Four years ago, Germany’s Isabell Werth started her World Equestrian Games campaign on the mare she deems her best horse ever, Bella Rose. Aged just 10, the elegant Belissimo M mare posted a 81.53% grand prix to finish second to Valegro in Normandy 2014, but then disaster struck and the mare was withdrawn from the rest of the Games due to an injury.
Fast forward four years, and this entrancing chestnut, owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze, is finally back on the scene, despite many doubting whether she would ever be seen in an arena again. Isabell and Bella have swept the board during their competitive comeback this summer, and, with Isabell having made clear Bella was her personal choice ride for the 2018 WEG, they now prepare to start their Games campaign in Tryon, North Carolina, tomorrow.
“Choosing Bella Rose [as my preferred ride] was not a decision against my other horses, Emilio and [triple European gold medallist] Weihegold,” says Isabell. “It’s just that Bella Rose is my dream horse — she is just outstanding — and to bring her back to a championship has been my dream for the past four years.
“We have taken it slowly, and done things step by step during her recovery — she is full of temperament so its been hard to keep her calm during those years.
H&H’s dressage editor selects nine combinations you won’t want to miss seeing in action in Tryon
Having sailed through the trot-up earlier this morning (picture, above), Bella Rose will not only help Germany attempt to defend their team gold, but is also one of the strongest contenders for the individual gold medals.
“She just has everything: charisma, power, elegance, lightness — she combines all the best things of all my other horses,” continues Isabell, who first saw the mare at her breeder’s as a three-year-old and admits to being smitten with her at first sight.
“The atmosphere here won’t be a problem for her, but I will have to calm her down and keep her concentrating,” the world number one says, also adding that Bella is going better now than when she was last on the world stage four years ago. “We’re all just getting older and more experienced.”
The first day of grand prix competition gets under way today (12 September) at 8.45am local time (1.45pm UK time), with the draw taking place this evening.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
A small but mighty Welsh section C stallion renowned on the showing circuit for his incredible movement and presence has passed away age 21.
Tawelfan Red Robin, a liver Chestnut standing at a modest 12.3hh, was best known for his results with native specialist Fiona Cork, who credits the stallion for putting her on the map.
“I remember the day I met him,” Fiona said. “I was at the cob sales with my parents when I spotted an amazing Welsh D at the top of the bank.When got closer, I noticed the cob got smaller and smaller until I realised in fact it was a Welsh C stallion. And not a very big one at that.”
“My dad thought he was too small but we saw him move in hand and liked what we saw. His owner, Chris Machin, was clearly not overly keen on selling him and he had a high reserve on him. So we went to the ring but he went through unsold. And that was the end of that, or so I thought.”
Not one to let things go, Fiona went online, found Chris’s number and got in touch a few days after the sale.
Fiona continued: “Chris obviously didn’t want to sell him so I begged her to loan him to me, to which she hesitantly agreed. I didn’t want her to change her mind so agreed to collect him that afternoon.
“I will never forget bounding into the farm kitchen and announcing how amazing it was that I’d managed to secure the incredible Welsh C on loan. My mum had never allowed us to keep stallions but again, by some miracle, I managed to get her and Dad to take me to fetch ‘Robbie’, as he was then known by Chris. Their huge lorry went trundling down this tiny lane to a shed at the very bottom where he was in with some cows. We loaded him up and there began our journey.”
After a name change to Rodders, the little stallion and Fiona took the native ridden scene by storm.
“From the second he stepped in the ring he just seemed to win, even when perhaps he wasn’t foot-perfect. I was a nobody so it certainly wasn’t due to any of my connections,” Fiona said.
During the initial stages of their partnership, the Welsh Cs and Ds competed together at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and the pair picked up their first ticket at Royal Cornwall show, making the line-up at the final.
“The following year we had our own class. He was really coming into his own. He was never easy and you would never know which Rodders you were going to get. Sometimes you’d put one foot in the ring and know you might as well come straight out, but generally he was on form and I learnt how to manage ‘the trot’.
Rodders went on to become a HOYS winner on two occasions, and Royal Welsh champion, and was the only pony to win the Royal Show Welsh C HOYS class, taking the title on three occasions (the show ran for a total of three years until it was cancelled.)
