Alice Peternell – Dressage Trainer
Some people build their lives around horses. For Alice, it is simply who she is.
She was nominated for the calm, patient way she supports an autistic and dyslexic pupil, a quiet reflection of the care and understanding that runs through everything she does. Long before the early mornings and long days, it started with a small moment, a five year old girl sitting on a pony during a family holiday in Wales, already certain she had found something she could not let go of. That feeling never left.
Years later, it would carry her through Pony Club, into international training in Holland under Bert Rutten, and on to one of her defining moments, being long listed for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with a horse she had produced herself from a five year old to Grand Prix.
But it is not those milestones that define her. It is the rhythm of her days. Six days a week, starting at 7am and often not finishing until early evening. Riding, training, managing a yard, supporting clients, keeping everything moving, and when the horses are settled, the work continues, messages, planning, the unseen details that hold it all together. Even her day off rarely looks like rest. For people like Alice, this is not a job you step away from. It is something you carry with you all the time.
There have been highs, of course, but also the quieter, harder moments, the ones that are not always spoken about. The loss of horses after years of partnership. The responsibility of running a yard, where every day brings something new to solve. The emotional weight of caring deeply and still having to keep going. And yet, through all of it, one thing remains constant. A deep understanding that horses are sensitive, intuitive, and never something to be rushed. That patience is not just a skill, but a necessity. That their wellbeing must always come before success.
Spending time with Alice, what stands out is not just her experience or her achievements. It is the way she shows up consistently, quietly, without needing recognition. Doing the work day in, day out, with a level of care that cannot be taught. The kind of dedication that does not ask to be seen but is felt in everything she does.
If you’d like to follow Alice's journey and the work she does, you can find her here:
Website: www.apequestrian.com
Instagram: @alicepeternell
Facebook: www.facebook.com/apdressage
