Biography
Shane was born in Zimbabwe, where his love for horses began and as a child, he came up through the Pony Club ranks. At the age of 13 he moved to South Africa and followed in his father's footsteps in the world of Polocrosse, where he excelled as a Junior and represented his country. Both his father and his uncle were very knowledgeable horsemen and having ridden and watched them over many years, it was something he wanted to emulate and expand upon.
He came to the UK in 1996 to work in and play Polo and found himself, in 1998, playing for the Talacrest Polo Team, the UK's most successful Medium Goal Team at the time, as well as acting as its manager. He continued playing Polocrosse in the UK and represented the United Kingdom at the first World Cup held in Australia in 2003. During this time, Shane worked for a well respected horseman, who lived in New Zealand, who introduced him to the American Quarter Horse and also shared with him some of the horsemanship skills and behavioural techniques that were widely used amongst the top horsemen of their generation across America.
Shane’s desire to increase his knowledge in horsemanship skills and horse behaviour, led him further into the quarter horse industry where he soon built a reputation for starting young horses and he also began to earn success in the show ring, qualifying junior horses for the World Show and achieving success in Western Pleasure Riding. His interest in the sport of Reining developed and soon he found himself representing South Africa in the World Reining Masters Finals in 2005 held in Manerbio Italy.
The following year, Shane found himself at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen Germany! Shane was fortunate to be sent an American Quarter Horse mare, SES Smart Star in 2008, who helped him finish the season as British Reining Year End High Point Champion, AQHA-UK Year End High Point Champion, AQHA-UK Open Reining Champion & AQHA-UK Senior Horse Champion, having also represented South Africa at the World Reining Championships. 2009 saw Shane and Smart becoming British Reining Year End High Point Champion again. This partnership finally came to an end with Shane and Smart representing South Africa at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in 2010.
Shane has a particular interest in coaching and the progression of young riders. He is a member of the British Reining Council to help with the development of the Youth Reining in the UK and holds a UKCC Level 3 Reining certificate. Shane and his wife Vix continue to run Borland Performance Horses in Warwickshire were they focus on the training, showing and breeding primarily American Quarter Horses, but also assist horse owners from other disciplines with both training and behavioural issues.
