this ESME

You may know Esme Higgs, 21, by the V name "This Esme."

The British equestrienne, content creator and social media star has over 1.5 million followers and a monthly reach in excess of 10 million. Many of you have asked for more info about this celebrity equine entrepreneur, and we're here to deliver! Young Rider sat down with Esme to chat about everything from starting her channel to charity work and amazing adventures on horseback.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO HORSES?

My family wasn't equestrian at all, unless you count the three donkeys on our small holding.

It was when I was 5 years old that I got to ride at a friend's birthday party. I remember it felt amazing. I loved having that high-up view and the connection with the pony. I still get that buzz today.

I begged my family for lessons, then at age 8, I got my first pony, Mickey. I still have him today and he is featured a lot on the channel-he is a real character!

HOW DID YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CAREER BEGIN? 

It wasn't planned at all. I had a new pony, Casper (that's him to the right), who was very green. I used to video my riding lessons and show jumping rounds on an ancient iPhone.

I quickly used up all its storage, so I uploaded the videos onto YouTube as a way of storing them to look through later, sort of using YouTube as free cloud storage.

One summer I decided to make a "how to tack up your horse" video, because I came from a non-equestrian background and I know that some riding schools just teach you how to ride and don't focus much on the care side.

This was the first video of mine that wasn't just watched by friends and family, and it ended up with around 1,000 views, which at the time was mind-blowing. I really enjoyed making the more structured videos, so I started making more vlogs-not because I thought people would watch them, but because I liked making a video diary for myself.