WRITING this column while the rain is lashing down outside, it’s easy to understand how someone could leave Ireland for the winter to move to Florida.

One such person is Bangor dressage rider and part-time model Courtney Stuart who has spent the past 14 weeks riding out each morning at Stuart Crawford’s Newlands Farm yard in Larne before returning home to put in more hours at her family’s Gransha Equestrian Centre.