“After five years of showing him, I felt that I had done enough with him and it was time for him to have a new rider. After an overwhelming response to a Facebook advert, I ended up loaning him to Katie Goulding,” Fiona said.
The eventer has said goodbye to her European Championships partner, who would ‘never give up’
“I went to help them at their first show and told Katie: “Don’t be fooled by how he goes in the collecting ring, he’s a different animal in the ring.””
“Like me, Katie learnt the hard way. She loved him just the same way as I did, so after a couple of years I decided that for Christmas I would sign him over to her. He owed me nothing. I owed him the best home and Katie loved him. There’ll never be another with a trot quite like Rodders.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
A small but mighty Welsh section C stallion renowned on the showing circuit for his incredible movement and presence has passed away age 21.
Tawelfan Red Robin, a liver Chestnut standing at a modest 12.3hh, was best known for his results with native specialist Fiona Cork, who credits the stallion for putting her on the map.
“I remember the day I met him,” Fiona said. “I was at the cob sales with my parents when I spotted an amazing Welsh D at the top of the bank. When got closer, I noticed the cob got smaller and smaller until I realised in fact it was a Welsh C stallion. And not a very big one at that.
“My dad thought he was too small but we saw him move in hand and liked what we saw. His owner, Chris Machin, was clearly not overly keen on selling him and he had a high reserve on him. So we went to the ring but he went through unsold. And that was the end of that, or so I thought.”
Not one to let things go, Fiona went online, found Chris’s number and got in touch a few days after the sale.
Fiona continued: “Chris obviously didn’t want to sell him so I begged her to loan him to me, to which she hesitantly agreed. I didn’t want her to change her mind so agreed to collect him that afternoon.
“I will never forget bounding into the farm kitchen and announcing how amazing it was that I’d managed to secure the incredible Welsh C on loan. My mum had never allowed us to keep stallions but again, by some miracle, I managed to get her and Dad to take me to fetch ‘Robbie’, as he was then known by Chris.
“Their huge lorry went trundling down this tiny lane to a shed at the very bottom where he was in with some cows. We loaded him up and there began our journey.”
After a name change to Rodders, the little stallion and Fiona took the native ridden scene by storm.
“From the second he stepped in the ring he just seemed to win, even when perhaps he wasn’t foot-perfect. I was a nobody so it certainly wasn’t due to any of my connections,” Fiona said.
During the initial stages of their partnership, the Welsh Cs and Ds competed together at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) and the pair picked up their first ticket at Royal Cornwall show, making the line-up at the final.
“The following year we had our own class. He was really coming into his own. He was never easy and you would never know which Rodders you were going to get. Sometimes you’d put one foot in the ring and know you might as well come straight out, but generally he was on form and I learnt how to manage ‘the trot’.
Rodders went on to become a HOYS winner on two occasions, and Royal Welsh champion, and was the only pony to win the Royal Show Welsh C HOYS class, taking the title on three occasions (the show ran for a total of three years until it was cancelled.)
“After five years of showing him, I felt that I had done enough with him and it was time for him to have a new rider. After an overwhelming response to a Facebook advert, I ended up loaning him to Katie Goulding,” Fiona said.
The eventer has said goodbye to her European Championships partner, who would ‘never give up’
“I went to help them at their first show and told Katie: ‘Don’t be fooled by how he goes in the collecting ring, he’s a different animal in the ring.’
“Like me, Katie learnt the hard way. She loved him just the same way as I did, so after a couple of years I decided that for Christmas I would sign him over to her. He owed me nothing. I owed him the best home and Katie loved him. There’ll never be another with a trot quite like Rodders.”
In 2011, Katie Goulding began her journey with Rodders. She made a 10-hour round trip from her Derbyshire base to Scotland to view him at the yard of one of Fiona’s friends.
“When I got there I couldn’t believe how nice he was in the flesh,” said Katie. “Fiona’s friend sent her a video of me riding him. Driving home seemed to take a lifetime, as I knew I was waiting for Fiona’s seal of approval.
“We actually came last in our first show, as his quirkiness completely took me by surprise. Half an hour with Fiona, and we went on to win our next class.
