Interview: Ruth answers call of the wild and lands her ideal job as gamekeeper

However, most of the time 20-year-old Ruth is not just riding for fun, she is working. Her job is that of a gamekeeper, a role that for centuries has been predominantly male.

However, just as more and more women are turning to shooting, so, too, has the occupation of gamekeeper begun to take on a more feminine touch.

From a tender age Ruth displayed all the hallmarks of a young girl in love with the traditions and rituals of Yorkshire's countryside. She became deeply interested in animals, the local estates and shooting – honing her skills with guns from around the age of 12 when she and her friends used to take potshots at rabbits.

By the age of 16 she had her own shotgun and was earning a small living on the side of her studies as a beater, driving game birds into the sights of shooters on the local estates where the birds were reared.

When time came for her to finish school, she had only one career option in mind. "I have never known anything different. I just love working outdoors, I could not work in an office I don't think. It's not for me," she said.

Today, Ruth works for an estate near Grewelthorpe. She has not exactly followed in her family's footsteps – her mother works for a veterinary surgeon in Ripon and her father works in engineering.

However, her love for the outdoors meant that when she completed her school studies she had her career path laid out.

She attended Bishop Burton College in East Yorkshire where she studied for a diploma in Game Keeping. There she learnt the basics of the job such as fence building, how to recognise different breeds of birds and animals as well as the all-important legal side of things, particularly what and when you can shoot. She was also taught the difference between legal and illegal traps.

The fact that she was entering a highly male-dominated industry was apparent on her first day at college when she looked around at the other students. "I was the only girl," she said. "I have hardly heard of any female gamekeepers at all. There are very few of us."

But she was a natural for the job and quickly dispelled any raised eyebrows or looks of consternation that she might attract from people more used to seeing a man carry out her work.

"It was just something I got into straight away. You get the occasional woman beater. And you do get some women coming to shoot. There are definitely more coming, that's for sure – but it's still far from half men, half women," she said.

"It is not really something I think about much. I just get on with my job. There is not really anything I cannot do that a man can. Perhaps the occasional heavy-lifting job but even a lot of men cannot manage all of those."

Since graduating, she has been working for various estates in North Yorkshire before settling at Grewelthorpe in February.

A typical day for Ruth can start very early, often at sunrise.

She makes sure the birds are where they are supposed to be and ensures that they are all fed and have water to drink. While August 12 – the Glorious Twelfth – is best known for the start of shooting, it refers only to grouse, with partridge and pheasant shooting starting in September.

As such, Ruth's busiest times are still to come, with a large influx of shooters expected in the coming weeks on to the estate which is home to some 14,000 pheasants and 250 partridges.

When it comes to shooting, Ruth herself says she is better with her rifle than she is with a shotgun and confesses to still occasionally having days when "she cannot hit a thing".

But it's a sport she has enjoyed since her youth. While her job does not involve a great deal of shooting, she does get to enjoy a "Keepers' Day" with colleagues towards the end of the season when crowds start to dwindle.

At the moment, however, she is spending her time caring for the birds and working on the control of vermin on the estate, a task which needs to be performed all year round.

This year she faces her first big challenge as she will be on her own for much of the time without anyone looking over her shoulder to make sure she is doing things properly.

"There will be quite a lot of pressure, definitely," she said.

Her ultimate goal for her work is to be appointed head game keeper on an estate, a prestigious role which has attracted gravitas to its holder throughout the centuries.

"That's really where I want to be," she said. "You are given your own house, have access to various vehicles and attract a pretty decent wage. That, however, is still a few years away yet."