To celebrate and mark International Women’s Day we are honoured to introduce our Brand Ambassador – Professional Event Rider, Willa Newton.

She is based at her parent’s yard at Stonesby, near Melton Mowbray. Willa comes from a family with a strong equestrian background, her father Joey won the Aintree foxhunters twice and her mother, Emma evented up to intermediate level and then going on to point to point. Willa’s sister Chloe also evented up to four star before opting for a career change.

Willa has ridden for as long as she can remember. Willa followed in her sisters footsteps of choosing to event through ponies but sadly became too tall and moved on to horses when she was 16. It was 2006 when Willa’s eventing really began to kick off, having acquired Neelix from Andrew Heffernan. Neelix took Willa from the Pony Club Championships to her first CCI four star. That combination won team gold at the Junior Europeans in 2008 and represented Great Britain at three consecutive Young Rider European Championships winning Team Gold and Individual Silver at Blair Castle in 2011.

From there, Willa’s career has gone from strength to strength. Since finishing University in 2012 Willa has focused solely on eventing. Willa has taken time to undertake training each winter, in the UK and overseas, with top riders including Dirk Schrade and Bettina Hoy, to sharpen her skills and further her career. She has also taken time to source and produce quality young horses and the results shone through in 2016, when she took the 8/9 year old National Championships at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (Caja 20) and the 7 year old National Championships at Osberton. At Roseanna Croft we love to support women and design and make our jewellery to empower those who wear it.  Willa is the perfect choice for a Roseanna Croft Ambassador because of not only her accomplishments but the dedication and passion she puts into the thing she loves.   Not only is she talented in eventing, she is also intelligent and driven with a love of fine jewellery.  What a perfect fit!

We recently had the pleasure of spending some time with Willa and she was the perfect hostess, a true individual and an absolute professional who obviously has the upmost passion and commitment to her sport.  We cannot wait to see the great heights she achieves in the next year.  So please join us in welcoming Willa and keep an eye on her progress this season at willanewtoneventing.co.uk.