DESPITE having recently graduated from the University of Ulster with a degree in physiotherapy, former U25 National Champion Megan McGrath has chosen to focus on forging a career in the dressage world with the help of Irish international rider James Connor.

Megan joined Connor’s team, which is based at Scuderie Della Malaspina near Milan in Italy, as a working pupil last autumn, a position she secured with the help of her long-term trainer Heike Holstein. Her duties include warming up and cooling down Connor’s top horses, including his World Equestrian Games mount Casino Royale.

“I’m so grateful to James for giving me the opportunity to ride so many talented horses,” said Megan. “I learned a lot from progressing through the levels on my own horses [Romanno Frere Jacques and Dhumavarna] at home, but working with such a wide variety of horses here is really helping to develop my experience and skills.

“The horses I ride are at various ages and stages of development, and I have also had lessons on James’s Grand Prix horses, which have been invaluable in terms of learning to ride the higher level movements such as piaffe and passage.”

Megan is hopeful that her own horses will join her in Italy, where she intends to compete them.