I think my riding has hopefully gotten a lot better, but I'm always trying to push myself.
I love the freedom you feel on horseback, and enjoy the discipline of competition.
I used to do a lot of fencing in the theater and a lot of horse riding in the early days, so I'm used to it in a way. If you're classically trained like I am, it's a little bit like mother's milk to me. I enjoy it.
If I couldn't compete, I wouldn't ride. I don't ride for fun; I ride to prepare for the next competition, and everything that I do when I am in the saddle is always a calculated step in my path to the next win.
Living animals are too eccentric in their movements, and the law of gravitation usually draws me from my seat upon them to a lower level; therefore, I am not an inveterate lover of horseback.
I'm riding you with a slack rein, my pet, but don't forget that I'm riding with curb and spurs just the same.
I had a donkey called Sally that I used to call my BMX bike. As a child, I wasn't a very good horse rider: I thought falling off was normal, and I would just get back on again. I didn't realise you weren't meant to fall off.
When you use the whip, it makes the loudest crack. It's a very, very difficult weapon to use.
I grew up riding horses and one of the most important things I learned was that when you fall off, you have to get right back up in the saddle.