“My best memories include qualifying for HOYS at Cheshire County show and riding at him Olympia — we got the biggest cheer of the day after our show.
“Rodders was a grump in the stable, and would always stand with his ears back — but he never bit anyone. He loved the show ring and couldn’t contain his excitement on an outing. If he heard the lorry start he would stand in his stable rearing.
“After two years together he was signed over to me and I decided to retire him in 2016. He went to stud for two years before coming back to me on the 22 June. I lost him on the 23 July.
“He owed me nothing and brought me so many happy memories. My friends would often ask me if they could have a sit on a HOYS winner just for the photo.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
The prolific show horse I’m Blue Chip Too (Glen) has passed away aged 23.
Owned by Blue Chip Feed owner and founder Clare Blaskey, Glen was famous for landing the riding horse of the year title at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) as a four-year-old in his first season with Robert Walker; he was the youngest horse to ever win the accolade.
He returned to the NEC as a five-year-old to win the same championship and was also champion at the Royal International (RIHS) in the same year.
His journey began when Clare picked up a six-week-old copy of Horse & Hound in 1998.
Clare says: “I was looking through an old copy of the Horse & Hound and in the classified section at the back of the magazine was a small advert with a riding horse for sale. People had been to see him but no one had bought him as he was quite a character.
“I arranged to see him on my way to Olympia. I loved him the moment I set eyes on him and continued to adore him for the next 20 years. There will never be another like him.”
Clare started showing him as a five year old, and there after he was produced from home. She noted that the gelding had won at his first ever show in 1995 at five weeks of age, shown by his breeder Dot Collins, and his last at 20-years-old in 2015.
Glen was very successful as a ridden horse in HOYS, RIHS and Olympia qualifiers with 35 championships, 21 reserve championships and 58 first places during his career. In his later years, he also qualified for the Senior Showing grand final at Olympia.
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Glen was a four-time winner of the national best trained show horse competition and he was also succesful in the dressage ring. His last award was in 2017 when he was runner up in Showing World Horse Personality of the Year.
Glen gave many people their first experience of riding a top show horse and taught Clare’s granddaughter, aged nine, to ride side saddle.
For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday
An equine vet is warning horse owners that building banks against the sides of a stable will not necessarily prevent a horse from getting cast.
Dr Kieran O’Brien, a senior vet at Penbode Equine Vets in Tavistock, Devon said although it is traditional to bank the bedding, “the evidence suggests this will not usually have any beneficial effect other than providing some protection if a horse does become cast”.
“They are almost entirely decorative, and may be making things worse,” warned Dr O’Brien.
Other downsides to banking bedding are that fungi will grow in the undisturbed areas.
These can release spores into the stable air, which are breathed by the horse and might cause airway inflammation, pointed out Dr O’Brien.
The experienced vet and H&H contributor posted his bedding article on the practice’s Facebook page, and thousands of people viewed the post.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response,” said Dr O’Brien.
Some commenters suggested banks were created not to cushion the horse when it gets cast but to encourage the horse to lie in the centre of the stable.
“Video recordings of sleeping horses have shown when they are rising they often make a rolling motion when they stand up. This could explain why they are found cast against the side of the stable in the morning, often in spite of the presence of banks” said Dr O’Brien.
To prevent casting he said the best solution is to fix a wooden batten or rubber anti-cast strip about one metre from the floor around the stable walls.
The horse’s feet will be able to get a grip on the strip, and it can then push itself away from the wall.
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“People will still use banks for cushioning effects but it’s important if you do use them the bedding in the banks is kept fresh so fungi don’t proliferate there,” he said.
The size of the bank is also important.
“The bank won’t stop a horse getting cast unless it is very big and wide, and most are neither,” Dr O’Brien said.
Do you agree, or do you build banks for other reasons? Email hhletters@ti-media.com for a chance to see your views in H&H magazine and win a bottle of Champagne Taittinger (please include your name and address; letters may be edited).
The 15-year-old stallion Don VHP Z NOP, the ride of world number three Harrie Smolders, is one of the world’s leading showjumpers. The hugely imposing 17.1hh liver chestnut, who was produced through his early years in Great Britain, has helped the Dutchman win individual silver at the 2017 European Championships as well as some of the most prestigious grands prix in the world. What makes him so good? We find out from those who know him best.
