Kirsty Aird

How did a self-confessed “chicken” become one of the working hunter circuit's most formidable competitors? Bethan Simons finds out

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THEY always say that as you get older, you become less brave and you think more. But as I've gotten older, I've become more brave," explains Kirsty Aird, 34, who now has a 15-strong team from her base just south of Dundee.

Perhaps it was inevitable that she would develop confidence and competence over a fence: Kirsty’s late father, James Aird, was a showjumper and worker rider, and he ran a busy yard alongside her mother, Trudy, who continues to be a key player for Team Aird.

“Dad was always anti-showing, but an old friend of his, Duncan Stevenson, got him into working hunters,” Kirsty says. “Then he had a really good one, Westinghouse, who won a lot, including at Dublin, and it went from there.”

The 143cm working hunter pony (WHP) Haysford Hideaway Harry gave Kirsty a taste of success in the working hunter ring, and whet her appetite to ride at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and the Royal International (RIHS), too.

“Harry really taught me to ride,” she says. “He could be difficult but he still got me into it; I got that bug for the qualifiers.”

Although Kirsty claims to have been nervous as a child - “I always used to be a chicken. I was terrified” - she was used to riding bigger horses from a young age, jumping her father’s heavyweight Knockadoon from age 12 and travelling her “good jumping horse” - twice Scottish puissance champion and Scottish open champion - Jumping Mac Flash alongside the show horses.

“That was my bit of fun, though part of me thought I was mad when the fences were taller than me; he just looked after me,” she admits.