About Me
My name is Aleesha Adams (although I actually became Mrs Aleesha Bees back in 2016 but my name on my passport still remains Aleesha Adams).
I was born in Buckinghamshire, England and by age 4 was obsessed with horses, horse stories and horses on TV. When I was 8 I finally got my first horse riding lesson and by age 10, I was incredibly lucky to get my very own pony, a 13.2 hands, welsh section B pony named "Taffy". He was ten years old also and a blue roan gelding. I was allowed to give him his own “competition name” for which I chose “Midnight Magic” after a children’s book I loved.
Taffy and I learnt a lot together, and made our way to the British Showjumping Association National finals when I was just 13. It was with Taffy that I became passionate about Showjumping and Cross country jumping even though at this point the Dressage was just a boring component that needed to be ticked off to get to the fun parts! When I outgrew Taffy he went on to my middle sister Natalie, and then my youngest sister Chloe. Eventually, he would go on to teach my own son Joshua to ride and then moved to southern France with my parents when they retired, until he passed away in 2020, at the grand old age of 38.
I am very grateful that throughout my life, I was afforded the opportunity to ride a wealth of different horses and this certainly cemented my abilities as a rider. From schooling green ponies, freshly broken and off the boat from Ireland, to hacking out 4* event horses on their winter break, to fitness training with a friend who was an advanced endurance rider.
I learnt to love dressage when my ex-racehorse Guinness developed ‘wobblers’ at only 8 years of age and it was recommended that we no longer pursue competitive eventing.
A huge turning point in my life with horses came when I met my trainer Sue Edwards. Not only had she competed at 4* (now 5*) level events such as Burghley horse Trials, but also at Grand Prix dressage level and is on the British Eventing Coaching Development Program as well as being a BE accredited coach herself. It was however from her plethora of knowledge gained from one of her best friends, Alison Zuend, that she learnt about the benefits of so called “natural horsemanship” and how this approach to understanding horse communication and the way in which horses learn, could exponentially increases the riders effectiveness and the horses willingness and so much more!
Sue Edwards really opened my eyes to how effectively this approach translated to traditional equestrian disciplines and since then I’ve never looked back.
It was Sue who encouraged me to pursue a career working with horses and eventually this led to me gaining my UKCC level 2 Equestrian Coaching Qualification. I was preparing to begin my level 3 training when in 2016, I married my partner of 11 years and we moved to Los Angeles, California for his job in Post Production for TV and Film.
I quickly found the opportunity to work with horses at Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue Centre and whilst working there as a horse trainer, got ‘chosen’ by a 6 year old bay mare named “Arianna” who became mine.
It was through her training process that I found Angi Murray, a specialist in starting horses, often from the wild or with difficult backgrounds. Before I knew it I was working for her 2 days a week, riding and training every kind of horse you can imagine and learning a whole lot along the way!
In 2018, we knew we wanted to stay in the States, so I flew out my youngster “Highclere’s Peroni” who was bred by my good friend Kevin Malyon of Highclere Farm Stables in Buckinghamshire, out of his awesome Hanoverian Stallion “Wymand W”. I had put less than ten rides on Peroni at my parents place in France before he flew to the United States as rising 4 year old.
I think that, even as a trainer myself, what gets me up in the morning is knowing that there are always more things and tools to learn, and ensuring I continue to progress with my own horses is key to my own happiness and the development of my horses. I never thought I would find a trainer who lived up to the experience level in the traditional equestrian disciplines with a natural horsemanship approach that my trainer in England, Sue Edwards did, until I met Susan Nelson. Susan Nelson has been working with me since 2016 to continue to develop my own horses and my clients horses.
Now, I’ve been living here in Los Angeles for 7 years already and I’m even more excited about the future ahead of me. 2020 was a very hard year for everyone but I’m looking forward to going and competing at some USDF shows with Peroni, alongside my clients and friends, as well as getting my little rescue mare Arianna back out to some eventing!
In 2021, Peroni and I enjoyed several shows including dressage with Pacific Dressage at Hacienda del Valle in Lake view terrace, Arena eventing at Opava Equestrian in Santa Clarita, and our first USDF show at Southern California Equestrian Centre in Somis.
Our highlight was winning the Legis League Championship in Dressage for the Intro, Training and First level division!
I was also exceedingly proud to share success with many of my clients, some of which were taking part in their very first Dressage shows!
