI '08 and coming third at both Badminton and Burghley in '09. This helped me achieve 5th place in the HSBC Classics World Rider Rankings 2009.

I am currently on the Australian Elite Squad and hopefully in contention for a team place for the 2010 World Championships in the USA with my top horse, Happy Times. My wife, Lucy, who also competes at top level eventing, and I run the team together from our yard on the Dorset-Somerset border which we bought in April 2009.