SHE’S come a long way since pony club rides around Denby Dale.
Now young rider Olivia Slater is moving in Royal circles.
At the tender age of 21, Olivia Slater is regularly attending major Royal and state occasions as a key member of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
The King’s Troop is a mounted unit and integral part of the Queen’s Household Troops. They form Her Majesty’s ceremonial SalutingBattery and are stationed, along with 111 horses, in St John’s Wood, London.
Earlier this month, Olivia was really in the international spotlight as she and her colleagues were pictured firing the cannon in Hyde Park to celebrate Prince Charles’ birthday. She also fired the cannon to mark the start of the two minutes’’ silence on Remembrance Day.
Olivia, a former pupil at Scissett Middle School and Shelley High, is a natural horsewoman and has already made an impact on The Kings Troop in the few months since she has been with them.
Despite only joining in March, she has already been chosen ahead of many colleagues to break and school the troop’s young new horses.
She has been riding since she was four and was a keen member of Rockwood Pony Club and Rockwood Hunt.
She was brought up in Denby Dale, although the family home is now at The Royds, Clayton West.
In her teens, Olivia started playing polocrosse, an equestrian sport which combines polo and lacrosse. Once again, she proved a natural, being chosen to represent the Yorkshire Pennine Polocrosse team at matches all over England.
Aged 17 she went over to North Island, New Zealand, to work on a ranch and improve her horse skills. After seven months she returned and took a BTech National Diploma in animal management at Kirklees College before going on to join the Army.
Her mother Gaynor, who owns the Good Health Store in Denby Dale, said: “I always liked horses and Olivia just took to it.
“She is a natural, but she has also worked very hard. She had weekend jobs at dog groomers, vets and stables to help pay for the horses.
“In the Kings Troop, they have young horses coming over from Ireland and Olivia has been chosen to get on the feisty ones and help school them. She has got on so quickly and she absolutely loves it. I am so proud of her.”
Olivia will be returning to her native county in an official capacity next summer when the Kings Troop will mount a cannon parade at the Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.
