Introducing ARIAT
Ariat are renowned for their technologically innovative equestrian and country footwear and we are delighted to announce we've added them to our premium country footwear range.
Founded in 1993 by Beth Cross and Pam Parker, Arait was borne from a vision to bring performance technology to riders who were dealing with inadequate equipment. Today, Ariat is America's number one English and Western performance footwear, with the Ariat bug quickly catching all over Europe too.
The brand is supported by top equestrian athletes. Here are some of the Great British riders who trust in Ariat to carry them through their disciplines...
William Fox-Pitt (GBR)
Discipline - Eventing
Hometown - Hinton St Mary, Dorset
Number of years riding - 40
Main career accomplishments to date:
- • World no 1
- • 6 x Burghley wins
- • Badminton win
- • Team silver and Individual bronze, WEG 2014
- • Individual bronze, Europeans 2013
- • 6 team gold medals, Europeans
- • Olympic team silver x2 and team bronze
- • World team gold, silver and bronze
William shared with Ariat...
Tell us about your first horse/pony
Mini Monster - she was very kind, as I was very nervous!
How did you get started in your discipline?
Through my mother and the Pony Club.
Mentor/idol when growing up?
Lars Sederholm
Proudest career moment?
My first Burghley
Why do you ride?
I love horses!
If you weren't a professional rider, what would you be?
A poultry fancier!
Favourite holiday destination?
Italy
How do you unwind?
With my children.
Do you have a good luck charm, and if so, what is it?
No
Anne-Marie Perry (GBR)
Discipline - Dressage
Hometown - Elwick, Hartlepool
Number of years riding - I can”t ever remember not riding, Mum says I was quieter on a pony than in a pram!
Main career accomplishments to date:
- • 2014 - Winner of Intermediate II class at Myerscough Premier League with Feine Dame.
- • 2013 - Winner of three classes at Myerscough Premier league on two horses, Chiara and Feine Dame, all in one day!
- • 2008 - Competed at Hickstead International CDI winning the entire Young Rider Tour with Aristo.
- • 2006 - Competed in the Young Rider section at the European Championships and returned home as Best British Rider with World Classic.
- • 2005 - Represented Great Britain on many occasions and at the European Championships as a junior rider.
- • 2004 - Represented Great Britain successfully on several occasions including competing in Roosendaal and Limburg in Holland, Addington in England and as part of the Junior European team in Denmark with Forrest Fire and was the Best British Rider.
Anne-Marie shared with Ariat...
Tell us about your first horse/pony
My first pony was called Bobby Doughnut. He was a skewbald Shetland with a very short temper with everyone except me! Apparently I was so determined to get on him by myself once, that I tried to climb up his leg to reach the stirrup! We had so much fun growing up together and later on, regularly had “real life buckaroo” competitions where we would see how many of us could get on him before he decided he had had enough, and buck us all off!!
How did you get started in your discipline?
I started out with a very diverse range of ponies from jumping to mounted games and pony club ponies and was always quite successful, but rarely won any competitions. When mum went to an affiliated dressage competition she was competing at with her ex-racehorse (which flatly refused to jump anymore!) she took me along with my Welsh Section D, Maeseyfron Rhett, so I could have a go as well. We promptly won our two classes and qualified for the Regional Championships. I thought “I like this dressage lark!” and never looked back from there!
Mentor/idol when growing up?
When growing up I was madly in love with Duncan from the boy band Blue!
Proudest career moment?
This has to be winning the Intermediate II this year (2014) at Myerscough Premier league with Feine Dame. I have spent 8 years training her to Grand Prix level and to have her win a big class in her first season at the level was incredible!
Why do you ride?
I love my horses!
If you weren”t a professional rider, what would you be?
I always thought I would like to be an RAF pilot, though I”m not sure how that would have worked out as I”m not too keen on heights!
Favourite holiday destination?
Has to be anywhere in the Lake District. Its only two hours” drive for us and to have such beauty on our doorstep is incredible.
How do you unwind?
I like to take our two dogs for a walk with my fiancé, Phil.
Do you have a good luck charm, and if so, what is it?
My good luck charm is a bright pink diamante brow band that Forrest Fire was wearing when we won our first championship title. It goes everywhere with us and is hung up in the living area in our lorry.
Tina Fletcher (GBR)
Discipline - Show jumping
Hometown - Faringdon, Oxfordshire.
Number of years riding - I”ve been riding since I was 3 years old. Far too long!
Main career accomplishments to date:
- • Hickstead Derby winner - only female winner in 40 years - 2011
- • 2nd place - Hickstead Derby - 2010
- • Winner of the Hickstead Super League Nations Cup team
- • Winner of the Austrian Nations Cup
- • 2nd place - Falsterbo, Sweden - Super League Nations Cup
- • 3 time winner of Queen Elizabeth II Cup
- • Double clear and 2nd place in Aga Khan at Dublin RDS
- • Winner of the HOYS Puissance, jumping 7ft 4ins
- • Winner at Olympia
- • 2nd place at the British Masters Grand Prix, 2014
- • Reserve member of London 2012 Olympic team
Tina shared with Ariat...
