International dressage judge

Isobel Wessels on being catapulted into an elite community, making sacrifices and accepting that you're human - mistakes happen

- Leslie Bliss

I always wanted to ride, but there was no pony in the back field. We couldn’t afford horses, so I didn’t ride until I was 15. Once my parents realised how serious I was about horses, they paid for riding lessons.

They wanted me to have some qualifications, so I was packed off to the world-renowned Porlock Vale Riding School, which happened to be local to us in Somerset. I stayed on after my BHSAI as a junior instructor for a year, but I wanted to learn more about dressage.

There wasn’t much opportunity for that in this country at that time. I applied for a job advertised in Horse & Hound to work with riders from the Spanish Riding School. I didn’t hear anything for ages, then suddenly a telegram. I’d got the job. I packed my trunk, boarded a train and rolled into Vienna’s main station.

I learnt in-hand work and to train all sorts from Lipizzaners and Trakehners to thoroughbreds. Ernst Bachinger was a total inspiration; all his horses felt so amazing to ride. He pointed out that if you don’t own your own horses, you’ll never compete, so, after a year, he found me a job in South Africa, where he knew I would be given rides as the sport was in its infancy.