1. “I’ve never ridden a horse who jumps 1.60m fences so easily and, because he’s so scopey, it doesn’t cost him a lot of energy,” says rider Harrie Smolders.
2. “He showed that big scopey jump right from the word go,” says former owner/producer Shirley Light of the Brendon Stud, whose father Cyril bought “Paris” from Belgium as a two-year-old after seeing him loose jumping.
3. “Travelling in the lorry he just goes to sleep and doesn’t move. But when you open the ramp, he’s ready to go and you can’t get him off the truck quick enough otherwise he tries to get off before you do,” says Don’s groom Alex Tyler-Morris, who has looked after the stallion for the past five years. “There’s never a dull moment with Don around.”
4. “Don’s very trainable at home and a pleasure to ride. He’s very cool headed, too — he’s never impressed by a fence or anything new,” says Harrie, who will be aiming Don VHP Z at this year’s European Championships in Rotterdam.
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5. “He would make you smile every day in the yard with his hilarious sense of humour and I think he’s still as cheeky as he ever was,” says Shirley Light. “Louise [Pavitt, who rode him until he was sold as an eight-year-old] always said if it took three of us to tack him up, she knew she was going to win.”
Don’t miss the full feature in this week’s showjumping special issue of Horse & Hound, out today (Thursday 21 February 2019).
A rider who has faced serious mental health issues has opened up about the incredible way horses have helped her reclaim her life to help encourage others going through hard times not to give up.
Melissa Pinfield-Wells was bullied through school and diagnosed with being on the autistic spectrum aged 13.
She started self-harming as a teenager, at the age of 18 was admitted to a psychiatric unit after trying to take her own life, since which time she has spent years in and out of psychiatric wards.
Melissa said her life is now “hugely different” and horses have given her the confidence to do go out and do things.
“I didn’t think I would ever be able to find any joy out of life because I just felt so guilty that I felt the way I did and couldn’t see how anything could ever change,” she said.
“Working with horses helped give me a purpose and find my place in the world.”
Melissa is hoping her story will inspire others who are going through tough times to keep going.
“I was training as a biomedical scientist, doing a degree I loved, but I couldn’t cope with being employed,”she told H&H.
“I kind of resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to work and I would be off sick on benefits for the rest of my life.”
Having ridden since she was a child, Melissa said the equestrian world was the first place she felt she “fitted in and made friends”.
“While I was off sick I spent a lot of time with the horses — I’m pretty good with horses, not so much with people, but I can understand and communicate with them,” she explained.
Melissa started offering her services in riding and teaching as a hobby and her business has now grown over the past four years to become an established full-livery yard. She also does freelance teaching and riding alongside competing her own horses in affiliated dressage and is training in animal physiotherapy.
“I didn’t want to be off sick, I didn’t cope very well when I was — having the yard and having the horses keeps me going and competing my own horses gives me something to aim for and having that aim keeps me focused,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter how crap I feel and how bad everything is, I can always get on a horse and ride — that is something I know I can do.
“The autism has helped me with the horses, if I wasn’t on the spectrum I don’t think I would have the understanding I do — I see horses in a different way and that helps me look at where a problem is starting from. I find horses quite simple compared to people.”
Melissa thanked her family, two GPs and the DPJ Foundation — a charity that helps support people in rural areas with mental health conditions — for helping her to achieve what some had said was not possible.
Since starting working with horses, Melissa has become financially independent, kept her job and has had her first long period of time (about three years) out of hospital.
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She also credits her main horse, “Bernard”, for giving her the drive to carry on, adding that his quirky nature means few people want to handle him, so she knows she has to get up and look after him.
“He is absolutely fantastic, although he is really naughty — he bites and kicks and a lot of people can’t understand why I keep him, but he gave me a bit of a push and has always cheered me up,” she said.
“He is so sensitive to my feelings, if I am having a bit of a tough time he really keeps me on my toes like he is trying to remind me I have to stay strong! Yet if I am really struggling he is the most kind and loving animal, it’s like he knows I just need him to make my life a bit easier and he does. He always knows what he needs to do to put a smile on my face.”
