Matilda Haley

Aspiring dressage star Matilda Haley has always seemed happiest being around horses! From the tender age of two she used to accompany her mother to the yard and always wanted to have a sit on her elder sister’s pony!

With a loan pony, Matilda joined the Pony Club when she was six and, as they say, the rest is history.  She then moved on to a own fabulous 12.2hh Section A at the age of nine and participated in a number of disciplines during her time at the Pony Club.  After attending a BYRDS Camp with her pony at that time, a 14hh PBA, she set her sights on dressage. 

Matilda’s mother, Emma Haley, spoke to The Gaitpost: 

“When she was 11 we bought her first bona fide dressage pony – the 14.1hh “Rolo” (Bernwode Duvalier) – and she went from strength to strength with him.  Her trainer Cathy Burrell helped us find him and he came from a client of Darryl Thickett.  Matilda then had a sudden height rush, she is nearly 5’11” at the age of 15, and so we had to start looking for a new horse.  

We found Gari (Watch Me!) in Ely, with one of Matilda’s going to see him on our behalf. He was perfect for a first horse for Matilda and he arrived about 2 weeks later.  They spent the first 6 months getting to know each other and started competing in January with a few Elementary tests.  Gari also came with a qualification for Freestyle to Music at Medium Level. 
We then went to the Scottish Regionals for mileage to see how they would get on. Matilda rode her first Medium test that day as a warm-up class, which they won. 
The partnership then went on to take the regional title for the Freestyle and qualified for the Winter Nationals at Hartpury. It was a hectic time as they had also qualified for the Pony Club Dengie Winter Championships. Cue a road-trip! They went to both and won the Pony Club Dengie Open title and then went to Hartpury to contest the Freestyle to Music Medium class. Despite some tension in the test, which was reflected in the marks, they finished 12th out of 18 competitors. A super achievement in a high-octane environment.” 

We won our Freestyle Medium class on the Monday and finished in second place in the U25’s Medium Championships behind a fabulous rider who has been on the GB BYRDS Teams.  In the U25’s Elementary Championships, there were 90 competitors across three sections on the Wednesday.  We were the only ones to break the 70% barrier with the top 10 from each section went through to the final. 

The Thursday was pretty nail-biting but we won on a score of 72.999%!  Gari was simply out of this world especially as we had competed in torrential rain at The Pony Club Champs and boiling hot sunshine (which I am not used to!) at the U25’s.  My trainer, Cathy Burrell, has a mantra and it is “mind over matter”, I just kept hearing her as we competed and just got the job done.  There were so many people on hand after to cool us both down.”

Who are your heroes?

Carl Hester who I was fortunate enough to meet this year. I love his ethos and the way he can laugh at himself too.  I’ll never forget how amazing he was at the 2016 Olympics when Barney” had-a-barney” and spooked costing Carl marks, BUT he showed all of us dressage riders how to pick it up and go on to get the best.  Charlotte Dujardin is also a hero but not only because of her amazing talent, but how hard she worked to get there.  I follow Phoebe Peters and it would be all my dreams come true to ride with her on a team.