As I entered the driveway a huge turkey sprinted across the garden shortly followed by the dogs and one of the children! I was told the turkey had been bought for Christmas last year but after a crafty escape has managed to stay part of the Gaché family, if only to cause havoc! After breakfast, Mandy’s husband Ricky took the children to get ready and she took me off to meet the horses.

On the way to the yard Mandy talked me through her daily routine and how she managed to fit in her riding in between the family and organising Ricky’s work. “It’s hard for Rick to look after all his clients properly. Being a farrier, he is physically tired at the end of each day, so I take the pressure off by doing the dairy and dealing with the phone calls.” Her mobile didn’t stop ringing from the time I arrived.

As Mandy warmed up her new PSG horse Arnie (Lanciano) she talked about riding as a child. Her mother was a keen supporter and enjoyed watching Mandy and her sister ride. She started at Pony Club and loved show jumping until about the age of sixteen. “You know what it’s like...” she joked, “I got to sixteen and thought I’d rather be out on the town with my friends than at the yard mucking out! But I always had a love for horses so I used to work during the week and hack out at weekends.”

At twenty-three, after a few years of independent living, Mandy moved back to her mum’s and went to work for Mary Bassett. They were into driving, but Mandy didn’t get too involved as her real interest was jumping. “I looked after the liveries and helped in the riding school. Then I show jumped my sisters pony up to newcomers but I never really got into it as much as I would have liked.”

“Then I started riding Ricky’s horse Robert who was a good jumper. But what with one thing or another, we never really got round to doing much. Then Ricky acquired another horse, Danish (Mr Nybo) through foot related problems and spend six months trying different remedial shoeing techniques. “His feet were good enough then to go barefoot – so that’s what we did.” But then Ricky was inundated with work and so gave Danish to Mandy to ride. “So this was it. I had Ricky at home looking after the kids while I nipped out and took Danish jumping - what a good plan. Or so I thought. I spent the whole day waiting for my turn and when I finally entered the ring Danish stopped at the first fence and we got eliminated! It was awful. I knew I had to go home and explain to Rick what had happened and I was so tired I thought it was all just a complete waste of time.”

“Then I started training with Sandra Devoulder and we started doing a bit of dressage.” Mandy’s mind was made up after her first outing. “It was easier with the kids and I could be home again within a couple of hours. Plus I didn’t get eliminated and I got a rosette first time out! I’ve had so much fun on Danish” grins Mandy. “He has a great character and was so keen to learn. I was able to go from Prelim to Elementary in no time at all. Sandra is brilliant and really helped me over the years. We now work at Prix St George, which is just great. He’s not the easiest horse to ride and his paces are so elevated that he takes the breath out of you. But, his tempi changes are wonderful and he finds them really easy.” With that, Danish is tacked up and I am offered a hat and gloves. “Have a go, you’ll love him” says Mandy. As I work him in under the beating sunshine I knew exactly what she meant. His trot was so huge I thought he was going to bounce me over the top! It was wonderful to think that he was a horse with so many troubles in the past and now, barefoot he lets you see what he’s made of. His canter was bold, quite like his character. Further into the session I asked him for some two-time changes. He quickly told me with a nice big buck that he knew exactly what he was doing and I need only whisper what I wanted ­– he certainly put me in my place!

As well as great instruction from Sandra, Mandy also has help from Mark Ruddock. “Both of them like Arnie and I’m excited about future competition with him. I think he can take me to the next level and teach me even more than I learned from Danish.”

I was amazed that with everything else in Mandy’s life she finds time to ride every day and has managed to get both her horses to a really high standard. “My dream was to compete at Prix St George and with good training and wonderful horses I have managed to do that. And anyone can do it. All I wanted was to wear top hat and tails.” She grins and says “but now my dream is to ride at Grand Prix and I need to put in the time to make sure I get there!” Watching her ride and her lovely, kind attitude to her horses, it’s obvious to me that she will.

I wonder if she’ll let me ride her boys then!