LOUISE BELL

I am passionate about horses. My love for these amazing animals and their welfare knows no bounds. 

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In my younger years I Show Jumped and Evented before concentrating on Showing and Hunters.  Through an association with Horse & Hound, I made the discipline change from showing, where I was one of the most successful lady riders on the working hunter showing scene, to Dressage. I got the bug and found very quickly that I was obsessed .

Looking back I could have been an athlete or followed my Dad’s footsteps into the film industry. My love for horses was all consuming and I decided that this is where my heart lay and I knew from a very early age that these amazing creatures would be central to my life and work.

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I was lucky enough to have my first pony at the age of seven. As I grew up, I was out competing and became a familiar face in all sorts of equestrian disciplines from Gymkhana to Dressage, Show Jumping to Eventing. At the age of 17, I was given a golden opportunity to work for Daphne Wyatt.  With Daphne I was exposed to my first taste of Working Hunter competitions and this is where the  showing ‘bug’ well and truly set in, it was not long before my showing career really took off.
 

Meeting and marrying Robert changed my life again, as a former Show Jumper, our combined knowledge allowed us to build a great partnership, together we built our reputation for producing top class working and show hunters both for the UK market and the USA. 

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In 2002 Robert and I were involved in a horrific horse box crash – fortunately it was only the humans who were injured, all the horses got out unscathed. I was airlifted to hospital from the scene and was told by doctors that I may never ride again. Failure is not in my vocabulary, I agreed with the Drs the way to save my leg and spent months with a metal case that went from thigh to ankle. Thanks to Robert and our team, who qualified my horses, I was able to compete all 8 that year at the Horse of the Year Show taking the Working Hunter Champion Horse of the Year title with Out of Sight, owned by Mrs Sarah Gallagher.

 

In 2005, I was thrilled to take Reserve Supreme Show Hunter Champion of the Year, riding my home bred 'Rock Star' at Horse of the Year Show and in 2008 I won the honours of the Supreme Working Hunter of the Year riding Out of Sight.  My titles include winning the Supreme Working Hunter Champion title at the Royal International Horse Show on fifteen occasions on Into The Blue, W Get Smart, Out of Sight, Rock Star, Crest Cavalier, Cruise Control, Special Effect, and my beloved Rocky IV.

 

Throughout my career, I am honoured to have won the Supreme Working Hunter Champion title on twelve occasions at The Royal Windsor Horse Show on my amazing Out of Sight, Cruise Control, Man on Fire and Get Smart, Into the Blue and been National Working Hunter Supreme Champion eight times.

 

My horses are my world, I lost in fairly quick succession, my beloved Out of Sight, Man on Fire, Rockstar and Cruise Control. The heart ache of those times was unbearable and gaining the strength to carry on and accept the losses was life learning. Looking back they were character building and I grew from that experience. 

 

A new chapter came round the corner and was presented to me that I grabbed with both hands, a change to Dressage in November 2012. I very quickly became obsessed and this has been my passion since then. I was able to bring my fantastic W Get Smart and my homebred Skyfall across to the discipline both of whom made an amazing transition from working hunters and with me, climbed the ranks. 

 

My first full year in Dressage was 2013. I was still very much a Learner with L plates. It really brought it home that not only was I obsessed but I could really do this when Get Smart and I qualified as the Regional Medium Champion. Going to Hartpury for the first time was an amazing experience topped off by my first win of a National Champion title.

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2019 saw my first call-up to represent Team GBR at Aachen for the Nations Cup (with fellow team members Charlotte Dujardin and Charlotte Fry) and three World Cup shows (Stuttgart, Neumunster and Olympia), all with Top 10 finishes. A certain gentlemen called Carl Hester has been very key in helping me to become the dressage rider I am today, I have to thank him for his knowledge and ability to pass on his skills to a showing rider who made the jump. 

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Since then my Dynamo Bell has carried me to great heights and this year, 2023, saw me represent my country again in Rotterdam. I now have a 5 year old youngster that I am very excited about for the future, he and I are beginning our partnership to see where this will lead us. 

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Hard work, dedication and commitment do pay off, I have been honoured to represent my country six times on Nations Cup Teams and four of them with podium finishes. Not bad for a girl from showing, even though I say it myself!

 

Training is another huge passion. I love nothing more than working with riders and horses from all disciplines, ages and abilities. Teaching and  watching other riders flourish, achieving their goals and ambitions is one of the most rewarding experiences.  Inspiring riders across all disciplines is very key to my heart whether the horses are kept with me on the yard, riders come to me or I go to them.  

 

When I’m out of the saddle and not on the yard, I love to cook and garden, I find it relaxing and therapeutic. I am also  a self-confessed film addict, inherited from my Dad I think and wherever I can, my horses names reflect this addiction.  

 

You can’t come to my yard without meeting my wonderful pack of Frenchies, they never fail to put a smile on my face, Alfie Bell and Betty Bell are often seen on my lorry at shows as they hate to be left behind!