Take a seat, grab a cup of tea, and let me tell you the incredible story of my life. My name is Ranée Tamia James, I am 22 as of and I am based in London in the U.K.
My riding story begins in 2008. I was in Antigua for my grandparents’ wedding vow renewal. The hot Caribbean sun was shining, the air was magical. I was 9 and decided to join my cousins at a summer camp. About a week into the camp, a local man brought his horse for the campers to have a ride on. I had a 2 minute lead round in a circle, then after a lot of begging and pleading, I got another ride. I was addicted to horses already, announcing their presence every time I would drive past them, but for me, this moment, the first time I ever sat on a horse, was the moment that made me who I am today.
It wasn’t until I was 14 that I rode again. I had asked my dad for lessons numerous times in between, however, with lessons as expensive as they are in the U.K., and being the oldest of 4, this was not affordable for us at the time. When I was 14, my uncle booked myself and my sisters a riding lesson, my first ever lesson, on July 13th 2013. This one-hour lesson re-sparked my fire, and drove me to further pursue riding. After many months of nagging, and begging, my parents finally allowed me to volunteer at a stable about an hour away from my house.
For around 2 years, I spent all my free time volunteering at the stables, weekends, school holidays, and occasionally after school. My duties there would be to groom, muck out, tack up and lead riders on the horses and ponies through the woods. It was a busy yard, so I wouldn’t get to ride as often as I wanted to, and prior to volunteering here I had only had one lesson before. Despite this, opportunities that I got to ride were very valuable to me. Lessons were not offered at this stable, so I would ride a horse or pony in the woods accompanied by another volunteer. I learned the basics of riding through a combination of watching others ride, and copying what I had seen in YouTube videos. It may have not been the best start riding, as I did pick up a few bad habits, and well, old habits die hard, but learning this way really pushed me to want to learn more and want to be great. Over the years, I worked at many different stables, in exchange for my lessons, I found this to be the most affordable way for me to develop.
At 16, I had my first lease horse. The name I gave her at the time was Majesty, but this was later changed. Things were complicated with her from the offset. She was meant to have arrived in June, however, there were so many complications, which meant she didn’t arrive until September. The day I got the phone call she was arriving, was unfortunately, the day my grandad passed away. She was a 13-year-old thoroughbred horse that was bred to race but never raced, she had a rough life prior to coming, and wasn’t trained at all. Even with everything I was facing at the time, I still made my best efforts to care for her. I had asked for her to be stabled at the bottom of the road from my sixth form so I could see to her. I was in sixth form five days a week, from early in the morning, and had to be dressed in business attire as part of the sixth form dress code. This meant that every day I was going to the stables in the mornings and afternoon in a skirt or dress or some kind of business attire. I tried my best to care for her, but I was looked down upon by other people at the stable. There was an incident, where a woman who disliked me and was very clearly racist, told the owner that I was constantly coming to the stables “inappropriately dressed” and that I had attempted to ride Majesty, which we had agreed not to, as she was not ready. This was a lie. I had taken her tack out to get her used to it, in order to train her to ride. But it was this woman’s word against mine, and the owner decided to not loan her to me anymore. This was heartbreaking for me, as I loved this horse very much. I would still visit her at times, however, when I returned from Antigua from my granddad’s funeral, I went to visit her, only to find out that she had moved her while I was away. I haven’t seen her since. I had other loan horses since, but she was my first, and special to me.
Between the ages of 16 and 18, I spent my time hustling for riding time, with my ambitions of one day riding in the Olympics always in my mind. At 18 I took a scholarship opportunity and moved to my country of origin, Antigua. Here I began to have weekly lessons. It seemed I overestimated my riding abilities at first, thinking I was much better than I was, and all my bad habits came to light. However, with a lot of patience, and hard work, from myself and my coach, my riding developed leaps and bounds, and I am now a more confident and developed rider. Being in Antigua opened up the opportunity for me to compete well as getting to ride a variety of horses. Not only did I get the opportunity to ride, but also the opportunity to work with rescue horses and nurture and help to train them. Since I was little, it has always been my dream to compete Internationally representing Antigua, and my time in Antigua has allowed me to build the foundations to do so.
During my time I have faced a lot of racism. On many occasions I was called derogatory terms, had tack stolen or tampered with and put on dangerous horses for other people’s amusement. One of the worst things I have ever had said to was to be called “Crook,” a reference to the book ‘Of Mice and Men’. Over the years I have suffered with depression and anxiety and have managed to overcome these, using horses as a therapy. Many times I nearly thought I couldn’t make it, and the love and energy I got from horses saved me.
Since leaving Antigua I have been working with The Urban Equestrian Academy, with them I have been working with them to teach theory sessions to the kids and hopefully open up an Urban Equestrian Academy in London.
The next step for me is to now pursue my Olympic goal in full force. I have set my sights set on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and without a doubt, I will be there, by force or fire!