Meet The Team
John & Caroline Dent
Proprietors
John & Caroline Established Littlebourne back in 1988 back then the centre was a private stables that housed show jumping and film horses over the years the centre has grown into the first class equestrian centre that you see today. .
Lawrence Bardoo
BHS Stage 4 Senior Coach
Amy Thirkettle
BHSAI
Senior Coach
Ben Mitchell-Winter
BHS Stage 4 Senior Coach &
General Manager
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Ben first joined our team back in 2005 in 2014 Ben moved abroad to run an equestrian resort in Saudi Arabia for the World's Biggest Oil Company Saudi AramCo.
In 2015 Ben then returned to Littlebourne as our General manager
Ben is also an experienced ride safe trainer & advisor and he is also an approved challenge award trainer for the BHS.
Ben was awarded the 2019 BHS APC coach of the year he has also received a number of commendations in 2020 from the British Horse Society for all his efforts within the equestrian industry.
He has also been the face of many BHS campaigns over the years which includes being invited to meet Your HRH Princess Royal at the BHS Convention and Saddlers Wells in London
Ben was also awarded the Instructor of The Year in 2023 at the Equestrian Business Awards .
Ben is happy to help anyone wishing to further their career or experience within their career or riding career.
Sharni Bailey
BHSAI
Senior Coach
Faye Heppelthwaite
BHSAI
Senior Coach
Nicola Biggs
BHSII
Senior Coach
Abi Jones
BHSAI
Senior Coach
Ciaran McAuley
BHS Stage 2 Teach
Junior Coach
Lawrence joined Littlebourne in 2014 as a freelance instructor. Lawrence quickly established a strong clientele basis within the liveries here at the centre.
Lawrence is available for lessons by private arrangement.
Lawrence is also a Ride Safe Trainer
Sharni joined the Littlebourne team in 2018 as a freelance instructor. Sharni has quickly become very popular with our younger clients bringing fun to learn within all of her lessons. Sharni is available for group lessons on Sunday
Sharni is also a Ride Safe Trainer
Everyone at the Centre is a trained and experienced professional.
Our status as a BHS Where to Train Centre means all our staff are continually updating their knowledge and skills to ensure they are completely up-to-date.
Everyone at the Centre has taken the BHS Child Protection Course and have first aid training in one form or another.
Kelly Dent
Stunt Instructor
Kelly specializes in teaching actors, actresses, stunt professionals and general public to horse ride for film and TV. I have worked in the film industry for over 25 years.
" I am a fully qualified Horse Master and Stunt Co-coordinator on the British Stunt
Register.
My background is Show jumping and have represented Great Britain over twenty times in Juniors and seniors. One of my highlights was winning the National Under 21 championship when I was 17.
I have taught a vast amount of artists including Cate Blanchet, Eva Green, Kierra Knightly, Edward Norton, Marc Strong, Samantha Morton, Ray Winstone and many more. I also teach children and believe to get the best out of them horse riding they need to have lots of fun"
Harriett Ashford
BHSPTC
Junior Instructor