'I was almost born on a horse': What it takes to be a military equestrian star

One of the military's top showjumpers has given an insight into the mindset required to compete at the top level in the forces.

Major Emma Lee-Smith, now a reservist, qualified in the forces category for the London International Horse Show in December.

Her performance at Bury Farm in Buckinghamshire showcased a spectrum of skills, and the unique tests for those who want to be regarded as belonging in the upper echelons of equestrian sport in the UK military.

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Start as you mean to go on

Speaking just before discovering she had made the coveted forces final at the Excel Arena on 18 December, Lee-Smith told BFBS how showjumping has always been in her blood and smiled as she said: "I grew up riding, grew up on a horse; I think my Mum pretty much went into labour while she was riding with me, so I was almost born on a horse!

"Rode all through my younger years, then I had to give up when I went to university and, once I joined the Army, I had a very demanding job, so I didn't get to ride during that time and then about 10 years ago I joined the regular Army and got back into horses which has been fabulous.

"I'm a reservist now, which gives me a lot of time to do the horses and get back into it which has been absolutely brilliant."

No sport quite like it

As a nod to the all-consuming nature of the sport, Maj Lee-Smith explained how "horses are a lifestyle rather than a hobby. It takes a huge amount of effort, huge amount of financial input, so you want to be able to do the best by the horse".

"Horses aren't like a set of golf clubs, you can't just put them in a cupboard. They always require care, maintenance, you're always looking after them, you're always developing them, always training them."

Then throw into the mix the added complexity of work demands on equestrian-leaning personnel – "It's a really difficult balance – some of the guys who are working full time, away on deployments, it's really hard for them to keep the training positive and keeping it progressing all the way because you end up having, going off on an op deployment or something for six to however many months and unfortunately the horse just has to sit at home and wait for you and you lose all that sort of momentum".

Never know what you're going to get

"Working with horses, it can be anything from giving their breakfast a bit late and they'll get cross and a bit grumpy and they'll not come out in the best mood and they might not just be as rideable as you're used to them being. You never quite know what you're going to get on the day!

"I'm riding a young horse, so she hasn't done a huge amount and it's really difficult to know how they'll adapt to all these situations, you just have a completely different horse on every single day sometimes, it's really difficult, so you just have to trust the process."