Cat Carter

Cat has been passionate about horses since the age of five, growing up at her local riding school where she spent every afternoon after school and every weekend. Despite coming from a completely non-horsey family, she was determinedly “pony mad” from the start.

She always knew she wanted to work with horses and spent many years working in riding schools and on livery yards. However, without clear careers guidance, she found it hard to see a sustainable path in the industry at the time and went on to study Psychology and Sociology at university.

It was at that same riding school that Cat first met Belinda, Lingfield’s Course Leader. On Wednesday evenings, she would help Belinda with adult beginner classes in exchange for a weekly ride on her favourite school pony, Gypsy. Determined to make Gypsy her own despite her parents’ objections, Cat saved every penny from leading pony rides (and even winning a school competition) to buy Gypsy just before her 18th birthday.

Though life took many twists and turns, Cat never lost her love of horses or her desire to work with them. She continued teaching at the riding school where she had grown up, believing deeply in the value and magic of grassroots access to horses. Toward the end of university, she was caring for Amber, a big chestnut mare with complex lameness issues. Navigating Amber’s diagnosis and rehab reignited Cat’s drive to work in the industry in a hands-on way. She chose to train as an equine sports massage therapist – at the time, there were none close to her home in Scotland.

Meanwhile, Cat was working in university admissions at a Russell Group university – a “sensible” job to fund her horse habit. From that professional perspective, she tried to find a qualification in equine massage that was accredited, reputable, and clear about outcomes, but found comparing options frustratingly difficult. When she finally chose a course in Devon, she spent a year and a half commuting from Edinburgh to complete it.

Five years later, during a visit to Piggy March’s yard, Cat had an idea: if access and transparency were so valuable for training horses, why not create something similar to Piggy TV for the horse industry itself? A single, clear, user-friendly resource for researching and comparing qualifications and career paths. That idea became EQUK. Cat used her Higher Education experience to design EQUK as an ethical, sustainable organisation funded through partnerships with education providers, with profits reinvested in initiatives to improve access and tackle systemic issues in the industry.

Through starting EQUK, Cat met Paula Clements. Paula immediately saw the need for EQUK’s mission and its potential impact on industry standards and horse welfare. Likewise, Cat recognised in Lingfield the same commitment to improving access and understanding that had driven her own journey. When Paula asked Cat to carry on Lingfield’s legacy, Cat knew there was only one person she wanted to do that with: Belinda.

Together with Belinda and her husband Gus, Cat has worked to bring Lingfield’s courses online in a modern, accessible format to help even more people and horses. All proceeds from Lingfield courses that aren’t reinvested into course development support EQUK’s wider mission of making the horse industry more accessible, ethical, and sustainable for everyone involved.