Tell us about your first horse/pony
My first pony was an amazing black 12.2hh pony called Rockafella. He won everything we entered and was definitely responsible for my love of show jumping.
How did you get started in your discipline?
My mother rode and encouraged my sisters and I and drove us all around the country with our ponies.
Mentor/idol when growing up?
Eddie Macken was my idol when I was growing up. It was in the days when he had Boomerang and the partnership they had was beautiful to watch. It was pretty surreal a few years later when I was competing against him and sometimes beating him!
Proudest career moment?
My proudest moment is split between winning the Hickstead Derby and winning the Nations Cup at Hickstead with a double clear. It is the last time that Britain has won our own Nations Cup and it is a great feeling.
Why do you ride?
I ride because I love it. I love winning, but also I love to produce young horses and see them progress.
If you weren”t a professional rider, what would you be?
Luckily my job is my hobby and I love it, but I think I would have worked with children if I hadn't gone jumping.
Favourite holiday destination?
The Caribbean - beautiful beaches, blue sky and sun.
How do you unwind?
I don't get much time for that! I love the theatre and spending time with my two boys, watching them play football and rugby.
Do you have a good luck charm and if so, what is it?
No good luck charm, but I am quite superstitious.
Rachael Claridge (GBR)
Discipline - Endurance
Hometown - Badminton, Gloucestershire
Number of years riding - 36
Main career accomplishments to date:
- • Commentating at the World Equestrian Games 2014 for FEI TV on endurance day, the second best thing to riding the 160km FEI ride, but without the rain, mud and nerves!
- • Coaching a non-endurance riding client on my own horses who went on to complete the Mongol Derby 2014 (1000km in 10 days on 30 horses!)
- • Golden Horse Shoe Exmoor Extra three day 120km challenge - 1st place 2014
- • Qualifying as a UKCC Level 3 endurance coach in 2013
- • Team GBR bronze medal in the South African Endurance Championships 2009
- • World Endurance Championships, Dubai 2005
- • European Young Riders Championships 1997 (UK) 1999 (Germany)
Rachael shared with Ariat...
Tell us about your first horse/pony
Magic - an 11.3hh grey Dartmoor cross mare, who was terrified of heavy traffic and loved mud. She taught my sister and I how to really ride, wash and plait up ponies to pass rigorous pony club inspections and tests!
How did you get started in your discipline?
As a family we used to go on pleasure rides and go hunting with the East Cornwall Hunt. Mum had qualified for the Golden Horse Shoe when we lived at Marlborough 35 years ago on her grey hunter, Trampus, so when a British Long Distance Riding competition was held on Bodmin Moor we all entered and then got hooked.
Mentor/idol when growing up?
My parents! Plus former European champion, Jill Thomas, and Team GBR gold medal winner, Jane James, who mentored me from the age of 15 after I took part in a team relay with them. Shortly after my Pony Club pony injured herself in the field I bought Jane's thoroughbred mare Cornish Mead, who is the dam of Prince Meliodas, my current part-bred Arabian gelding. I crewed for Jill at the Southall European Championships and both Jane and Jill encouraged me to ride for the Team GBR Young Riders squad. Jane crewed for me at Young Rider and the Senior World Championships in the UAE and we all remain friends 20 years on.
Proudest career moment?
Winning the FEI 3* 160km Cirencester Park race with Silver Mistrahl and picking up the Best Condition Award - he is still an awesome horse, now aged 24 years.
Why do you ride?
I'm mad and I love it! Training and competing in all weathers isn't necessarily everyone's idea of fun but completing the Golden Horse Shoe which always clashes with the notorious bad weather of the Ten Tors weekend is some achievement - Meliodas in particular loves this course on Exmoor whatever the weather. He's a trooper, so I have to be as good as him to help him cover the distances asked for!
If you weren”t a professional rider, what would you be?
A hotel manager. I decided not to go into hospitality after working for a hotel in Plymouth as a teenager and realised it wouldn't give me the hours to allow me to train and compete my horses.
Favourite holiday destination?
Cornwall, my childhood home and where my parents and my retired horses live. You can't beat Bodmin Moor or the Cornish coastline! Or, the USA, I'd love to go back to the ranch in Wyoming where I worked after university one day and go on a pack-trip into the Rocky Mountains with my husband so that he can see how wonderful Bitterroot Ranch is. The people are so friendly and I love the wide-open spaces!
How do you unwind?
I ride my horses, or take the labradors for a walk ending up at our local pub with my husband! Yoga and pilates also help me de-stress, or a glass of wine!
Do you have a good luck charm, and if so, what is it?
I wear a white gold necklace with a solitaire diamond, which I bought as a memory of the World Endurance Championships, Dubai in 2005. A couple of years later when choosing a labrador puppy a yellow bitch leapt forward from the litter and grabbed the pendant. That was my Haya, now 8 years old.
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