Anne-Marie Taylor is 45 and has been riding since she could crawl.  Eventing has always been her passion, and at the age of 12 was representing her Pony Club at Area and National level.

Her first senior international ride came at the age of 21 when she represented Great Britain at the 1986 World Equestrian Games in Gawler, Australia, where she achieved 5th Place individually on Justyn Thyme, the horse no one else wanted and which she had brought on from a problem Novice.

Anne-Marie left home at the age of 20 to run her own yard so that she could pursue a career in Eventing.  With no money, and only a small number of owners, she built up a highly successful business; she ran this for the next 20 years.  Survival and success did not come without a price or effort: she taught, schooled, bought and sold on horses and rode for private owners.  She produced a number of horses from Novice to Advanced – but painfully had to sell three of her 4* horses along the way – to survive.

During this time Anne-Marie represented Britain with success at Junior, Young Rider and Senior World & European Championships, as well as winning many National One and Three Day Events.  She has also successfully competed and been placed on a variety of horses at Badminton and Burghley.

Teaching and bringing on young talent have always been a large part of her professional life.  She was awarded her BHSI in 1994 and, in recognition of her standing in the Sport, was asked by Jane Holderness-Rodham that same year to join the British Eventing Training Committee.

In 2006, Anne-Marie was accepted as a Dressage Judge onto List 4 and is now on List 3A.  She has judged at numerous affiliated BD shows and BE Horse Trials.  In 2008, she judged at Houghton, Blair Castle and Weston Park CCIs and Knaptoft and Hutton-in-the-Forest CICs.  She has since been appointed as an FEI Candidate Judge; her aim is to progress to be an International FEI judge and therefore qualified to judge all levels of International (FEI) Events.

In 2007, Anne-Marie was awarded the Event Fellowship of the British Horse Society – becoming the third ever Specialist Event Fellow while at the same time being the first woman and first Brit to hold the honour.

Anne-Marie sees the combination of her background as a competitor at the very top of the Sport, her teaching – encapsulated in her Fellowship of the BHS – and her judging as each informing and enhancing her other activities.  This combination of expertise and experience makes Anne-Marie Taylor rather unusual in British Equestrianism.

Anne-Marie Taylor has also carried out a number of teaching visits, workshops and lecture demos abroad; further details can be found if you click here.