About Me
My name is Jane Naughton and my passion in life is dressage. I am 27 years old and have been involved with horses all my life. Having started competing at 3 years old in lead rein show pony classes and having a break due to travel commitments, I graduated up through the showing and perfomance pony ranks and then made the decision to specialise in dressage at the age of 20.
I was born in Bolton, Lancashire and spent many years of my childhood travelling around the world with my family due to my fathers work. After leaving South Africa at the age of 10, we returned to the UK, via Cyprus, where my passion for all things equine grew. I convinced my parents that after the riding lessons I had in South Africa on the aptly named "Porky", I was desperate to have my own pony again. Being a resourceful family, I had to prove my commitment so at only 14, I managed to get myself a job at the local sailing club making sandwiches and later at a local restaurant washing up in order to pay for the keep on my loan pony, Mockbeggars Talisman (Jane).
My parents kept their word and we began the nationwide search for a native pony for me to restart my competitive career. We travelled thousands of miles and finally found the perfect pony less than 5 mins walk from our suburban home.
Farriers Full Cry (Harry) was a star and there was nothing that he couldn't turn a hoof to, from eventing and jumping to dressage and showing. Among some of his achievements, he was Champion Mountain & Moorland at the Bath & West County show, was invited to do the Knightwood challenge at the New Forest County show and was crowned performance pony of the year in 2001.
Sadly, he was only 13,2hh, so the search began in 2001 for my first horse. I had started to train with the BYRDS regional trainer, Claire Morrison, and with her support, found that I had a passion for dressage. We therefore looked for a horse to start an adult dressage career, also bearing in mind that we had decided to emigrate to Spain once I had finished my University course.
We found Remmington, a 16,1hh Dutch warmblood at the Brightwells dressage horse auction in 2001 and fell for him straight away. He taught me so much and he owes me nothing. We campaigned round the Prelim and Novice classes in the UK, along with the young horse classes and our best result being the highest placed amatuer rider at the Badminton Young Dressage horse championships. We emigrated to Southern Spain in 2003 and i started the process of learning to rise through the ranks in a different environment with a new trainer, Georg Prause.
Sadly Remy developed navicular disease at the age of 6 and after spending 4 years fighting for him, he was put to sleep in July 2008. R.I.P Remy.
In the meantime, finding myself with nothing to ride, my mother and I started to search for some new projects and along came Kir, Ruben and most recently Hugo, which has left me with an exciting team of horses with a great deal of potential for the future. Training with Georg Prause, a German dressage expert and former trainer of the Japanese Olympic eventing team, who is based just ten minutes from my stable yard. Together with Georg, I am developing into a successful rider, well on my to Grand Prix dressage. I have enjoyed many highlights throughout my journey to high level dressage so far, including attending a clinic held by Olympic bronze medallist Heike Kemmer.
In order to cover the costs of keeping and competing the horses, I am building up a business as a remote Personal Assistant and Marketing advisor to professionals in the medical industry, as well as assisting my vets practice with their marketing. I also started teaching dressage lessons and run an eBay shop with my mother, selling riding clothes. On top of all this, I care for the horses almost single-handedly, though Mum and Dad do occasionally lend a hand!
