An Interview with…. Life On The Left Rein 🐎

Hello again, thank you for stopping by to read another blog. I’ve got something a little different for you this week. I have an interview with an incredible lady, the one and only Tina Wallace- Life on the Left Rein. This lady is the perfect role model to females, vloggers and any horse riders alike- a straight talking, no funny business, but hilarious, sort of person! Tina has taken social media by storm with her light-hearted, fun-loving and insightful vlogs, following her Eventing journey with her stunning Irish Sports Horse, Banksy.

Tina represents for all young women, and men, that if you work hard, be yourself and follow your dreams, exciting adventures will always await you. Having been a part of Horse and Country TVs “Blue Chip All Star Academy“, a 2019 British Evening Brand Ambassador, and with a YouTube channel with over 10K views, Tina is certainly having a profound impact within the Equestrian world!

I am so grateful to Tina for sharing with us all some of her highs, and lows, that she has found along the way of her Eventing journey – I know you’re going to love this!

So here goes nothing! An interview with Tina Wallace aka Life on the Left Rein…

Thank you for joining me on the blog Tina, I am so excited to have you chatting with us! Please could you introduce yourself to the readers?

I’m Tina Wallace, 34 years old and have lived in sunny Cornwall all of my life. I have worked in the motor trade ever since I was 18 and that is where I met my husband Rob. We live on a small holding just outside Truro where I am fortunate to keep the horses. I started riding when I was 8 and had weekly lessons up until about the age of 14, but have only been fortunate enough to have my own horse since the age of 26. I started out mainly doing local riding club activities, low level showjumping & hunter trials. It wasn’t until I got Banksy that we gave Eventing a go at low level unaffiliated, up until the end of 2015 where we entered our first ever BE and the obsession started there!

So why Life on the Left Rein?

So the reasons behind the name “Life on the Left Rein” I guess it’s very much like life in the fast lane, just a different kind of horsepower. It can be Crazy, Chaotic, Unbalanced and a little scary…. Correction VERY scary at times!

How old is Sir Banksy and how long have you owned him?

Banks is 17, no he’s not 17 *laughing* , he’s 12 years old and I have owned him for 5 years, it was the 11th August 2014 that I purchased him. He was imported from Ireland by my friend Lisa, she had him for a couple of years and broke him in, he was broken late, he wasn’t broken until he was 5. She brought him on and then I purchased him from her – a spontaneous purchase, I wasn’t even looking for a horse. But I’m very very very glad I did buy him.

How is it that you got into vlogging, where did it all begin?

I got into vlogging because I was on the All Star Academy, I’ve always been a fan of editing photos and videos, I’ve always enjoyed that as a bit of a hobby, so when the auditions opened for the All Star Academy I did the video audition and thankfully I was selected and it went on from that. We had to vlog once a month for Horse and Country TV for a period of six months after being on the show so that was really why I continued vlogging and I really enjoyed doing it for my own memories so that I can watch them back. It is a bit like a new world photo album isn’t it, rather than look back at old photos you can look back at old video and have all those amazing memories all over again.

That’s an amazing way of looking at it, a new world photo album. Why was it that you choose vlogging over blogging as a way of recording those memories?

I chose vlogging over blogging as I am absolutely rubbish at writing! I hate writing with a passion! I was absolutely rubbish at English at school, I much preferred maths and science. I am just very unimaginative, which is strange because I am quite good at making video. I get frustrated at the fact that my imagination isn’t very good, so I would rather speak than attempt to write.

With all of your experiences through vlogging now, what would be your advice for aspiring vloggers out there?

My advice for aspiring bloggers would be just to do it. So many people say I’m so nervous I don’t want to speak to the camera. But just do it. Emily used to be quite nervous, she won’t mind me saying this, and I used to say to her just pretend you’re talking to your mum. She didn’t even like doing instagram stories, but if you pretend you’re chatting to your mum, you can talk all day long, bla bla bla – so yea!! It doesn’t matter if you are a bit stuttery at first, just do it and do it for your own benefit not necessarily for anybody else. Do it so you can record your amazing memories that you’re making, and so that you’ve got something to look back on in years to come.

