Paralympic multi-medallist Natasha Baker has put Grammy award-winning country star Shania Twain through her paces on horseback.
In Sunday night’s (7 November) episode of ITV’s The Pet Show Canadian singer Shania joined Natasha at her yard in Uxbridge, west London, where she learnt about dressage. The pair were in “horsey heaven” as they discussed Natasha’s riding techniques and Shania’s love of liberty work.
Natasha told H&H when she agreed to take part in the show, which celebrates the “UK’s animal obsession” and is hosted by Dermot O’Leary and Joanna Page, she did not know which star would be joining her.
“When I was told it was Shania, straight away I said ‘Well that don’t impress me much!’, and that was when the puns started and they still haven’t finished!” she said.
“She’s a bit of a legend of our generation, I can remember singing her songs going into school. Filming was quite surreal, we were so busy chatting, I think we were driving the camera crew mad. We kept going off on tangents, it was like talking to a long-lost friend.”
In the episode, filmed before the Tokyo Paralympics, Natasha rode Keystone Dawn Chorus (Lottie) with whom she went on to win individual silver in the grade III freestyle and team gold at the Games, while Shania rode livery Sue Martin’s 12-year-old mare Millie.
“Not many people can say Shania has ridden their horse – I was a bit jealous! She did ask to ride Lottie but we were filming a week for before the final selection for Tokyo at Hartpury International so I couldn’t risk anything going wrong,” explained Natasha.
“I knew Shania was horsey and she’s had horses in her music videos in the past. She does most of her stuff at liberty and brideless and is very much about minimal aids so I think she found it fascinating that I do the things I do with Lottie without the use of my legs. We were told by the producers Shania was on a really tight schedule and had to be away at a specific time and I think she was still here two hours after filming. She got her laptop out and was showing me videos of her horses, she was so genuinely lovely.”
Natasha has been invited to meet Shania Twain’s horses in future.
“Her main base is in Switzerland, and I go out to Switzerland skiing with my owner Christian [Landolt]. She said when we’re next there to give her a call to go and see her ranch there, which would be amazing. She also invited us to Las Vegas where she has a farm so hopefully one day we can make it happen!”
The Pet Show airs on Sundays at 5.35pm on ITV and previous episodes can be watched on catch up on the ITV Hub.
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