Katie Bailey
WHEN Katie Bailey went on holiday to the south of France in 2009, she never expected to receive a message that would transform her dressage career.
“My mum texted me to say she’d just seen an advert in Horse & Hound for a job at Carl Hester’s yard, and had applied on my behalf,” says Katie, now 32 and one of Britain’s most exciting up-and-coming dressage riders.
“At the time I was doing a six-month scholarship at Talland, and I had a very intense lesson without stirrups the night before the interview, to help prepare,” remembers Katie. “Carl put me on Super Nova II [Neville, who went on to be Spencer Wilton’s Olympic horse]. I trotted around his
