First time at Badminton for Mary was in 1992. She could not believe the excitement. Renowned for her lovely ability to smile whilst eventing, whether things are going well (or not!) we saw that lovely smile first hand, enthralled as Mary described her amazing career. Presenting with great charm, warmth, energy and enthusiasm, Mary backed up the discussion with brilliant footage on DVDs, then withstood a good grilling from us in questions and answers.
Those early events; the huge tall gangly horses, the scary soft going and the enormous cliff like fences. We saw film of Mary tackling these on horses bursting with energy, about to speed off like an express train! Amongst Mary’s very many remarkable achievements are: Badminton – success; Burghley – success; World and European Championships – success; and representing Britain at six (yes six!) Olympic Games – even more successes.
Q&As revealed in the important tips; mothers teaching their daughters to ride, “…only give feedback when it is asked for … and don’t nag”. Mary confirmed that after becoming a mother, back in the saddle eventing, thinking, “… will it be the same – mmm’, yes – it still feels great”. We were delighted that Mary brought along copies of her book, “Mary King My Way: How I train for success” which she very kindly signed and we eagerly snapped them up.
Thank you Mary, for a wonderful evening. You are brilliant – signed WVS!