Meet our second sponsored rider, Fiona!
Hi! My name’s Fiona and I’m super excited to be sharing my blog with new and old Rubenesque Rider followers!
To be honest, I still have to pinch myself when I say “I’m a Rubenesque Rider sponsored rider”. I am firstly, very fortunate to be sponsored by such a great company. Secondly, I can’t believe I actually applied to become a sponsored rider!
I was sitting at home one night after a busy day teaching and happened upon the application to become a sponsored rider. I very nearly flicked over the Facebook post but something made me stop and think. Maybe it was the second glass of wine I was on? I read through the criteria and went ‘that sounds a bit like me’. My next thought was ‘I can’t put myself out there like that’, followed by ‘why the hell not?!’ Remember… second glass of wine.
As I filled in the basic application details I was filled with the standard ‘self-doubt’ protocol… ‘what will people think’, ‘people will know I’m overweight’, ‘I’m not out competing’, and on it went. Who was I kidding?! People have eyes! It’s not like my weight is a secret. Sure, I can feel bad about it. Sure, I’m trying to be lighter, but the fact remains… at this point in time I’m not popping into mainstream saddlery shops and picking up a size 12 off the rack. If we’re going to be really honest, size 12 jods for me is a pipe dream anyway!
I’m not out competing because I spend most of my time coaching and training retired harness racing horses through the Harness Racing Victoria HERO program. I just love transferring these horses to a ridden life and moving them onto people who may not have realised what a great breed the standardbred is!
So, I filled in the application. I answered honestly and explained I’m a coach working with riders every day who’ve often returned to riding as older riders whose bodies have changed shape over time and more often, after children. Riders who’ve bodies have changed and maybe don’t work they way they remember them working. These riders still want to be able to purchase comfortable, suitable clothing to enjoy their riding in. I’m afraid I may have even become a little ‘ranty’ about my passion for working with these fantastic women, two glasses of wine remember! Anyway, imagine my surprise when I received an offer to become a sponsored rider!
As a small business owner I’ve always been passionate about supporting other small businesses. It’s even better when you actually like the people you’re dealing with! The crew at Rubunesque Rider have been amazing! So much support (pun intended!) and knowledge to help me find the right clothes for me and people I recommend to them.
I look forward to working with them over the next twelve months. I look forward to writing more blogs and hearing from you all on what sort of topics you’d like me to cover. I also look forward to ordering some more jods for myself – I’ve managed to rip two pairs of my favourite fleece jods in the last week (my own silly fault, not the jods fault!)
and since I’m working mostly in Gordon, Victoria at the moment I NEED fleece lined jods!
Cheers,
Fi.
To be honest, I still have to pinch myself when I say “I’m a Rubenesque Rider sponsored rider”. I am firstly, very fortunate to be sponsored by such a great company. Secondly, I can’t believe I actually applied to become a sponsored rider!
I was sitting at home one night after a busy day teaching and happened upon the application to become a sponsored rider. I very nearly flicked over the Facebook post but something made me stop and think. Maybe it was the second glass of wine I was on? I read through the criteria and went ‘that sounds a bit like me’. My next thought was ‘I can’t put myself out there like that’, followed by ‘why the hell not?!’ Remember… second glass of wine.
As I filled in the basic application details I was filled with the standard ‘self-doubt’ protocol… ‘what will people think’, ‘people will know I’m overweight’, ‘I’m not out competing’, and on it went. Who was I kidding?! People have eyes! It’s not like my weight is a secret. Sure, I can feel bad about it. Sure, I’m trying to be lighter, but the fact remains… at this point in time I’m not popping into mainstream saddlery shops and picking up a size 12 off the rack. If we’re going to be really honest, size 12 jods for me is a pipe dream anyway!
I’m not out competing because I spend most of my time coaching and training retired harness racing horses through the Harness Racing Victoria HERO program. I just love transferring these horses to a ridden life and moving them onto people who may not have realised what a great breed the standardbred is!
So, I filled in the application. I answered honestly and explained I’m a coach working with riders every day who’ve often returned to riding as older riders whose bodies have changed shape over time and more often, after children. Riders who’ve bodies have changed and maybe don’t work they way they remember them working. These riders still want to be able to purchase comfortable, suitable clothing to enjoy their riding in. I’m afraid I may have even become a little ‘ranty’ about my passion for working with these fantastic women, two glasses of wine remember! Anyway, imagine my surprise when I received an offer to become a sponsored rider!
As a small business owner I’ve always been passionate about supporting other small businesses. It’s even better when you actually like the people you’re dealing with! The crew at Rubunesque Rider have been amazing! So much support (pun intended!) and knowledge to help me find the right clothes for me and people I recommend to them.
I look forward to working with them over the next twelve months. I look forward to writing more blogs and hearing from you all on what sort of topics you’d like me to cover. I also look forward to ordering some more jods for myself – I’ve managed to rip two pairs of my favourite fleece jods in the last week (my own silly fault, not the jods fault!)
and since I’m working mostly in Gordon, Victoria at the moment I NEED fleece lined jods!
Cheers,
Fi.