...in the kitchen eating - he was always hungry!".

Meanwhile, Guy had the incredible opportunity of riding Nick's good horses. He would have a lesson on Apollo. A single fence would be built in the indoor school and he would jump it once or twice.

"Let me know when you've got it right," Nick would mutter, and then turn away to sign cheques and talk to his secretary.

Guy jumped the fence a few times. "I've got it now," he called. Nick turned to watch. "No you haven't," he replied and turned his back to continue his conversation.

Guy clearly learned a great deal in this DIY fashion, because he was allowed to take Dollar Girl, one of this country's best horses, to the Wales and West Show to compete hors concours and to jump Showtime (Sue Welch's fabulous young mare) in an A & B class.

Back home for the summer, Guy's up-and-coming horse Electrik took over the mantle of top horse from Sky Breeze (later sold to Italy) at a show in Madrid. "When I arrived in Madrid, Sky Breeze was my best horse," remembers Guy. "When I left, Electrik was. It was amazing - the horse just suddenly took on such stature."

In Barcelona that year Electrik jumped his first Nations Cup, contributing rounds of four faults and a clear to the team's second placing.

The winter of '94 was another testing time for Guy. He was delivered back through the gates of the Skelton yard for three more months of character-building. Due to staff changes there was no-one who could be relied upon to make Guy's life a misery, as the other staff liked him too much.

Mark Beever states, "Some of the best times on this yard have been when Guy was here. I remember one evening we both went out to Andrew Saywell's engagement party. We returned extremely late and drove back into the yard at 7.30am - so we just fed the horses straightaway and settled down to mucking out in our

black tie dinner suits. Nick couldn't believe it when he came on the yard and sent us both off to change."

But Chris Goosen was determined Guy should suffer and insisted that Nick take on the role of tormentor.

Guy recalls, "One day I was five minutes late on the yard. Nothing was said, but at 7am the next day Nick opened my bedroom door and threw a bucket of cold water over me whilst I lay in bed. I wasn't allowed to sleep in the grooms quarters and was bedded down in the old feed room. Nick only put on the heating for two hours a day so it took ages for the bed to dry - I was freezing and would wake up in the night shivering."

To this day Guy can sleep through any wake-up alarm, no matter how loud, but if anyone enters his room he leaps out of bed in horror.

On another occasion they were all due to go out to a party together. Guy, in his laid-back manner, was late finishing on the yard and rushed to get dressed. Nick was suspicious at how quickly Guy had changed and asked if he had showered. Guy owned up - he hadn't had time.

Fanatical about personal cleanliness Nick refused to let Guy in his car until he had washed, and marched him down to the horses' wash box. Nick pushed Guy in, threw him some soap and a towel and locked him in.

Unbeknown to Nick, Guy switched on all the infra-red wall heaters used to dry the horses and had his warmest shower of the winter.

Guy had now progressed to the responsible position of jumping the young horses and was rewarded with his own groom at shows. At Gracelands, after jumping a practice fence a few times, he asked Mark to help him with a little trick he'd seen Nick perform. Instead of getting off the horse to have the saddle pulled forward, Nick has the girths slackened right off and then jumps up in the saddle, pulling the saddle forward whilst airborne.

Guy tried this for the first time on a big Dutch stallion. "I slackened the girths," remembers Mark, "and Guy jumped up in the saddle. But he had too much weight in his right stirrup and the saddle shot round underneath the horse and Guy landed flat on his back. The stallion was amazed and just turned his head to look at Guy lying on the floor. I was doubled up laughing - it's a good job the horse wasn't overly bothered because if there had been a problem I couldn´t have helped Guy"

This second winter of gruelling training set Guy up for what was to be the best season of his life - the summer of 1994.

He was invited to attend major international shows like San Marine and made a big impression in the Grand Prix there, taking second place with Electrik amongst some of the best showjumping partnerships in the world - and helping the British to a second place in the Nations Cup with four faults and a clear round.

Everything was looking good for 1995 when he was invited to his first CSIO at Rome, but sadly both his top horses were to be sidelined through injury.

During this time Guy was able to concentrate all his energies on his second string horses: Sagrat, an eight-year-old Oldenburg which had come from Paul Schockemohle, and Freebie, a nine-year-old Hanoverian.

Guy upgraded Sagrat to Grade A and was equal first with Robert Smith and Gold in the Puissance at Wembley over a height of 6' 10". Then they beat Franke Sloothaak to win the Puissance at Olympia, jumping 7' 4".

Although this may have given the impression that Sagrat is a puissance specialist, this isn't the case. However, having qualified for Wembley and Olympia the hard way, Guy was only allowed to take two horses. Top international riders are invited to take three, but qualifying riders can only take two Äplus a specialist puissance horse if they have one.

So Sagrat hung around in his stable for days at Wembley and Olympia, watching his stable-mates compete each day wondering when his time would come. Fortunately when it did come, he was clearly feeling on top of the world - coming first on both occasions.

Now, at the beginning of 1996, 21-year-old Guy has an enviable string of talented, scopey horses, some of whom have yet to produce their best form. Fiorella - now in her late teens - is saved for a few big classes and relaxes in the paddock most days. Electrik is in the peak of health and Sagrat is desperate to show the world he can jump a big track and not just a big wall. Guy also has the ride on his sister's horse, Tinto (left behind when she went to Germany to ride for Paul Schockemohle).

A formidable threat will be emanating from the Goosen's showjumping yard this year. An older, wiser and altogether tougher Guy who is ready to take on the world´s best.