Hi I am Sarah, Welcome to my website.

 

I am originally from Scotland, I grew up on a small island off the west coast in the Outer hebrides called North Uist. I grew up riding Highland, Eriskay and Welsh ponies from the age of four, rode at the local riding school which was run by the army, attended pony club and jumped at any opportunity for a lesson. 

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When I was 16 I moved to the Isle of Skye to start my British Horse Society training and gained a working pupil placement at the local riding school and RDA. It was here my passion for teaching began.

From Skye I moved to the Captain Mark Phillips Equestrian Centre at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland to continue my teaching training as a working pupil. I met my now Kiwi husband at Gleneagles when he turned up to have lessons. So that's how I have landed in NZ!

 

We travelled between New Zealand and Scotland for six years.

In those six years I worked here in New Zealand at the Jillings and Yuill racing stables in Auckland mainly starting Thoroughbreds under saddle. I groomed for World Cup show jumper Paula Mussen in Auckland for a couple of seasons and in our spare time we both hunted with the Maramarua hunt.

For some of the summers spent back in Scotland we ran a riding school and trekking center on North Uist as well as working at the local hunting and fishing lodge, Langass Lodge. The other summers were spent on mainland Scotland working in the hospitality industry in Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh where we both rode as much as possible by having lessons and riding all our friends horses!

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We eventually settled in Canterbury and we now happily have a four year old son, Oliver, 2 dogs and 3 horses.

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My passion for teaching lead me to start my business VDS Equestrian in 2020 and in 2022 I added Poles Plus to my offerings.