PROFILE.
WHAT dreams ARE MADE OF 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.
G
reg 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 five-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 was old 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.
BRITISH DRESSAGE // Issue 4 2021 // 7
