Sophy Yeoman BVMedSci PGCEt ISM
I grew up in Buckinghamshire in a fantastic family of five. One of my earliest memories is being held by my Dad on top of a tiny grey pony called Virgil at my sister's pony party. After this, I relentlessly begged my parents to let me have riding lessons and they finally gave in when I was 9 years old. I began sharing ponies when I started secondary school and soon after, my parents bought me my own horse, Maddie, who is still my best friend to this day.
I headed off to university in Nottingham in 2013 to study Veterinary Medicine and, of course, Maddie came too. She lived on campus and helped the vet students learn about handling and examining horses. After graduating with a Bachelors in Veterinary Science, I changed direction and studied Educational Theory for another two years. Throughout university I continued to train and compete, with Maddie and me reaching Medium level together. After university, I decided to focus on the things that I love doing - namely art, music and horses. I set up my own business selling my original artwork and individual commissions, focusing mainly on dogs and horses. I also teach piano and singing to a number of pupils on a weekly basis which I absolutely love.
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In 2018, I decided that I would like to become a British Dressage judge. As an amateur competitor myself, I had such a drive to try and make a difference to competitors like myself. All too often I was asking myself 'what does the judge want to see in this test?' and I thought, I've got to find out for myself! Throughout my training, my eyes were opened and I finally started to understand the reasoning behind each movement and what I needed to show the judge that I could do! I kept thinking to myself, if only I had known this when I started competing! This planted the seed in my head to use my training to help other amateur riders to reach their full potential. After passing all my exams and officially qualifying as a List 5 judge, I decided to float my idea to others on Facebook. Having received an overwhelmingly positive response, I have started this blog in the hope of unravelling some of the mystery surrounding dressage and helping others to love the sport as much as I do!
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I live in Suffolk with my partner, Laurie, who is a small animal vet at a fantastic practice down the road. We recently bought our first house together, which is a 16th Century cottage, which we are currently renovating and updating. Our house is also home to our two wonderful dogs, Barney and Darwin, and we are extremely lucky to live minutes away from Tunstall Forest where they love to run and play.
