Peas in a pod

Living with an equally competitive rider has its pros and cons. Lucy Higginson asks some power couples how they balance family life with competitive goals

- Lucy Higginson

“PEOPLE talk about the challenges of isolation, but we’ve actually found it fine,” says Sara Parrott, referring to the challenges of lockdown earlier this year.

Living with her partner, fellow showing supremo Craig Elenor, on 10 acres in Easingwold, Yorkshire, she has stumbled on to one of the ironies of lockdown: it’s not all that different to regular out-of-season life when you run a competition yard with your partner.

But how do you cope when you live and work with your other half, at home, in a sport that gives very little change from a 13-hour day? What for some is a recipe for disaster works like a dream for others, who may often not leave their property for days at a time, even without a pandemic.

Chatting with Sara and Craig, it’s clear that humour smooths their 24/7 life-work operation (“I’ve learnt that in Yorkshire, ‘It’s all right,’ means, ‘It’s really, really good,’” she laughs). Theirs is a young business, Sara having moved to Yorkshire from Essex in 2014.

“We’d both produced horses before, but ponies have just taken over so we’ve gone down the pony and mountain and moorland route,” explains Sara. “The most stressful thing, without doubt, is finances, but it helps that we do what we love and suit being busy.”

Having bought their own property three years ago, every spare moment and penny is spent redeveloping it for horses.

“We’re in a static caravan as we go through planning for a barn conversion,” explains Sara. “It’s not big, because Craig built a really nice outdoor arena…”

Equestrian couples tend to agree that the biggest strain you’ll ever face is developing that critical pool of owners, buyers and pupils to spend money with you.