Rider – Trainer Profile

Born into a family of 7 siblings who are all animal lovers, it was inevitable that Claire would love animals. She was introduced to horses by her cousin although she had to wait many years before earning enough money to start riding lessons and purchase a horse.

Horses were put on hold in her teenage years when she joined the armed services and became a Police Dog Handler, where she was for a number of years until she became ill.

On leaving the armed forces due to ill health, Claire concentrated on her health for many years and spent a considerable time in and out of hospital. She has a number of auto-immune diseases, cancer and spinal lesions which cause serious issues with her health and cause weakness in her arms and legs. In 2000 Claire was involved in a horse riding accident which resulted in the fusion of multiple vertebrae in her neck.

Claire then moved to Tasmania, married and continued to breed horses for a number of years.

During that time she acquired APH Rodrigo, and loaned him during a time of illness to a young rider, Jade Woodhead for the Aachen Challenge. After the Aachen Challenge, Claire and her husband moved to the UAE for 2years for work, during which time APH Rodrigo was leased to Jade and he continued to be campaigned in Victoria. This led to an ongoing friendship and partnership with Jade. They have been partners in horses ever since.

Following recovery from cancer, in 2015 Claire returned to horse riding, importing Valentino W from the Netherlands, acquiring the wonderful Comtesse (previously owned by Judy Smith) in conjunction with Jade Woodhead as well as her recent acquisition Der Beste. These horses have provided the impetus for returning to competition. Like most para equestrian riders, training is frequently interrupted by medical issues, but Claire looks forward to each and every competition as a chance to improve her riding and for the enjoyment that comes with it.

With these horses Claire is aiming for international competition at the coming WEG in Herning Denmark and following that will be aiming for a slot on the Australian team for the Para-Equestrian competition at the 2024 Olympics.

Recently Claire has been lucky enough to have a major sponsor come on board in the form of The Dancing Horse saddlery.