Racing's horse whisperer

Craig Witheford on being the first to ride champion racehorse Sea The Stars, and how he analyses equine behaviour to understand what makes a horse tick

- Lucy Elder

I started riding when I was nine and I was breaking in my first ponies by 10. Then, I had a bad accident, where a horse flipped over and broke both my front teeth and my nose. Mum said, "You're not doing this again!"

I actually didn't ride again until I was 16. But I loved horses, so I was up the yard every summer holiday and weekend possible. I would work on the ground, and I think that's where I did most of my learning, as I was just watching horses, their behaviour and the way they are in the paddock.

We had different types of problem horses coming to us all the time. I remember I was on study leave, supposed to be revising, when we had a horse in who was throwing all sorts of shapes. I said, "I want to ride that tomorrow." I loved it. I was originally signed up to do carpentry at college, but the minute I got off that horse, I decided that I wasn't going anywhere.

When I worked for my dad, Gary, we would do a lot of breakers. I was the first person to sit on Sea The Stars, which was a great honour. I've been the first person aboard maybe 6,000 horses, but the difference between him and any other yearling was unbelievable. All he wanted to do was please and he has such a phenomenal brain, the like of which I will probably never witness again.