I was thrilled to find this forum - I have been riding since I was about 7 and it is still the passion of my life (I don't like to say how many years later!!) I live in South Africa, and the format of our competitive jumping seems to be slightly different from the US, but the same riding principles apply!!

I have owned and trained a number of horses over the years, although I work as an accountant fulltime.

My username Urban Warrior is also the name of the horse I currently own (I think it is quite a cool name). He is an 8yr old thoroughbred ex racehorse. I am taking his jumping training slowly as due to a bad experience I had lost a great deal of my nerve. Have now got most of it back and am aiming high!! At the moment I am only jumping about 3ft, but this year I plan to move up the grades. I am not sure how your show jumping grading system works, but here in RSA you start in F grade (very small) and proceed to A grade and International A grade. Perhaps someone could explain your system - it would be interesting.

Nice to meet you all
Shirley