Great Britain dressage rider Levi Hunt is everything he was cracked up to be... and much more.

The Local Answer was sent an email saying that he was someone worth interviewing because “he has ridden to fame in a very short space of time” and because “he is very charismatic and has a wicked sense of humour”.

The letter writer was spot on because he certainly ticks all three of those boxes but there is much, much more to 26-year-old Levi Hunt.

That’s because Levi, who is based at Abbey Dressage just outside Tewkesbury, is trying to change the perception of the sport of dressage.

“It’s got this stuffy image,” said Levi. “People think it’s Lady Beatrice Potter the Third riding on Twinkletoes. There is a lot of that but I want to change that. With the right funding and support it’s a sport that anyone can do.”

And Levi is certainly living proof of that.

Brought up on an inner-city council estate in Wolverhampton by a single mum, he was one of seven children and a life working with horses couldn’t have been more unrealistic in those early years.

But Levi was different. He liked horses and by the age of 15 he was volunteering at riding centres.

“I used to empty the wheelbarrows of muck just so I could sit on a horse for five minutes,” he recalled. “I’d walk them round, it was like being on Blackpool beach.

“I had no funds, no financer so this was the only way I could get to sit on a horse.”

And he loved the horses from day one.

“As soon as I’d sat my last GCSE I caught the train to Devon and I never went back,” he said.

That was where he started to hone his talent – a talent that one day will hopefully take him all the way to the Olympics.

He’s been at Abbey for the past three-and-a-half years – the centre is owned by Tewkesbury lady Glenys Hemming – and he said: “We’ve kept working every day and it’s really come together in the last two years.”

These days he’s got 16 horses in the centre – some of which are his – and he trains horses and riders as well as riding himself.

“I’m unofficially the trainer for the housewives of Cheltenham and the Cotswolds,” he laughed.

And while that may be unofficial, officially, he’s a very good rider.

“I train with Carl Hester,” said Levi, “they call him Mr Dressage. He’s my mentor and is one of the big reasons I moved to Gloucestershire.

“I grew up in a county where there was no horse community. I knew I needed to be in the hub of the horse world and Gloucestershire is where the yards and the horses are.”

And they don’t come much better than Newent-based Carl Hester, of course, who worked so closely with Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, the great dressage horse who smashed so many records.

Levi is starting to make great strides himself and made his Great Britain debut at the Festival of Eventing at Hartpury last year.

So how did it go?

“It was stonking for a first international,” he said. “I finished fourth out of everyone behind two Olympic riders.”

And the Olympics is where Levi is looking to get to although he is not saying which one he believes is realistic out of Tokyo in 2020 or Paris in 2024.

“Paris would be great because I’d still be young enough to photograph well,” he laughed, “but I don’t want to put a curse on it by saying which one.

“But I think if you’re in the game and you’re not aiming for the Olympics, you’re not setting your dreams high enough.

“What’s the point if you’re not aiming for the Olympics?”

Levi is now an established figure in the equestrian world, competing internationally and to Grand Prix level with his best performances coming on Abbey Tiron, which is owned by Glenys Hemming

“He’s the first horse that put me on the map,” said Levi.

He currently competes on four horses at the centre and trains the others for clients. But he has high hopes for a horse he has bought and is training himself.

He’s called Frappuccino and Levi said: “He will become my main horse.”

Hopefully he’ll take Levi all the way to Grand Prix but while that is hugely important to him, it is by no means the only aim in his life.

“I want to give something back and I’m going to volunteer at Ebony Riding Centre in Brixton,” he said.

Brixton is one of the more depressed areas in London, of course, and Levi added: “As someone who has come from a working class background into an elite sport, I want to show people that you can make the social climb, you can be socially mobile.

“I’m proud of where I’m from and I’m proud that I’ve got acceptance in the sport.

“My mum is proud of where I am – she always used to tell us to get out and do something with our lives – and it’s great to take them to the shows.

“We are the type of family that would be seen at a football match with a beer and a burger, they love coming to the competitions.”

And while Levi enjoys dropping in the one-liners, there is clearly a very serious message that he is desperate to get across.

“Dressage is an elite sport but it doesn’t have to be all about money, you can work towards it,” he said. “That’s the American dream!

“There’s a change coming in this generation. Horses are more accessible, the sport is more accessible and people are less restrained by social structure.

“If you have a talent, work hard and you can go a long way.”

And those aren’t just easy-to-say throwaway words... Levi Hunt has proved that anything is possible if you are dedicated enough.