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Centenarian has no plans to give up horse riding

Georgia Stone & Amanda Parr
Reporter
BBC Elizabeth is looking directly at the camera and smiling. She is wearing a black riding hat, tinted glasses, a cream polo neck top with tweed jacket. The photo is a close up of her head and shoulders. BBC
Elizabeth Breton celebrated her 100th birthday with a glass of champagne

A horse rider, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, says she has no plans to give up her reins.

Elizabeth Breton, from Cirencester, started riding when she was only two and marked her centenary with a party and a card from King Charles.

Despite riding being "part of her DNA", Ms Breton had 30 years out of the saddle before returning to the sport in her 70s, going on to ride competitively for a number of years.

The centenarian said she has no plans to stop her weekly visits to Cotswold Riding Stables and said she "came to life" when she started riding again.

"When you ride a horse, it goes right up through your body and I feel it's the best way to exercise your whole body and I still enjoy it, otherwise I wouldn't bother.

"I don't particularly like walking, it's boring, really boring and I certainly can't jog anymore which is why riding is so good," she said.

An elderly lady is riding a brown, black and white horse. The rider is wearing a riding hat, a tweed jacket, red gloves, blue trousers, black riding boots and tinted glasses. The horse is stood still in front of a wooden shed with corrugated metal roof that has a large amount of moss on it.
Ms Breton rides twice a week at Cotswold Riding Stables in Stanton, rain or shine.

Born in 1924, Ms Breton remembers being "popped on a pony" by her father before she could even walk.

She has been horse mad since then and told the BBC: "Dogs I like, and I had one very special dog but I love horses. They just excite me."

Growing up on a farm in Lincolnshire, Ms Breton said riding horses was just "what we did, it was just part of life.

"I didn't think I was doing anything special, I sat on my mum's hunter and didn't think anything of it."

One of her early memories in the saddle, which still makes her smile today, was on a pony call Snowflake when she was seven-years-old.

"Snowflake was fun and I went hunting on her quite a bit," Ms Breton recalled.

The image is a very old photo in sepia. A dappled grey pony is in the middle of the image and has a rosette on its bridle. A young girl is riding the pony and looking directly at the camera. She is wearing a beret style hat. Stood behind the pony is a women in a long dress and floppy hat, also looking at the camera.
Riding Snowflake is one of her earliest memories on horseback

She started to ride competitively and hunter trials were her favourite discipline.

"In those days we would have three in a team and we had to keep level. The team consisted of me, the eldest about 12-years-old, then Rosemary who was eight.

"She would jump over anything, even when she couldn't see over the top of it.

Then the third was Susan, who was a "very good rider".

"We all had to keep level with each other and I loved it.

"Then the war interrupted all that fun".

Ms Breton was about 13 years old when World War Two took hold of the country and put a stop to riding.

It was in her 70s when she got back in the saddle, this reignited the flame for the passion she once had.

"I just came to life when I started riding again," she said.

She went back into competing into her 80s, she said: "I thoroughly enjoyed it and proceeded to do quite well.

"I love jumping, I think it's most exciting."

In December last year, Ms Breton celebrated her 100th birthday, although she does not ride competitively anymore, she still looks forward to her hacks around the village of Stanton twice a week.

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