Profi le

FOR A BOY NOT EXACTLY BORN WITH JODHPUR BOOTS ON HIS FEET, GREG SIMS HAS EMBRACED ALL THINGS EQUINE WITH REAL GUSTO. JO PRESTWICH MEETS HIM AT HIS SCENIC NORTH WALES YARD.

Greg has had what seems a charmed run to the top, winning the coveted Young Horse Championship at the LeMieux National Championships with his four-year-old Waverley Dante in 2017 at the tender age of 23. But it is hard work, dedication and natural talent that have taken him from Stonehouse in Gloucestershire to the slopes of the Afon Conwy, ten minutes from the historic coastal town of Conwy in North Wales. To be fair, his mum Karen did ride as a child and it was a friend of hers who ran a local riding school who introduced the then fi ve-year-old Greg to his fi rst pony.

“I was hooked straight away,” he says, “helping out at weekends and half term mucking out and generally doing everything as soon as I wasold enough to earn extra lessons.”

LEFT: GREG SIMS WITH WAVERLEY FELLINI, WINNER OF THE NOVICE GOLD TITLE AT THE LEMIEUX NATIONALS AND FIVE-YEAR-OLD CLASS AT THE YOUNG HORSE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2020.

TOP LEFT: NEW PROSPECTS ARE PRODUCED FOR YOUNG HORSE CLASSES ONLY IF THEY ARE READY. ABOVE: GREG USES LONGREINING TO DEVELOP THE HORSE’S BALANCE TO CARRY THE RIDER. ABOVE RIGHT: KARIN HOERNER AND DREAM CATCHER (DANKE SCHON) WITH HER FOAL BY L’ESPOIR.

By the age of 12 – after continuous added to my desire to make it in the dressage badgering – his parents relented and bought industry!” (new para) Greg’s first horse was a him a pony. recently backed, but very novice five year old

“The first one was a good steady pony who by Metall. showed me the ropes,’ said Greg. “I’d always done young ponies “I joined the Minchinhampton and made my own so it was a Pony Club and went to rallies natural progression to buy and competitions and was in my element.” I LOVED EVERY a youngster – it was all I could afford anyway.

It was a change of MINUTE OF MY He was black with a big livery yard and meeting Rachel Cox that sowed TIME AT THE white face and socks, just what I wanted! the seeds of dressage in Greg. EILBERGS, IT WAS Those youngsters taught me to stay on,

“She had a Small HARD WORK BUT feel their reactions and Tour horse and I was blown away by what she GREAT FUN work with them.” In 2011, at the age of 18, could do with him, so I Greg saw the Eilbergs’ advert finished my GCSEs and at 16 for a working pupil. left school to ride. I did a couple of “I’d always admired Mike’s months on one yard and it nearly broke me. riding and the Eilberg family so I took the Through Rachel I was lucky to have the opportunity and ran with it,” he says. opportunity to train with world renowned “My first job was de-cobwebbing the stables trainers such as Conrad Schumacher and and I finished looking like one complete with Emile Faurie. These opportunities really spiders! I was with them for six years and wow, did I learn. Mike took me through the process of starting and training young horses and moving forward their education. I loved every minute of my time there, it was hard work but great fun. I learnt loads and the calibre of the horses was amazing.”

The Eilbergs were a major step forward in his journey, and not only in his riding for it was there he met his partner Stena Hoerner, whose mother Karin bred Dornroeschen, dam of the mighty Farouche. This brought about his association with Waverley Stud and onwards to his home in North Wales.

“I wanted a good young horse but the only way to afford one was to buy a foal and with the help of Karin and Stena that’s exactly what I did. The three of us looked at hundreds online but only went to see one.”

This ‘one’ was Waverley Dante, bred not far from the Eilbergs at Sara Longworth’s Waverley Stud in Warwickshire.

“Karin is a great judge of a foal. I loved the breeding: Dimaggio on a Fürst Heinrich mare so the reverse cross to that which produced Farouche. Sara let him loose in the arena, he

RIGHT TOP: PARTNER STENA HOERNER HELPS ON THE GROUND. CENTRE: LEADING MAXIMA DOWN TO THE SCENIC ARENA FROM THE YARD. BELOW: MAXIMA WAS PRODUCED FOR GRADING AS A THREE-YEAR-OLD, SO GREG IS TAKING TIME TO RELAX HER, INCLUDING LEANING OVER TO TACKLE A FEAR OF OBJECTS ABOVE.

was a real looker and I’d never seen anything move like him, especially in the canter so I bought him.”

