Equestrian journalist and author. Pegotty Henriques had the ‘usual’ British equestrian upbringing – pony club, hunting, showjumping – but it was when her daughter became interested in dressage that Pegotty got the ‘bug’. Pegotty trained with Robert Hall for 15 years, and wrote a series of books on dressage. Here she explains how see got ‘hooked’ on dressage:

I really have my daughter to thank for getting me into dressage!

I had ridden all my life, starting in the Pony Club, and competing at shows and in hunter trials. In those days dressage was unheard of in England and I suppose Showing classes were the nearest we  came to that sort of thing.

As a child, I particularly enjoyed showjumping and had a good pony that was talented enough to jump at top level. Believe it or not, she was bought from the local butcher who tried to make her pull a cart. She had other ideas!

I blush to remember it, but I taught that pony to rear on command, or rather ‘on the aid’.

She had a good jump and I was helped by a great and famous character called Fred Foster. He owned a horse called Silver Mint that held the high jump record from before the Second World War until relatively recently.

My strongest memories of those showjumping days were the thin strips of wood – called laths – along the top of every fence that incurred half a fault if they fell off. That, and going with my pony by train to Windsor Horse Show.

Showing hunters, hunting and a brief time spent point to pointing took me up to  the years of my marriage with the inevitable ‘gap’ following, while children arrived.

Hunting in those days was my great love and I was lucky enough to live close to the Heythrop, Beaufort, V.W.H. and Cotswold Hunts. Fortunately I married a farmer whose mother was also a hunting addict. I had one horse of my own, but thanks to her and her stable, I often managed to follow the hounds four days a week.

Needless to say my children were put on ponies at an early age and started Pony Clubbing when they were six. What rods we make for our own backs!

It seemed no time at all before my eldest was ‘doing dressage’ and I was learning about my own ignorance. I started schooloing her pony and, of course, the bug took hold – and I’ve been doing nothing but dressage ever since.

I was teaching Pony Club and my first dressage instruction came on an instructor’s course that was taken by Molly Sivewright. After that, another fellow of the British Horse Society, Barbara Slane Fleming opened my eyes a little wider.

Greedy for knowledge, I was determined somehow to get to her teacher, the great Robert Hall, who had trained at the Spanish School. He was very selective about who he took and busy with training top riders for the Olympics. He wasn’t very interested in me.

It took a bit of time but I finally weedled my way in, and trained with him single mindedly for 15 years.

Sadly he is now living in America and how I miss his wisdom.

Whenever I hit a problem, with a horse or a pupil, I always go back to the basic truths and correctnesses that he taught me. The answer to my problem is usually close at hand.