SADDLING UP FOR PARENTHOOD, CHAMPION RIDER NATASHA BAKER AND HUSBAND MARC JACONELLI SHARE THEIR UNBRIDLED LOVE FOR NEW BABY SON JOSHUA FIO

As a Paralympic equestrian champion, it was a big moment when Natasha Baker introduced her newborn son to her beloved horse Lottie. And as these precious first family photos show, the meeting went very well indeed, with Lottie affectionately nudging her silky nose against the tiny legs of the newest addition to the family, whose name, HELLO! can reveal, is Joshua Fio Jaconelli.

- EMILY HORAN

“Lottie absolutely loves him,” says Natasha, 33, joining husband Marc Jaconelli, 31, at her parents’ livery yard in West London to proudly introduce their first child to us. “She is the gentlest horse in the world and she literally went up to his head and snuggled into his hair. It was so sweet.”

The new parents have been riding high since Joshua was born on 25 April, weighing 8lb 6oz.

HITTING THEIR STRIDE

“Out of everything I’ve ever done, Joshua is definitely my biggest achievement,” says Natasha, who has won six Paralympic golds: two at London 2012, three at Rio 2016 and one at Tokyo 2020. “We’re overwhelmed with love for him. We just can’t stop staring at him. I think we’re still in disbelief that we made him. I always knew Marc would be an amazing dad, but he’s gone above and beyond everything I imagined.”

In return, Marc says: “Natasha’s been incredible. She’s taken to it like a second nature.”

While Natasha has enjoyed global sporting success at the top of her game, being a mother, she says, is the role she was born to do. “I can’t quite describe the feeling, but it feels like I was always meant to be a mum.”

Even so, after falling in love with horse riding at a young age and beginning to wait to get back in the saddle. She hopes to be back riding in early July, when she will begin her bid for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

“This is the longest I haven’t ridden since I was eight years old, so I am bursting to get back to it,” she says. “To have Joshua in the crowd, if I’m lucky enough to get selected, would be amazing.