David Baxter on the diverse skills of being a master saddle fitter and his early encounter with a budding top event rider
My father worked in hunt service in Scotland so I grew up with horses and learnt to ride at an early age. I was expected to sit tight over small walls when I was three. We moved to Huddersfield when my father bought a riding school advertised in Horse & Hound . I joined the Rockwood branch of the Pony Club and experienced a lot with them.
Huddersfield was quite a wealthy area in the 1960s and ’70s with a lot of competitive and talented riders including the Whitakers, so there were a lot of good shows. My father, Charlie, was a judge at Horse of the Year Show and we originally had show ponies, then showjumpers before I fell in love with eventing.
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