Amanda Saville - Founder of Chariots of Fire

Amanda Saville has been involved with horses since the age of two, born in Kenya it was the ideal environment to ride and enjoy the ponies. After returning to the UK, Amanda rode and competed through Prince Philip Cup Games, hunter trials, dressage, eventing and carriage driving. 

She has trained with high calibre professionals in all the disciplines and spent two years in Germany training with a dressage Rietmaster.  For her full cv, click here.

As well as her equestrian background she has had a wealth of experience in sales and marketing, working for a number of companies in retail and manufacturing. This involved extensive travelling in the USA and UK where company sales were her sole responsibility. Using this experience and her natural communicating ability she has been involved with large companies in their training programmes for interpersonal skills and motivation.

Amanda’s natural exuberance and love of giving pleasure to others led to the inception of the Chariots of Fire Display Team. Through this she has been able to take the pleasure and fun of ponies performing to those who otherwise might not get the chance to see and feel the excitement and thrill of equines first hand. The reaction to the display team and the delight of audiences encouraged Amanda to take the plunge and go ‘full time’ with horses and expand to breaking & training, and teaching. The Driving Centre has become a real local and national focal point, giving not only employment but also a safe, caring, exciting and disciplined environment for many children where they can develop their natural skills that often get overlooked these days.

Amanda has recently published a new book for Kenilworth Press: Sports Driving - A Complete Guide to Horse Driving Trials.  With a foreword by HRH Prince Philip, this book could become a bible for new driving enthusiasts! 

It is available from Amanda direct and through the Country Books Direct website:  www.countrybooksdirect.com.  We are delighted to be getting some lovely comments from the first readers for example:  "I have learnt more in the last couple of hours reading your book than I've learnt in 2 yrs. I can't put it down, the best book by far. It's also written in a way that's easy to understand and not full of posh jargon that common people can't understand!"  from Jackie Parkinson.

If you want a comprehensive manual that will guide you through the in's and out's of competing in driving trials - this is for you.  Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 photographs taken by Liza over the past 5 years or so, the book takes you from the basics of training and feeding your pony for fitness to the etiquette of the trials themselves. Amanda suggests ways  to solve common problems and discusses each discipline in turn, with photos to show how solutions can be achieved.

This book demystifies the 'myths' of competitive carriage driving. It contains advice on acquiring the right pony and equipment, schooling to achieve results and how to turn out yourself and your pony at a National Championship. The author details all three phases of competition with tips on achieving flow and bend in dressage, speed in the marathon and accuracy in cones. Sports Driving gives a complete picture of the sport from starting flags to finish.  And the price of £18.95 is more than reasonable for such a glossy tome! To reserve your copy contact Amanda on amanda@chariots.org.uk

Amanda is a Council Member of the British Horse Driving Trials Association.