Broadcaster and podcaster

Nicole Brown on her trajectory from fangirling Mary King to commentating alongside Ian Stark - and how her curious nature has stood her in good stead

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I grew up on a dairy farm and my brother and I were fortunate to have ponies.

Our first was a naughty little Shetland called Star - if my mum was there, he was an angel; the rest of the time, he was an absolute horror. But he was great fun and taught us all a huge amount.

My dad was livestock manager at Blenheim, so it's a very special place for me.

I have lots of wonderful memories from there. One of my earliest horsey memories was going to Olympia at Christmas, probably on a Pony Club coach. One year, Lorenzo the Flying Frenchman was doing a display.

We came home and my mum found my brother and me “being Lorenzo” on the back of Rupert, our lovely little pony, in the middle of the yard. Bless him, he let us do it!

I was an original Mary King fangirl.

She gave me a signed rosette that she won at Cornbury in around 1997 - and that is what sparked my love of eventing.

I've always been a chatterbox - I won a prize at Pony Club camp for the person who asked the most questions. I'm not sure the instructor meant it as a compliment, but I definitely took it as one! I've always been inquisitive, but I was very shy growing up and hated public speaking.

When I was 18, I was working for the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and a colleague happened to run Winkburn Horse Trials.