HELLO.

 

My name is Liam Sloan and I am a Programme Manager within the Business and Management Services department at Barnsley College.

 

I started horseriding at the age of 9 when I had weekly riding lessons at Craigs  Riding  School in Dumfries.  My mum paid for weekly lessons (I think they were £2 a go) and my papa used to religiously accompany me on the two way 6 mile journey on his push bike!!  The riding school was run by Mr & Mrs Robertson but sadly closed down when I was 12.  I was destined never to ride again!!!!

 

When I graduated from the University of Huddersfield I began working as a Manager with C&A and was earning enough pennies which meant I could afford to start riding again.

After 2 months of riding lessons I decided to start looking for my very own horse.

 

I bought Amber a 15 3 ex point to point bay mare.  When Amber came to me she was forever on edge and frequently weaved in the stable.  She was a handful when out hacking - all she would do was jog.  As our bond got better she began to chill out, stopped weaving and we then shared lots of fun times together.  We did a little bit of showing, jumping but we were mainly happy hackers.  I moved back to Yorkshire and we were based at Mallard House Riding Centre.  At Mallard House Amber was on schooling livery and it was then that Amber was introduced to riding school client Kaye Saxby.  When Amber went up for sale Kaye jumped at the chance to buy her - they had some fab times together but unfortunately Amber died in 2006.

 

Meg was my second horse.  She was an Irish Draft x Thoroughbred much bigger at 16 2.  Meg was a great horse with a brilliant personality.  We had lots of fun and she really enjoyed cross country, hacking, jumping and was a big fan of hunting.  I did want to do some one day eventing with her but we needed to work on our flatwork so we went to Aldham Mill Equestrian to train.  The rest is history!

Once I had been training with Diane I became hooked on dressage and decided I wanted to take it up.  We came to the conclusion that Meg could do dressage but unfortunately did not have the potential to go far.

 

Bravo was next!

 

We are based at Aldham Mill Equestrian and train around 5 times per week, 3 training sessions with Diane and the remaining 2 sessions on our own.  I am currently competing at Elementary level and working hard on perfecting the half pass and sitting trot! 

 

In 2007 I captained TEAM WHITE ROSE and rode representing the Northern Region at The Senior Inter-Regional Championships.  The team were placed 5th out of 13.

 

I am currently ranked 11th in British Dressage Top Performing Riders list with an average percentage score of 70.60% (March 2009).

 

I am also on the British Dressage Judges register and often judge at unaffiliated shows when not competing myself.

 

I created WPW Dressage in an attempt to fill a niche i spotted in the market, for efficient and effectively run unaffiliated dressage events.  To see the dates of up and coming competitions click on WPW Events 'Diary Dates' if you want to enter a competition then entry forms can be downloaded by clicking on 'Entry Forms'.