Melissa gave Bernard his show name —Folie A Deux — where two people share the same delusion —as a nod to her troubles and to everything the pair of them have overcome together.
“I want other people to see that just because someone wrote you off doesn’t mean it is true. I can’t be the only person who others have told them ‘you are not going to be able to do it’,” she said.
“Find something you are passionate about and use it to your advantage. I can work with horses despite my issues — it doesn’t matter how bad of a day I’m having, if I have a horse in front of me it becomes a good day.
“If my story helps even one person, that is good enough for me.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday
Australian dressage rider Lyndal Oatley provides tips for nailing this advanced move
Based in Germany, Lyndal is one of Australia’s leading dressage riders. She was the highest-placed Australian competitor on the late Sandro Boy at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. She is married to fellow Olympian Patrik Kittel.
Training the stars
Sandro Boy was a gifted horse gymnastically. The half-pass became his strength with time, training and use of basic exercises. It became the movement people remember best about him.
Encouraging freedom and expression in a half-pass can transform it into a test highlight. Here are some exercises I use to improve the movement.
Tackling the issue
1. Riders often focus on the position of the shoulders and whether the hindlegs are trailing or leading, but suppleness through the ribcage is also instrumental in developing increased expression in a half-pass. An easy exercise to help this is to ride up the long side starting in shoulder-in, then switch to travers, back to shoulder-in, then back to travers. With each change in exercise, think about yielding your horse off the inside leg. It should feel as though you are shortening the distance between the horse’s hip and the shoulder around your inside leg.
2. Check how you are sitting in the saddle. Sometimes we inhibit expression by how we use our bodies. Make sure your body is turned slightly in the direction you are heading. Don’t use your hips to shunt your horse across. Instead, think about having your inside hip bone slightly lower than your outside one, and your outside hip slightly forward.
3. Flirt with power and collection. Simply encouraging the horse forward within the half-pass followed by a few steps of collection can make a world of difference. When your horse responds to your half-halt asking him to collect, reward him by allowing him to go forward again.
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Consider this…
Start your half-pass with a few steps of shoulder-fore.
Extra flexion doesn’t come from bending the horse more in the direction of the half-pass. Remember to keep a connection on the outside rein.
Increased expression comes from the inside shoulder’s ability to move freely. Be careful not to block with the inside rein by fixing it at the withers or by taking your hand across the neck. Aim for a soft, constant rein contact and position your hand slightly in off the withers.
Less is more. Don’t do half-pass after half-pass. Focus on these exercises instead.
Make learning a positive experience. Your horse’s happiness and soundness are paramount.
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My name is Claire Drey-Brown, and my world is literally run by horses as I’m a professional rider. Realistically though, my world is also run by my mental health. Bit of a bombshell, right?
What I have discovered throughout my life is that bottling everything up and pretending that I am fine gets me absolutely nowhere. I have severe anxiety and depression, and I am not ashamed. I have recently spoken online about about my struggles with mental health and how it affects my riding, and I was FLOODED with responses from fellow equestrians who had similar feelings.
From then on I decided that I will speak out about mental health whenever I can, in order to reassure readers that they are not alone, and hopefully help a few people along the way too.
Everyone always jokes about the ‘horse world’ and the ‘real world’ being very separate and different. Luckily for those in the ‘real world’, mental health is being talked about more and more each day. More people are beginning to recognise mental illnesses and treat them in a similar way to a physical illness. More people are ‘coming out’ with their illnesses, and more people are being accepted for these ‘flaws’. More people are seeking help and support and, as a result, more people are getting better.
However, in the ‘horsey’ world, we are running a little behind. We have a stereotype to uphold, you see. Riders must be cool, calm and collected. We must be brave, tough and gutsy. We must NEVER let our emotions show at a competition, or let them come out during a ride. God forbid we might share our ‘weak’ feelings, or we run the risk of looking unprofessional and potential sponsors and owners may be scared off. You may lose followers, people may talk and so on…
The horse world needs to change. We need to be more open and supportive of each other.
To the dressage rider who has a panic attack in their lorry before entering the ring — you are not alone.
To the eventer who has trouble remembering courses and dressage tests because their head is racing and overwhelmed — you are not alone.