What would be your greatest achievement to date?

With Banksy our greatest competition achievement competing wise would be that I always knew he was capable of jumping bigger than 90 but because Dressage has always been our nemesis I always said I wouldn’t step up a level until we get a sub 30 Dressage score eventing, and in July 2017 at our most local BE event we got a 22.8 personal best dressage double clear, and won! This was amazing and our best achievement to date. So then I found I had to step up to 100 which I told myself I would do once we got sub 30, and we stepped up to 100 at our next event and managed to come second. So those couple of months in the mid to end of 2017 were just epic months for eventing.

What are your plans for the rest of 2019 and 2020?

Basically just to continue having fun. I had a major confidence blip last year, not necessarily due to anything that happened riding wise, but in my personal life/working life, which made me struggle with what I suppose we could safely say mental health and anxiety. This in turn affected my riding. It took a little while to admit that it’s ok not to be ok, but thankfully with the help of some very lovely people, everything is back on track and I am spending 2019 with the sole goal of enjoying my pony which is exactly what I am doing we’ve had a brilliant season so far and that’s all I intend on doing for the rest of this year, and going into next year too.

Keeping it real as always Tina, I like that, and something that I think is so important for people to understand, as social media can often have a way of convincing us that no one else is every going through a struggle. You’ve recently taken on running, how is that going for you?

Not well!! I really really enjoy it, or was, until my ankle kept swelling. It turns out I had a stress fracture. So my advice to anyone starting running is to get a good pair of trainers from the word go, I didn’t invest in a decent pair until four weeks in. Take it steady to start with, I pushed myself a bit soon, I kept thinking oh I don’t need to walk. I used the couch to 5K app, and I kept thinking I can do more than a walk now I might as well keep running. So yea, follow the app properly! I am currently all taped up, I’ve had five physio sessions, they are going well and the swelling is going down but it is going to be a couple more weeks before I can start running again, it’s been four weeks so far. Running is great for mental health. I absolutely love putting my headphones and just going. Putting your phone in your pocket, or in your bum bag *laughs!* , switching off, listening to music and just taking in the scenery.

Any other hobbies outside of horses?

Spinning – that’s the thing I do at the gym, I’m not really into any of the other classes. Also my running and socialising with friends.

We are all partial to a duvet day or binge watching a TV series, what TV Series are you loving right now?

Not going to lie, I’m a bit gutted since Love Island ended! I’ve only watched it for the last two years, I hadn’t seen it before last year. I’m having Love Island blues now because there is nothing to watch in the evenings any more. Basically all Rob puts on the TV now is Golf. As much as I say I hate it, I don’t actually mind it, I find it quite therapeutic to watch, or maybe it is just because I can carry on being on my phone without getting frowned at – not sure!

Favourite food?

Favourite food is hands down…. crisps! Don’t put a pot of Pringles in front of me! Crisps and dip- if you ever have friends round or go to a friends house, I am the one found by the crisps and dip. I know it’s bad for me but it’s oh so yummy!

Favourite place?

Cornwall! I’m not going to lie I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. If we are talking of places other than where I live, then my favourite place to go has to be Greek Islands.

I hear you might be a little bit of a shopaholic, drawn to shiny things, what’s your favourite piece of jewellery?

Ohhh that’s a good one! I would say my Rolex but I don’t wear it that much any more as I always wear my Apple Watch to track my fitness. Probably a HiHo Silver cherry roller bangle.

Finally, what is your key to happiness?

Just be you – you do you. Be yourself and don’t try to be what you’re not for somebody else because that is never going to work. Be yourself and embrace being you!

A huge huge thank you to the lovely Tina from Life on the Left Rein for such an insightful interview. I hope you have enjoyed delving into her world of Eventing as much as I have.

Stay tuned for some more blogs coming soon.

Lots of Love, Lucinda xo