About Hannah

Hannah started riding at the age of 4 years with Mrs Macfarlane, famous for teaching Willie Carson. Her first riding experience didn't quite go to plan after Twist, the pony she was riding got clipped by a tractor and deposited her in a ditch! Mrs Mac told Linda, Hannah's mum that Hannah was a natural and would cost alot of money!

Hannah continued riding with Mrs Mac for many years then at Drumbrae until she got her first ridden pony called Billy when she was 12 years old. By the time Hannah got Billy she had already got 2 Miniature Shetland colts from Norman Blackburn at the Newton Stud. Cracker aka Dollar of Newton and Pi of Newton. Cracker is the foundation stallion for her Willinhan Miniature Shetland Stud. Hannah got Cracker licensed as a breeding stallion when he was 4years old, a mean feat for even the most experienced of breeders. Hannah was already showing her natural eye for a good horse.

Hannah's numbers were steadily increasing all the time after she acquired Billy. Newton Dawn and her foal Newton Babs arrived, then that autumn along came Newton Phoebe and Aikeybrae Beauty. Beauty was bought at the Aberdeen Shetland sales for £100 and was the foundation mare for the Willinhan Stud. Beauty has proved to be the pony Hannah knew she would by being a fantastic breeder and now runs on with Cracker. After Beauty came Hairy aka Howe Innes a very successful Highland Pony. Hairy taught Hannah everything he knew and she quickly progressed from being your average pony rider to a real talent. You would often find Hannah and Hairy in the back garden at the family house at the crack of dawn getting ready for a show. Hannah had real success with Hairy, taking her through Pony Club, many rounds of show jumping and dressage tests. During this success Glenedin Seumas joined the team as did Dunedin Rona. Beauty also had her first foal Willinhan Honey Bun.

At the age of 16 Hannah left school and went to Gleneagles on a 12 week intensive course. The near on impossible happened. The course started in the September, by October she gained her BHS Stage 1, the November her BHS Stage 2 and was 3 days too young to take her BHS Stage 3 in the December!  

Hannah was proving herself to be a dedicated and talented horse woman. Upon finishing at Gleneagles, Hannah continued her training with Liz and Pat Rennie at the Lomondside stud. She also went off to Yorkshire Riding Centre for an intensive course and received a lesson from Jane Bartle-Wilson on Blues and Twos. Hannah took her exams that summer gaining her BHS Stage 3 one day and her PTT the next. She quickly found employment and by the Spring of the following year had logged all of her hours and gained her BHSAI just a couple of months after her 18th birthday.

After gaining her BHSAI Hannah went and coached at Gleneagles for a short time. When she left Gleneagles she didn't leave empty handed having bought one of their horses, Lady previously known as Rena. Hannah had spent many hours with Lady and had seen small glimmers of real potential. Hannah took Lady to livery at Lomondside Stud and began the long process of turning her from an upside down banana with little confidence to a horse beginning to show real dressage potential.

In April 2005 Hannah's son was born and all of her horses were on a break. In the summer the horses returned to work and come autumn Hannah started lecturing at Oatridge College on the Equine courses. Everything was looking good but in November 05 disaster struck, Lady broke her leg. After many weeks at the Dick Vet due to colic caused by an allergic reaction to Metacam they moved onto the leg, a fracture was discovered. Nobody knew if she would ever come sound again but Hannah and her family knew she was worth the effort so they brought her home and started the long box rest and rehabilitaion. Hannah changed Lady's bandages every week until the next appointment for final x-rays. What was found was unbelievable, the extent of the break was huge, if it had been seen before the vets would never have said she would have made it. Lady was trotted up and to everybodys amazement was sound! When they got home she was turned away to get over her ordeal and had a long break. When the arena was completed Lady started her fitness work and she is now fit and raring to go. She hasn't been out to competition yet but has attended some BYRDs training sessions with Hannah.

Hannah has many more horses now ranging from charity horses,  youngstock all the way up to Billy who is in his 30's. Hopefully this gives you a small insight into Hannah's compassionate and knowledgable approach to her animals.