Profi le

A YEAR AFTER SEARCHING FOR A NEW DIRECTION, INTERNATIONAL RIDER AND TRAINER LEVI HUNT HAS FINALLY FOUND MECCA

IN A PEACEFUL SPOT IN HEREFORDSHIRE.

STEPHANIE BATEMAN MEETS HIM AT HIS NEW

BASE TO FIND OUT WHERE HE’S COME FROM

AND WHAT HIS PLANS ARE FOR THE FUTURE.

It was a pile of horse droppings near his house on a council estate in Wolverhampton that sparked Levi Hunt’s passion for horses. A year later, having spent ‘every possible moment’ at his local riding school, working for ‘a bareback ride turning the horses out’, he was on a train to Devon to work for the Bleekmans as a working pupil, aged 16. I bluff ed my way through my interview and when I got there, I realised how little I knew,” says Levi. “The most important thing was that I had escaped the world I was living in; food stamps at school, a single mum bringing up seven kids and living below the bread line.”

He spent 18 months as ‘cannon fodder’, breaking in young horses for the Bleekmans before heading to Warwickshire to work on a hunting yard. From there, he did a nine-week stint at the British Racing School followed by a year at the Waley-Cohens’.

“I went from earning £20 a week and living in a mobile home to earning £100 a week and living in a converted stable. At every step up, I felt like I’d made it,” he muses.

LEFT: LEVI HUNT WITH THE EIGHT YEAR-OLD FANDANGO, PART OF AN EXCITING STRING OF HORSES HE IS NOW PUTTING TOGETHER. RIGHT: PASSIONATE ABOUT COACHING, LEVI TEACHES 50 LESSONS A WEEK ALONGSIDE PRODUCING AND COMPETING HORSES.

Levi then headed back to the West Midlands as a freelance rider and trainer.

“One person I helped was a lady called Helena Dolisznyj who owned Iberian horses. She had a Painted lac horse who was tric y to get on, so I off ered to hel out,” e lains evi. It was the fi rst time I d ever sat on a warmblood, and although it was cold bac ed and trying to ill me, it elt amazing.”

Helena took Levi under her wing and e osed him to lots o eo le and training .

“She trained with Andrew ur hy, Charles de unff y and Arthur Kottas, and I got a chance to see classical and modern dressage. I realised that the ey is to ee it sim le and get the horse as light as you can. If you do that, you can t go wrong.”

It was a trip to Portugal that instigated evi s ne t move. I used to go with elena once a month to loo or horses,” e lains evi. e met a man selling custom made boots there and he off ered to ma e us a air or each. hey were the most amazing thing I d ever seen, but it made me cry because I realised that I had these beauti ul boots but no horse to ride. I decided I needed to move to an area fi lled with contacts and o ortunity, and it was clear that Gloucestershire was the best place to be. It was then that I met att urnett.”

A ter ust a ew months o meeting att, evi had moved with him to Abbey ressage, renting bo es and running a training and livery yard. I fi nally elt li e I was in the magic circle but still accessible to my taff ordshire clients, so I could continue training but also circulate and get some rides,” he tells. “However, I quickly realised that I d moved to the most com etitive county in the country for dressage. Matt had already ridden at rand ri and I d only ust got to lementary, so I was always loo ed at as the boy riend o att and not as a rider in my own right. Quite quickly, Matt and I s lit as artners but remained friends and Matt left the yard.” Juggling the entire yard with his teaching in taff ordshire was a huge tas , but one he managed success ully or fi ve years under the su ort o yard owner lenys emmings. It was during his time that his com etitive career too off than s to lenys Abbey iron, a a om. e too it si months at a time to ee him sound, and every time we met our ne t goal, I elt on to o the world,” he says. earing a tailcoat, doing my fi rst

INSET: A LESSON FOR BEX BURNETT AND REMI WHO ARE COMPETNG AT ADVANCED MEDIUM. BELOW: LEVI AND FRAPPUCINO ENJOY THE SCENERY AT STEPH PALMER’S CALIBRE EQUESTRIAN.

nationals and internationals and then getting to Grand Prix – it was surreal.”

A ter five years at Abbey, evi decided to move to astures new ust over a year ago. om was retiring and although I d bought Chino Fra ucino , he was my only horse and I elt li e I needed more,” he says. An o ortunity came u with an owner who was building a lace in iltshire. e wanted to move me and the horses there so I could set u a training yard.”

