My journey has well and truly been that of a roller coaster. My husband would say "look out, anything Hayley does, she does at 100% and full steam ahead." Whatever I decide to do in life, I do. I would describe myself as passionate, determined and very, very stubborn. Some details that many would not know about me are that I play the flute and was a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra, I studied both business and music, and have been a keen participant in many other sports away from the horses.

Many great horses have shaped my career but perhaps the two most influential horses (pre Europe) were Hot Gossip and Galactic. Hot Gossip (aka Demi) was a fiery tempered, red head, over grown pony mare and was the first horse I trained myself to FEI. Together we were Western Australian State Champions, Victorian State Champions, and members of the Australian Young Riders Squad. The next long lasting and outstanding partnership was with Galactic. A beautiful black gelding with only one eye and a very volatile disposition as a young horse. Together we stepped successfully from young riders to senior level and stormed through to FEI with a lot of success and fun on the way.

In my early twenties, I gained valuable experience working for Mary Hanna of Statene Park and for Jim and Emmie Schmul of Heatherton Park before starting my own business training both dressage and showjumping horses and coaching throughout Australia. I met Isabell in December 2005.
I guess you could say that I spent my 20s preparing for the Games. It was a dream for as long as I can remember to.