The horse stayed with Sara until he was a three-year-old and it was whilst going to handle him and then long rein and lunge him as he grew up that Greg got the job of starting some of her youngsters.

Dante won the four-year-old title at the Nationals and was reserve for last year’s subsequently cancelled World Breeding Championships. Waverley Fellini won five- year-old title at the young horse championships in 2020. He also won the FEI selection class and was due to represent GB at the world breeding championships before COVID caused the event’s cancellation.Greg has been in Wales for three and a half years now and he says that the main trade off is travelling to compete.

“Two local-ish venues are great, but the young horse qualifiers are all two hours plus. The upsides are the amazing views across the valley and beautiful Welsh countryside and some fabulous horses.”

“I felt it was the right time to think about a change. Stena had finished university in She eld and had moved back to Warwickshire. We were discussing starting our own business, GSH Dressage. I’d just won the young horse championship with Dante which was a great boost and well timed,” he reflects.

“I was sad to leave the Eilbergs, The horsemanship and riding knowledge I gained whilst working for the Eilberg family, which I will be forever grateful for, really set me up for my future in the dressage industry.”

That said, it was a scary move but Greg had Dante, two homebreds of Karin’s, numerous clients, and he has not looked back.

“Once I’d started to think of going I talked it over with Mike. He’d taken me through the process of starting and developing the youngsters all the time I was there and it was him who said ‘you’ve the talent for it and there is a shortage of good people to do it’. He gave me the e tra confidence needed to make the decision.”

ABOVE: TWO AND THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLIES BY REVOLUTION AND VITALIS, OUT OF DREAM CATCHER. BELOW: THE YARD OFFERS FABULOUS VIEWS OF THE VALLEY, AND GREG TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE SURROUNDINGS TO HACK YOUNG HORSES.

“Because there is such a huge market for a good young horse I do think some people see the young horse classes as the end game. If I don’t think they’re ready to go they don’t go, it is as simple as that,” he says.

“Some of the qualifi ers are quite early in the life of a four-year-old and I think very carefully as to which I aim for those,” he adds.

“One I have for this year, Maxima (Toto Junior/Apache), a KWPN owned by Claire Dutton, is aimed at the young horse classes. Claire bought her as a foal and she stayed abroad until she was graded as a three-yearold. She came over here and it has taken her a long time to settle, she is lovely but having been produced to ‘fl ash’ at the grading it’s been a big step for her to learn to relax and soften. I’ve worked a lot with her, leaning over with a foot in the stirrup so she accepts things from behind are just everyday ‘stuff ’.”

All the horses are lunged and long reined with Stena on the fl oor if necessary.

“I want them to understand the principles of steering, stopping and going forward before they have to deal with the added challenge of balancing a rider,” he says. “You can’t expect them to learn all that and carry the rider. I mostly long rein in the arena and once they have steering, change of rein and walking round and over poles than I’ll get on.

“We hack them round the lanes when they are ready, always with a friend but I like to have the youngster in front as soon as they are ready so they learn to be brave and take the initiative. The other horse is there as a buff er. We are lucky to have the fi elds to ride them in, and can go down and walk alongside the river although it depends what livestock is in those fi elds.”

Currently the stables at Tremorfa house are home to Waverley Fellini and Waverley Dante, plus clients’ horses and the next generation of Karin’s homebreds.

Dream Catcher (Danke Schon/Flameur), a mare that Stena spotted in Germany, produced an impressive fi lly foal by the ‘in vogue’ L’Espoir this April. In theory she is for sale but Greg admits selling a fi lly goes against the grain, as any breeder knows! Dream Catcher’s two and three-year-old fi llies, by Revolution and Vitalis, look to be ‘superstars in waiting’.

“It’s always a big step to move on from what has been successful,” refl ects Greg on his decision to strike out on his own. “But it’s the best decision I could have made!”