Susie with Dolly at the Nationals, 2014.

Susie and Dolly at the Nationals, 2014.

 

Susie Flook

I first met Cindy on the RA hunt’s newcomers’ weekend — she was teaching the novice cross-country jumping group. I’d returned to riding after an extremely long absence and was terrified of the whole thing, but Cindy was magnificent. She gives so much encouragement and knows exactly in which order to ‘fix’ the things you are doing wrong, and knows how to get the horse to do the right thing, too.

Later, I sought her out at Harroway, taking a beautiful but difficult thoroughbred mare there to try to get Cindy to fix us. Under her patient tuition we did come along — I had the very best day’s hunting on her, learned a great deal and generally had fun. I’d always wanted to give side saddle a try. Cindy put me on her wonderful mare Dolly and within a couple of years, the two of them had trained me to the point where at the 2014 National Side Saddle Show at Addington Manor, Dolly and I won the championship for mature riders.

Cindy is just the best teacher, the best horsewoman and wonderful, generous friend. Words cannot do her justice.

 


 

Ali with Cindy (and Zulu)

Ali with Cindy (and Jeeves)

Ali Gill

Having returned to riding after a 25 year break, Cindy was recommended to me as a trainer who has both ridden and coached from the basics to the best. I set out my goal to take both my horses eventing to achieve the best we can…a journey together to see what we can achieve. I am a year-and-half in and with Cindy’s guidance I have achieved more than I could have hoped. She has been a source of inspiration, support and advice.

We started our journey unsafe over even the smallest fences but now, in 2015, we are progressing on to BE Novice. It’s been quite a trip and Cindy has guided my every step. She has offered counselling on which events to compete at, balanced hand holding and confidence building to ensure we kept pushing ourselves and developed our competence in alignment with our confidence; and, she has encouraged me to reach out and seek guidance from other experts in each of the eventing disciplines to keep our work together fresh.

Cindy is an extraordinary woman, kind hearted, good humoured and excellent at what she does and I am thoroughly looking forward to continuing our work together.

 


 

Rachel and Luther (aka Dreammaker), winner, ladies' show horse, BHSA southern spring show, May 2015

Rachel and Luther (aka Dreammaker), winner, ladies’ show horse, BHSA southern spring show, May 2015

Rachel Lambert

I first met Cindy more than 20 years ago. Having moved to the Andover area as a GP, I turned up at Harroway desperate for a horse fix and was allowed to help exercise the ponies. As my daughters grew up, Cindy taught them and gave them the opportunity to try everything as well as to just have fun around horses in a very non-precious way, which seems seldom allowed these days.

After they went away to school and university, I took over the ride on our first horse, Luther, aka Dreammaker. At Cindy’s suggestion, I showed him in a riding horse class, which he won, and in due course when he was established, I was allowed to try side saddle. I was hooked! I have continued competing astride and side saddle in a variety of classes since. We have been to several big shows and have even been to France to compete which was something I could never have dreamed of doing. I love the history and elegance of the side saddle art, and feel incredibly lucky to be taught by the best.

Cindy is a brilliant and generous teacher of both children and adults, novice and experienced. She has a very light touch and as a pupil you feel nudged along while typically she works on one or two points only, backed up by enthusiastic encouragement and praise.