The Tiger Tor Way
"If I'll get on it and ride it round the block, anyone should be able to by the time it leaves here."
Workmanlike, not airy fairy
There's no mystique to what we do at Tiger Tor. Horses are worked every single day — hacked for around an hour, then into the arena or round pen depending on where they are in their training. Rain, dark, snow. The routine doesn't change because the horses don't know it's raining.
Sue is usually at the yard by 4.30am, sorting horses before heading out for a full day's work on Dartmoor. That's not a boast. That's just what the horses need, and what they get.
Every horse that comes to Tiger Tor is socialised properly — out on roads with traffic, past farm machinery, across moorland, among free range ponies, cattle, sheep and people.
By the time a horse leaves here it has seen the world and learned to take it in its stride. That's not a training method. That's a minimum standard.
Safe, sound and trustworthy
Sue has a saying about producing horses for what she calls the granny market — safe, sound and not too feisty. She means it as a compliment. A horse that a confident older rider can trust is a horse that has been trained correctly, with patience and feel, not shortcuts and adrenaline.
If the horse is genuine, calm and rideable when it leaves Tiger Tor, the training has worked. That's the measure.
Classical roots, natural instincts
Sue's approach draws on two traditions that are more complementary than people think. Classical dressage — correct, progressive, never forced — provides the framework. Natural horsemanship provides the language. Together they produce horses that are willing partners rather than reluctant performers.
This is an approach developed over six decades of riding horses of every breed, temperament and level of difficulty. It isn't learned from books. It's learned from horses.
Professionally grounded
Sue holds the British Horse Society Intermediate Instructor qualification (BHSII, Senior Coach) and continues to develop her practice through regular training with national and international dressage coaches including Ann-Sylvie, Damian and Douglas, and Cameron (piaffe specialist). She attends Hartpury British Dressage seminars and stays current with BD rules and developments.
Her training relationship with Nicky du Plessis — principal of one of the UK's leading equestrian centres — spans decades and remains central to her ongoing development as a rider and trainer.
The learning never stops. Neither does the 4.30am start.