Tiny was born in Kaula Lumpur in 1957, it became evident from a very early age that Tiny’s passion was horses. Tiny’s first real success came at the tender age 11 when she competed in Showing and qualified for the Horse of the Year Show. This, however, was not exciting enough for the young Miss Clapham and she successfully turned her attention to Eventing. Her determination and drive was soon recognised and she was a member of the Gold Medal winning Junior International Open Three Day Event Championship Team. Her rise in the eventing world was on a steady upward climb. In 1982 Tiny completed at the World Three Day Eventing Championships in Germany finishing in a very creditable tenth place. This placing was rewarded with a place on the team at the European Championships in Switzerland, where they won a silver medal. Onwards and upwards has always been Tiny’s motto and the following year was to see Tiny on the team for the Los Angels Olympic Games. Again another silver medal was awarded to the British team. In the following years Tiny had many international appearances and was also a regular competitor at events in this country, please go to our results page to see more.
From the mid 1990s’ Tiny has concentrated on the training of future three day eventing stars both human and equine.
Tiny’s first venture on to the Training pedestal was to be the Team Trainer to the successful Japanese Three Day Event Team who came fifth in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta with all team members going clear.
In 1999 Tiny assisted the Swiss team with their preparation for the European Championships.
In 2000 Tiny was proud to send a horse and rider combination (both of which she trained from novice level) to the Sydney Olympics and watch them put in a very creditable performance including a clear round cross country and finishing 14th individually.
In 2004 Tiny sent her third competitor to the Olympics, an Italian who represented his country in the team competition in Athens and was the highest placed Italian, finishing in the top 25.
In 2007 and 2008 Tiny was personal trainer to Jayne Doherty. During this period Jayne completed Badminton and was short-listed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Another of Tiny’s achievements was to train one of her owners (Liz Astall) to qualify and compete at Badminton in the Grass Roots final in 2010, Liz has also qualified again to compete in this prestigious final in 2012. Another person training with Tiny has only just started to ride and has now completed his first BE80. A previous resident pupil of Tiny’s, Flora Young now competes successfully at CCI**. Tiny is currently training and mentoring Eventers International’s resident rider Meghan Healy. Please read Meghan’s profile for more information. Tiny also regularly teaches for the Belvoir Pony Club.