When I look at where it all started I guess there was little doubt that my future was mapped to see me eventually riding as a professional. My father, Phillip Beresford was a very successful showjumping rider in Western Australia, my mother, Jane Cooke, a successful dressage and show rider, my grandmother, Sheila Cooke, was a founder to the three day event in Australia and selector for the Australian Eventing Team for many years, my uncles, Peter Cooke, was the Chef de Equipe and is a current selector for the Australian Show Jumping Team, and Paul Cooke, is a very successful race horse owner, and finally my aunt, Fiona Holdman, manages a successful racehorse agistment centre and was very influential throughout my 'showie' years. The input of my family has been more than inspirational and without their contribution and especially my parents dedication to my sport I would absolutely not be in the position I am in today.

As a kid I was blessed with a knowledgeable ‘horsey home’ and this environment gave me the chance to do everything. I can remember one Royal Show when I was about 10 years old... I won Champion Rider and had to race over to the pony club showjumping and later that evening winning a heap of the novelty events and over the next few days participating successfully in the show pony classes. My parents always insisted that I start with young ponies, so there were many lessons for me along the way. We could not afford to buy educated and experienced horses, but I was fortunate that my parents both had a good eye for a horse so with the right work we could achieve good results. We were always a great team, Mum, Dad and I and we had success in eventing, showing, showjumping, novelties and dressage. Ironically, although I competed in dressage from an early age, I was not hooked until much later…. I became fascinated with the systematic training and addicted to the feeling of training a horse to perform a new trick!