Caryn Fisher Bowie grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg and says her passion for horses started on the first day she laid eyes on a horse after her grandparents gifted her with riding lessons. As a young rider, she dabbled in showjumping, but it was racing where her true love was. After she matriculated, she trained and worked in equine management and riding instruction, horse physiotherapy, and stud farm management which involved delivering foals and breaking in of young horses.

Fisher Bowie travelled to Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Dubai for horse racing. “I competed in about 35 Work Riders’ Challenges and women’s races, winning eight and several placings,” she says. Fisher Bowie wanted to pursue a career as a jockey but at the time, the SA Academy did not accept female jockeys.

Also read: Naeem aims for Paris Olympics

“I applied to go to Australia, but you start at rock bottom on bush tracks, so I decided to get my assistant trainer’s licence and travel the world,” saying that racing has allowed her to meet some great horsemen and women and riding some champions. After her third child was born, she stopped racing. “My advice to young riders in all fields is to have an alternative career path as after a lifetime of horses, I found myself a bit lost in a world without horses.”

“I have done a fair bit of teaching and at one stage was teaching underprivileged remedial children. To see a blind child cantering around a course of jumps, her pony following a lead horse, with the hugest grin on her face, was so inspiring!” Fisher Bowie says now she loves to ride ex-racehorses with two special friends who also have a horse racing background. “My motto is to hope for the best, prepare for the worst and be kind,” she concludes.