How to Become an Equestrian Model: Inside the UK's First Equestrian Modelling Agency

Published 10 June 2026 · Just Horse Riders Podcast, Episode 38

The Short Answer

To become an equestrian model in the UK, you don't need to be a certain height, a certain dress size, or have tens of thousands of followers. You need genuine riding ability, a horse-friendly attitude, and the confidence to be in front of a camera. As Charliee Seymour — founder of CS Equine Models, the UK's first dedicated equestrian modelling agency — explains in this episode, brands hire on the rider, horse and skill-set combination, then build everything else around it.

Who Is Charliee Seymour?

Charliee Seymour is the founder and director of CS Equine Models, which she launched on Valentine's Day 2022 as the first modelling agency in the UK built exclusively for equestrians. A lifelong rider who has competed across Pony Club, eventing, dressage and showjumping, she still campaigns her own grey gelding, Pinko, and rides freelance for other professionals. In just four years she has grown the agency to more than 50 models, placed talent everywhere from Horse & Hound campaigns to a prestigious Arabian beauty horse event in Abu Dhabi, and put one of her riders in a global Range Rover advert. In other words: she has done the thing most riders are told isn't possible — turned horsemanship itself into a career path. Host Aaron Englander sat down with her to map exactly how it works.

What follows is the honest, behind-the-scenes version — the bit nobody usually explains.

From a Naughty Pony to a Business Idea

Charliee's story doesn't start with a glossy portfolio. It starts with a 12.2hh coloured pony called Dennis who, by her own account, bucked her off almost daily.

The Pony Called Dennis

"He used to buck me off every time he went into canter. He'd bolt across an open field. But I loved him," Charliee told Aaron. The lesson wasn't about staying on — it was about earning trust. "I had to become competent to earn his respect," she said. That early grit became the through-line of everything after it. As Aaron put it, the children who get the difficult ponies tend to develop "this resilience and this grit," and Charliee agreed — falling off, crying out of frustration rather than fear, and getting straight back on.

Why Mainstream Modelling Didn't Fit

Charliee had always had a parallel interest in modelling, but the traditional route closed quickly. At seventeen she travelled alone to a Ted Baker casting in London, only to be labelled a size she wasn't. "This agency labelled me in a size that I'm not. I'm never going to get work because I'm clearly not right for the size that I am," she remembered thinking. Years of riding had given her an athletic, in-between build that mainstream fittings agencies simply couldn't slot into a box. Rather than shrink herself to fit, she walked away — and that decision quietly planted the idea for everything that came next.

Building the UK's First Equestrian Modelling Agency

The light-bulb moment came from her own audience. After posting equestrian content through the Covid period, riders kept asking how they could do the same. "I can teach these people as long as they're confident and want to do it," Charliee realised. "They don't have to have modelling experience, but they have to have the equestrian skill set and they have to want to do it." Setting up a niche agency, she said, "was kind of like a no-brainer."

Doing It Properly From Day One

What separates Charliee's story from a hundred Instagram side-hustles is that she treated it as a real business from the start. She spent four to five months on logistics before launch — sorting model contracts, client contracts, and a proper website. "I'm so particular with how things are done that I didn't want to start it half-heartedly. I was like, I'm going to do this properly," she said. She funded it entirely herself, using money from selling a young horse she'd produced. As Aaron noted, "everybody always wants to know what you've got. Nobody wants to know how you got it" — and the unglamorous groundwork is exactly how she got it.

The Cost of Getting It Right

Charliee was blunt about money: she had a fixed budget from one horse sale and no outside help. "This is the money that I have to use, and I need to use it in the most productive way," she explained. "I don't care if it does cost me a little bit more, but it has to be right from the start." Notably, before CS Equine she'd already failed at around five small ventures — network-marketing schemes that taught her, in her words, exactly what wasn't for her. Those failures weren't wasted; they sharpened her instinct for what to ignore.

What Makes an Equestrian Model Different

So how is an equestrian model actually different from a commercial or runway model? According to Charliee Seymour, equestrian models are "just built differently mentally" — they've grown up around horses, so the skill set itself sets them apart before a camera is ever involved. Crucially, the pressure is different too. Modelling is usually a bonus alongside their real lives, not the whole of it.

Do equestrian models have to be a certain height or size?

No. CS Equine Models does not sign riders on physical measurements the way mainstream agencies do. The roster includes naturally slim riders and curvier riders alike, because the priority is horsemanship and camera presence. As Charliee puts it, a model being booked at a size 8 or 10 won't be derailed by enjoying a dessert the night before — the realism is the point.

Getting Signed: How the Application Process Works

It is not a phone call and a vibe check. Everything runs through the "Become a Model" application form on the CS Equine website. A first submission is reviewed, then a second stage asks for more detail on equestrian background, any modelling experience, and additional imagery. Only then does Charliee move to a one-to-one video call. "I will always have a video call with every single one of my models before I sign them," she said — a Zoom to ask questions, explain how the agency works, and take notes before making a final decision.

How old do you have to be to join an equestrian modelling agency?

You must be 18 or over to join CS Equine Models. Charliee is strict on this for insurance and safeguarding reasons, even though she's regularly emailed about younger riders. There is no upper age cap — her books include models in their late thirties.

What's the biggest mistake people make when pitching to a brand or agency?

Not following the brief. The application clearly asks for an up-to-date headshot against a plain wall, in dark fitted clothing, in your most natural state — and people send cropped Instagram selfies or photos from three years ago instead. "As soon as I see anything that's not abiding by that, I won't even entertain it," Charliee said. "First of all, you can't follow instructions. Therefore, you're not going to be easy to work with." Harsh, maybe — but on a shoot day where briefs matter, it's a fair filter.

