From hurtling round fields on ponies to Olympic glory: Becky Moody shares her incredible journey
Becky Moody has shared her incredible horsey journey, from “galloping around on her 10.2hh strawberry roan” to winning an Olympic medal on a home-bred last summer.
The international dressage rider was the keynote speaker at an event organised by British Equestrian to publish the results of its work into the social value of horses.
The project had found that equestrianism is worth £1.2bn annually in social value, and at the launch event, people from all walks of life explained how horses had changed and improved their lives.
Becky, who was on the British team that won bronze in Paris, with Jagerbomb, said she was going to talk about her own experience of the equestrian world.
“It’s about the ups and downs, the good and the bad, and the incredible journey we go on with horses, and the things that it teaches us,” she said. “About horses, but also about ourselves, about other people.
“I ride, obviously, but I make my living coaching. So dealing with other people and helping them is an enormous part of what I do, and working with horses has enabled me to do that, to understand people as well as horses.”
Becky was born in Yorkshire, into a family that was “only a little bit horsey”.
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“My mum’s from Northern Ireland, and she tells tales of hacking for seven miles to her local Pony Club rally, but it was very low-key horses, and my dad was not horsey at all,” she said.
“Hannah and Sarah, my two sisters, are seven and nearly 10 years older than me, so when I was born, they had already started riding, and Kelly was my first pony. I got her when I was four, and she was four, and we were best friends.
“We did everything together, we hurtled around the garden, we hurtled around the fields, we did Pony Club things, and we just grew up together. Generally, I was just chasing after my sisters, trying to keep up, but she was an absolute legend of a pony.”
Becky’s next pony came when she was seven and the pony was three, and she and Hannah backed him together. She explained that although her family was very supportive, there were no made ponies.
“Pony Club was a massive part of my life,” she said. “I was on Pony Club area teams from the age of nine to 18, and I did Pony Club dressage, eventing, showjumping, and quiz teams because I was a total geek.
“But what did Pony Club do for me? I made friends for life. I learned how to ride. I learned about how to look after horses, and that is one of the most important things. I was seven, eight years old, already mucking my pony out before I went to school, when I got home from school; that responsibility was mine. My parents were always very keen that if I was going to ride, I had to learn to look after horses as well. I still hold that very, very important thing; all the people who work for me, even the ones that want to ride at the top level, have to learn to care for the horses first, because that’s what horses are about.”
Becky said Pony Club also taught her about riding on a team; although competing with horses always involves a team of two, being part of a squad means responsibility for other riders and horses as well as yourself.
And although while she was at school, she briefly considered being a doctor, a vet and a fashion designer, she always knew her path lay in the horse world.
“I consider myself incredibly lucky, because I always knew what I wanted to do, and it was work with horses,” she said. “If I’d chosen one of those other things, I would definitely have had a healthier bank account, a better pension and less gray hair, but I wouldn’t have had this amazing journey I’ve had.”
By the time Becky left school, Hannah had completed a fine art degree but was drawn back to the horses. She started to build the family business up from a small livery yard and Becky joined her, teaching and building her riding career.
She competed, including with a 15hh thoroughbred-Highland cross at junior European Championships, which “really gave me the bug”, then went on to more youth teams, including winning young rider European bronze and at the national championships.
But Becky described the challenges in breaking into the top senior ranks; she had two horses at different times who could not quite make the transition to top level.
“It really made me question myself and what I was doing; could I do it?” she said. “It was really hard. I had amazing people who helped support me, but it definitely affected me as a rider. But it also taught me a lot about myself and about helping other people, because I think everybody goes through this.”
Becky cited Ian Woodhead, “the most phenomenal trainer” as one of the coaches who have helped her get to the top, as well as Emile Faurie, Carl Hester and her current coach David Hunt.
“These people, these coaches, all four of them, have been a massively important part of my life and my development, and I hope I can pass that on to other people,” she said.
“The people that I teach, some are also now professional riders. There’s Lucy who had just had her first baby when she went to the national championships here. These are all different people from all walks of life, and it’s been so amazing to work with them and see what works in different ways.”
Having spoken about the horses who had made her doubt herself, Becky talked about Jagerbomb, “the horse that’s really helped give me my confidence again and realise I can do it”.
“It’s been such an interesting journey,” she said. “I have another younger horse at the moment and I know if I’d had her after the other two, I’d have struggled, because she’s a bit quirky.
“I’d have doubted what I was doing and because I was doubting what I was doing, she’d have doubted what she was doing. But because I’ve had Bomb and he’s made me more confident, he’s taken me on that journey, I now have more knowledge, more confidence and more patience to deal with this horse. And that enables me to have more confidence and knowledge when I’m coaching my clients as well.
“At the Europeans in 2023, I was lucky enough to go as travelling reserve, but I still had a bit of imposter syndrome. I still didn’t really feel I should be there. At this point, I had this incredible horse I’d actually bred myself, amd as a young horse, we thought he was lovely, but not that great. How wrong we were.”
Becky said when she needs a moment, she turns to horses. She cited the time before Paris, when she had been selected for the squad.
“I knew I was the reserve rider at that point, but lots of other people thought I was on the team, and I was getting all these messages of congratulation,” she said. “I thought ‘I can’t cope with this’, so I went and sat in Bomb’s stable for half an hour and cried a bit, and he gave me a little cuddle. And then we were OK. We moved on.
“Horses listen and they let you talk to them. It doesn’t matter what you’re feeling, you can have that conversation. And I always come away feeling better.”
Becky said the Paris Olympics were “a crazy whirlwind”, and that she needs the pictures to remember she was really there and on that bronze medal-winning team.
“My pinch-me moment from Paris was standing on the podium with the other medal winners from the team competition,” she said. “Those people, Carl and Isabell [Werth] have been my inspiration, my role models, for 30 years. I used to teach Lottie in BD youth when she really couldn’t get her pony on the bit, and she’s now this absolutely phenomenal rider and team player. Being alongside people like this just makes you want to be better.”
Becky shared a picture of herself lying down after a 14-hour day.
“We do this because we love it,” she said. “You don’t do it if you don’t love it, because it’s too much hard work.
“But the journey these horses have taken me on, the things they’ve taught me about myself, and about people is such a massive part of it. The friends I’ve made are friends for life. So it’s not just the relationships with horses, but relationships with the people, too. And my mum and dad; they’ve been such a fundamental part of my journey. Although they have supported me financially to a degree, more importantly, they’ve supported every decision I’ve made to follow this crazy dream of mine. Thank you.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.