It was a hard decision or evi, having built u a success ul business and circle o clients, but the ros ect o more rides and a new training acility were a big draw. I too the ris and moved to iltshire, but it nearly illed me,” he says. I did , miles in a year traveling to clients, and while the cost o travel and living went u , the hours I could s end teaching went down,” he says. It then became a arent that the training acility wasn t going to ha en. I don t li e being a yard ho er, but this wasn t sustainable, and I needed a new direction.”

It was then that he was introduced to businesswoman and small scale breeder te h almer. hen I arrived at te h s and was shown around, it elt li e the best o every owner and yard I d ever had was enca sulated in this one lace and one erson,” evi remembers. Calibre uestrian is a rivate stud and com etition yard, with the em hasis on uality over uantity. here is no commercial as ect which ta es the stress out o it and ma es it eel li e home and not wor .” evi has been able to stri e u a much healthier wor li e balance. I get on so well with all the staff here, and we s end our days off wal ing the ea s in ales,” he says. I ve also bought a aya and go roc climbing with my artner. hat s what this lace is about. aving a healthy balance with no pressure.” he yard certainly has a very uiet, laid bac eel to it. As we sit chatting in a wooden ergola overloo ing slo ing addoc s with buzzards gliding overhead and a stunning coloured mare and oal grazing contentedly in the bac ground, I can see the attraction. I m still teaching eo le a wee because it s what I m assionate about,” he says. It s my security, but I m also addicted to riding because o how that ma es me eel.” evi s accolades s ea or themselves. e is a CC evel coach and egional trainer or central, south west, south, wales and north west. In , he was awarded the oung ro essionals award.

ABOVE: LEVI AND HIS OWN FRAPPUCINO, A NINE-YEAR-OLD BY JAZZ, CURRENTLY AT SMALL TOUR. BELOW: CALIBRE KNIGHT, STEPH’S COLT FOAL BY GOVERNOR ENJOYS THE SUN.

ABOVE: “BEHIND EVERY MAN IS A GREAT WOMAN”, SAYS LEVI OF HIS PA NICKY HILL. RIGHT: WITH HIS PUG BARBARA.

“I went to every knockout day expecting it to be my last and when they announced my name, I thought they’d forgotten me in the list of runners u ,” he says. It was the fi rst time I thought I could be someone in the sport.”

His PA Nicky Hill helps pull his busy life together.

“I couldn’t do it without her. She answers 60-70 messages a week, admins the Facebook page, books the arenas and sorts the money,” he says. “She’s incredible. Behind every man is a great woman, and she is mine.”

Alongside giving clinics, camps and lessons, Levi also trains and competes on his own and Steph’s horses. He earned his Union Jack badge three years ago.

“I am currently competing three horses – Frappuccino who is mine and is a nine-year-old by Jazz competing at Small Tour with Big Tour the aim next year; Fandango by Fontainbleau, an eight-year-old owned by Steph about to go Advanced edium and ortsfi eld uality an I out at Advanced Medium. There’s also young horses of Steph’s coming through.” Despite everything he has achieved, Levi is hugely humble, never forgetting his roots. “I want to show people that horses are accessible regardless of your bac ground or fi nancial osition as long as you want it and work hard,” he says. “I like to stay in the ‘real world’ so work with the Caring Hooves group for young carers. They spend a day with the horses and have a lesson as respite from their everyday lives. It really gives perspective.” Levi has also volunteered at at the Ebony Riding Club in London. “I come from a mixed-race family after my mother married a Jamaican man, so the Black Lives Matter movement has been really close to my heart,” he says. “I’ve lost clients because of their racial views.”

Looking forwards to his bright future, Levi has it all mapped out.

“I’d like to retain my international rider status and compete abroad,” he says. “If I can get to an Olympics or WEG, amazing, but if every horse I have only gets to Grand Prix healthy and happy and no more, I will be contented.

“My training ambitions are to become a chef d’equipe and team trainer and I won’t stop until I get there.”

BELOW: THREE EXCITING RIDES, LEFT TO RIGHT, FRAPPUCINO, SPORTSFIELD QUALITY AND FANDANGO.