The Money: What Equestrian Models Actually Earn

Rates vary with experience and what's being asked — riding and modelling together commands more than modelling alone. But there's a floor. According to Charliee Seymour, the agency's absolute minimum is £250 per day, with horses charged for on top. "We don't expect models to bring their horses for free," she said, "because that's a horse's day, time, washing the horses, plaiting the horses, getting the horses ready, plus themselves." She also makes brands cover travel, and a helper when a horse comes along — because many shoots don't provide hair and makeup, so models arrive camera-ready on their own steam.

Can you be an equestrian model without your own horse?

Yes. Some signed riders don't currently own a suitable horse, and Charliee can pair them with one through her industry contacts. When model Polly's horse went lame two weeks before a Woof Wear shoot, Charliee sourced "almost like the perfect replica" for her to ride — though she's quick to note that not every rider is confident enough to jump an unfamiliar horse on a live campaign.

Why the Horse Matters as Much as the Model

One of Aaron's sharpest questions cut to the reality of pairing: "Has a brand ever gone to you and said, we'd really like the horse to come, but not the model?" Charliee laughed — yes, it's happened, and as a self-described "proud mum" to Pinko, she's entirely fine taking the horse along regardless. But the deeper point is temperament. A stunning horse that won't stand still is useless on set. "People will say, oh, my horse is so pretty, but wouldn't stand still for a picture. So it's just not going to work," she said.

Welfare on Set

Charliee is firm about looking after the horses on shoot days. They're never ridden for too long, always have a stable to retreat to, and get downtime to settle into a strange, busy environment. "You don't want to set the horse up for failure," she said — pre-shoot fitness, scheduled rest, and a willingness to step in and call time on a hot day are all part of the job. It's a reminder that an equestrian shoot is far more than "rocking up, taking some pictures and leaving."

UGC vs Influencer Marketing: Why Authenticity Wins

Aaron admitted what a lot of us feel: the moment a post obviously tries to sell him something, he scrolls past. Charliee shares the instinct, which is why the agency leans into UGC — user-generated content — rather than the influencer market. The distinction matters: UGC is content built around the product, shown in a natural, real-life way, so viewers absorb it without feeling sold to. A polished campaign, she argues, also signals quality. "They know that the brand's worked hard at creating that," she said — whereas wall-to-wall influencer posts can strip away a product's premium feel.

Does social media following matter for getting booked by equestrian brands?

Not much. According to Charliee, campaign work is about the rider's skill set, not their follower count — she doesn't pressure models to chase numbers. She does encourage activity, because a current feed acts like a living portfolio that shows brands you're competing and working. As she put it, "the numbers don't really matter. They're looking at you, your horse, your skill set as a rider combination."

Is AI Coming for Equestrian Models?

This was the conversation's most interesting tangent. Aaron, a heavy AI user himself, raised the flood of "AI slop" appearing in feeds. Charliee has noticed it too — some brands that won't pay for content creators are now quietly running AI-generated "people" in their campaigns, with commenters none the wiser. Her favourite paradox: "your campaign's good when someone thinks it's AI and it's not."

Will AI replace real models in equestrian advertising?

Probably not, in Charliee's view. According to Charliee Seymour, "AI isn't riding these horses or competing these horses" — and "AI is never going to take over looking after a horse because it's a physical job." The bigger risk, she argues, is trust: if a buyer suspects a product shot is AI, they may not believe it would look that good in real life, and won't buy it at all.

It's a genuinely optimistic take for riders. Where AI threatens to hollow out other creative industries, the equestrian world's stubborn physicality — the mud, the mucking out, the actual partnership between human and animal — may be its protection. Aaron's half-joking prediction that the horse world might even grow in an AI-saturated future, the way horse prices spiked during Covid, isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.

Where the Agency Goes Next

Charliee isn't standing still. This year she reshot every model portfolio in studio settings and non-equestrian clothing to prove versatility, and she's repositioning CS Equine from a pure modelling agency toward broader equestrian casting and talent. She's signed two female stunt riders and recently placed model Andrea cantering a horse in the latest Range Rover advert featuring Theo James — a global campaign she now sees on cinema screens. The ambition is explicit: equestrian talent on Hermès-scale campaigns, TV and film, not just horse brands. "Just because we're an equestrian niche agency doesn't mean we're limited to equestrian companies," she said.

The Bigger Lesson: Grit, Horses and Balance

Beneath the business talk runs a thread any rider will recognise. Charliee still rides five or six horses back-to-back as a freelance, partly to stay sharp and partly because it drags her away from a never-ending to-do list. "Burnout is massive," she said, and the horses force the break her brain needs. There's real wisdom in it: "once you become a horse person, I don't think you ever unbecome a horse person." The naughty pony, the failed businesses, the size-ten label that didn't fit — every setback became fuel. On rejection, her advice to models is the same lesson Dennis taught her at seven: "It's not that you're not pretty enough or good enough. It's just at that moment in time, you are not what that person is looking for." You need thick skin, and you just get back on.

Watch or Listen to the Full Episode

There's a lot more in the full conversation — the Abu Dhabi trip in front of 6,000 people and the royal family, the difficult conversations behind every model who doesn't get picked, and Charliee's quick-fire myth-busting round. One viral clip that helped start it all, by the way, featured a pair of equestrian boots — proof that the right kit photographs as well as it performs. You can browse our boots collection here if it sparks ideas for your own content.

Watch the full episode on YouTube, or listen now on Spotify wherever you get your podcasts.

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