Images of Kirsty (from left) - working her own horse at home in Germany - with German trainer Johnny Hilberath at Rio Olympics - with Isabell Werth at Rio Olympics
OVERSEAS RIDER REVIEW KIRSTY TAYLOR- GER Kiwi riders seem to materialise from all parts of the globe and they all have an interesting story to tell. The first time Germany based dressage rider Kirsty Taylor made contact with Dressage NZ was to seek a rider’s license, so we just had to uncover her story. Being lucky enough to grow up on Mid Canterbury farm near Asburton, Kirsty and her brothers and sisters all had ponies when they were children. Eventing was her main interest, and she admits that “dressage was something I had to do to be able to ride a cross country course!” During this time with ponies, she mainly competed in Pony Club events including the famous Springston Trophy. Kirsty stopped riding when she was about fifteen, and didn’t get back on a horse for another fifteen years when she found herself working in the outback of Australia chasing cows around on horseback. This experience reignited her passion for horses, and that was the turning point. Riding was what she wanted really wanted to do.
“Horses are my greatest love and after a short stint in Perth where the big city and traffic drove me a little crazy, I put an advert on the internet for any job that involved horses. Tanya Seymour’s mother who lives on the Gold Coast called me one day and asked if I want to go to Germany to groom for her daughter. I had no clue this type of job even existed, that Europe was the place to be for dressage and I still felt the same way about dressage. However..... I love an adventure so got on a plane to Germany the following week. Here I am still, three and a half years. I have an S level (Advanced) trained horse I adore, I am having the time of my life” Kirsty’s journey to Germany then took her to the Rio Games as groom
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for her employer, Tanya Seymour and Ramoneur, who were selected as an individual dressage combination for South Africa. “It’s a been a pretty amazing adventure that’s turned into a dream I never knew I wanted. I have been so fortunate to be able to learn from Tanya for over three years now and then to be able to travel to Rio. I have no words to describe how fortunate I feel I was to get this opportunity. It really was an honour to be able to go to Rio to help Tanya and look after her amazing stallion. Two weeks of watching and being around the best in the world during their training and competition, it doesn’t really get much better than that, and being there to watch our whole New Zealand team was a once