Rosie Cockerton

Rosie first came into my life when I went to Porlock Vale Equitation Centre as an Intermediate/ stage four student on a Training Opportunities grant. Rosie was my teaching practice mentor and also taught speech therapy and voice production.

Before her employment at Porlock, Rosie had been a student at the Wirral School, with Geoffrey Hattan FBHS.
Rosie told me of an occasion when Geoffrey asked her to kneel on all fours, and then sat on her back to explain how to use the Germanic pushing seat!

Between the Wirral and Porlock, Rosie was employed in the theatre business, and for a while was a magician’s assistant, being sawn in half, and disappearing off the stage!
 When John and Dale Lassetter left Porlock Vale, Rosie became the Principal of the school, until she decided to go her own way and teach and hunt on her beloved Exmoor.

She also dabbled in breeding her own hunters and event horses.
Once I went to Portugal with Rosie, Betty Howett FBHS, and Tessa Counsell BHSII, for a week of riding lessons, with the late Nuno Oliveira, and Rosie was the life and soul of the group. After a short spell of being the principal of Porlock Vale myself, I moved on to become the Head of the Equine department at Bicton College in Devon, and a few years later Rosie joined me and taught the BHSAI students both dressage and jumping, as well as stable management.

Rosie was never really content teaching in the college, and once more retired to Exmoor to hunt, breed horses and teach. I then lost contact with her, as many of her former friends did.

Unfortunately Rosie contracted cancer and also Covid-19 which eventually caused her demise.

Peter Cook