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In the highly competitive world of 3-Day Eventing, Peter became an international rider, coach, trainer and manager. Peter first competed for New Zealand in Europe, in the lead up events for the Moscow Olympics in 1980. His success gave him great kudos as a rider and many tipped him to go all the way in his career. When an unfortunate accident to his horse prevented him from competing at the peak of his career, Peter trained and managed the gold medallist at the Pan American Games (1991), participated for the Canadian Olympic 3 day team and was the stables/operations and assistant team manager at Barcelona in 1992. He again co-managed and coached the Canadians at the world championships in Holland in 1994.

His organisational skills came to the fore when he held the position of executive director at the Auckland International 3 Day event in 1993, and went on to stage the Manukau Show jumping festival in 1994 – New Zealand’s highest prized televised jumping event at the time.

Peter excelled in hospitality. After graduating with a diploma in Hotel and Catering management, he co-foundered and was the head chef of the groundbreaking Auckland restaurant Le Brie. He went on to pioneer the iconic neighbourhood bar Surrender Dorothy on Auckland’s premier eating strip, Ponsonby Road and now manages the award winning Dorothy’s Sister (also in Ponsonby).

A unique circumstance irrevocably changed Peter’s life. While at the Barcelona Olympics, he was unknowingly infected with a rare parasite from a sand fly bite. The illness, Visceral Leishmaniasis Donnovanni, usually kills by destroying the bone marrow within twenty months. Peter remains the only person living in the world, now after more than 10 years of infection, and fulfilling a hard regime of chemotherapy. His ability to continue repeated rounds of treatment have made him a medical pioneer, recently completing 700 doses. Now partially blind and severely deaf from the effects of the treatment, Peter brings a refreshing personal perspective to dealing with change and motivation.

His published autobiography, ‘Don’t Postpone Joy’, is a wonderful boy’s own adventure story of having fun while turning adversity into an advantage. From riding the circuits of Europe, living in the deep south of America and the wild streets of Sydney, Peter remains with integrity to his twin motto’s of ‘__To Thine Own Self be__ True’ and ‘__Don’t Postpone Joy__’.

With the movie option purchased and a Braille and talking book, Peter continues to inspire as he did with the ‘60 Minutes’ documentary, which screened in 2005. Peter has recently completed a series of short stories and his first novel (‘Girl, You're The Last Word').

Peter Taylor tells his story of self-motivation and staying on top of life with the power of perseverance, a sense of humour and a great attitude.