A passionate, motivated team who cares…
Alexa and Kitty were born into horses. Greenhays Stud was set up by their mother, Lucille nearly 30 years ago!
The breeding program at Greenhays Stud is growing in size year by year, producing talented young horses that combine talent from world class breeding, with trainability and correctness.
The team at Palmer Equestrian have successfully trained horses across 3 disciplines of equestrian sport; dressage, showjumping and cross country, with international success up to 4*.
Horses benefit from a well-rounded approach to the start of their ridden careers and future training.
Alexa
Professional Trainer
Kitty
Supporter
Alexa
Alexa has always been competitive, a trait likely to have been inherited from her non-horsey but talented sports player of a father, John. Having grown up participating in Pony Club rallies and competitions with her 3 sisters, Emily, Rosalie & Kitty, Alexa decided that she would like to pursue her equestrian ambitions further. After a taste of success at the British Eventing (BE) 80cm Championships with Tanwyn
Benjamin Judge (Benji) who enjoyed his last 18 years with the Palmer family; Alexa decided to set herself a mission of finding a young pony to progress up the grades with. Alexa’s passion for producing was uncovered at 12, when she found 6-year-old show jumping pony, Euro Timex.
At 15, Alexa jumped double clear at her first British Pony Championship with Euro Timex. Pursuing her passion for eventing, she found another pony with no jumping experience in 2014. Within a year Kativa Shadow had progressed from no jumping experience to a top 10 finish at Weston Park Pony Trial.
Success continued at u18 level with Espionage, who also competed at the Junior British Championship for the first time with Alexa. At this point, lorry journeys were dedicated to school work, daylight hours were for horses and evenings or early mornings were for academic work with a strict time plan. Alexa’s organisation helped her finish school as one of the highest performing students, whilst also winning British Dressage Youth and British Eventing classes.
With a yard in Dorset, the University of Exeter seemed the obvious choice to study a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics! The hourly commute daily was a small price to pay for the luxury of being able to keep equestrian dreams alive.
Sadly, in 2018 things came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the event season. Alexa suffered a severe traumatic brain
injury competing in the Intermediate class at Little Downham. A month in hospital, post traumatic amnesia and a dampened spirit were a small price to pay for a crashing fall that had the potential to end her life. The air ambulance, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, wonderful doctors and nurses are all to thank for relighting a determined and passionate character. Having overcome the initial battle, 6 months out of the saddle gave Alexa time to reflect. Building on this she began to return to teaching and training horses from the ground. As each piece of the puzzle fell into place, it led to a continued spiral of rewarding events.
A year later, Alexa’s horses had benefitted from time off before she was able to enjoy being back in the saddle for winter training. 2019 was a surprising, wonderful and very rewarding year; Alexa’s most successful competition season to date! Home produced ‘Global Super Nova’ finished the season with 8 consecutive runs finishing 1st or 2nd, without lowering a pole all season. The icing on the cake, or rather the cherry on top was finishing 3rd at the British Eventing YH2* 6 year old championship. The only person to ride Super Nova since 4 years old was Alexa (Kitty twice!) and they finished 3rd behind a World Champion & 5* winner, this highlighted an outstanding recovery. At the same time, Alexa would not let doctors tell her to give up on her aim to complete university. Instead, Alexa added WPI Entrepreneurship to her degree. A brilliant outcome with a horse Alexa bought with her savings as she left school.
Alexa’s equestrian career will benefit from her analytical and ambitious personality. It is now that Alexa has decided to purely focus her efforts on horses. Homebred horses will provide an exciting foundation for a rider who aims to expand her team of competition horses, and help other people with their horses.
Exceptional results give Alexa the opportunity to train with Tier 1 of the British Eventing Talent Academy and Wesko Equestrian Young Eventers Pathway in 2024. A fantastic way to continue developing knowledge gained through the Haddon Training Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, British Equestrian Young Professionals Program, and British Showjumping Coaching Qualification (UKCC L2).
Kitty
Having completed her Business degree at Cirencester University, Kitty now has a full-time marketing job for a luxury pet range.
Kitty has traveled the country with Alexa and her horses along with their Willberry Wonder Pony mascot, Greenberry.
Kitty’s riding highlight is being on the u16 British Showjumping academy team for Dorset and winning the style award. She still enjoys spending time with horses and hopes to be able to return to the saddle when her work commitments allow.
*Greenberry – in memory of Hannah Francis, who sadly lost her battle with Osteosarcoma age 18 in 2016. Hannah is an inspiration for how to make the most of life. Alexa feels honoured to have won the Hannah Francis Award, awarded to an inspirational young event rider in her memory.