To the showjumper who always has a pole down because they are anxious performing in front of crowds — you are not alone.
To the happy hacker who only sticks to the fields because they feel they don’t ‘belong’ schooling in an arena — you are not alone.
To the junior rider who worries about results, mainly because they will have to update their social media afterwards and share said results — you are not alone.
To the older rider who is considering giving up because they compare themselves unfavourably to younger talent — you are not alone.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Credit: EquusPhoto
When people start to talk about their problems and mental health, something amazing happens; people start to listen. People start to support each other and realise that they are not alone in their problems. I fear that the culture of the ‘horsey world’ encourages riders to suppress their emotions.
This is what I did, to cope with the pressures of our world…
I’d take a deep breath and push the feelings deeper inside me. I’d appear to be cool, calm, collected and professional. No one could tell that inside I was a total mess. I didn’t just have a few pretty little butterflies, I had a hoard of ugly flapping moths whirling around in my stomach. I tried to trick my horse that I was as calm as everyone else believes, which of course rarely works. But to anyone watching, I looked professional and relaxed for the entirety of the day. It’s all about appearances, right?
I’d get an average dressage mark, but it would be a nice, smart test. Just lacking some flashiness and ‘wow factor’. No one would know that I couldn’t produce flashiness because I was terrified of forgetting the test and my whole body was tensed up, meaning I couldn’t ride effectively.
My horse and I would produce an attractive showjumping round, but we’d roll a pole. Later to be described by myself on social media as ‘four faultitis’. No one would know that I was overthinking my riding, and took one too many pulls on the approach to the fence next to the crowd of people, convinced that they’d be judging my riding and ripping it apart; as I was.
I’d run through the motions in the cross-country warm-up — jump a few fences, and then a couple on an angle. I’d calmy walk into the start box, give my horse a scratch on the neck, and set off. Any spectators would think it was sweet that I reassured my horse in this way, but actually it was more for myself. I would smile politely to all I came across and joke with the starter. No one would know that I couldn’t ride as well as I know I can, because I was having an anxiety attack. No one would know that, despite the smart composure, I was a total mess inside.
Not only did I hide my emotions from others, I was in denial for so long that I went numb emotionally. I didn’t feel the bad emotions, but I also didn’t really feel the full extent of the good, and eventually, I lost my love for my sport.
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It is only recently, after painfully addressing my suppressed feelings that I am able to begin to truly ride cooly, calmly, and collectedly. It is also only now that I am able to enjoy my sport, and truly love it again.
I was so obsessed with how I would look to others, what they may think, and what I would have to write on social media, that I ‘choked’. I began to be honest on social media, and share how I felt, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who felt exactly the same as I did. I realised that it was okay to feel everything I had been feeling. So I stopped trying to hide it so much. No one made fun of me for it, or thought I was being unprofessional. What people did do, was support me, and help me to fulfil my potential. I learnt a valuable lesson.
Anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses are so common. It could be anyone. The trouble is, nobody wants to talk about it, and that makes everything worse, for everyone. Mental Health is NOT a personal failure, there is no shame in admitting that you are not okay. Never be ashamed of your own story, it could inspire others and help them with theirs.
The only thing more exhausting than having a mental illness, is pretending that you don’t.
Claire
For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday.
Well hello there folks — it’s so lovely to have you following my brand new blog.
I’m Clare, an almost 40-year-old professional producer and re-trainer of former racehorses based in Gloucestershire, UK. I’m super-excited to be working with Horse & Hound and am looking forward to sharing my equestrian life, showing preparation and season, along with my love for all things horsey with you.
I love to learn what makes a thoroughbred tick and will be sharing with you in this blog everything from starting out with your new former racehorse, clinic outings, training ideas, troubleshooting, super grooming tips, what’s trending, my must-have products as well as a very honest insight into my life with these awesome horses — the highs, lows and everything in-between!
I have ridden for as long as I can remember. My first pony was an incredibly naughty bay Shetland called Gemma. I definitely spent more time on the floor than on board! However, all the best riders fall off and she taught me to live by my favourite quote “What if I fall? Oh my darling, but what if you fly?”
An active member of the Ledbury Pony Club, I spent most of my teenage years on an awesome eventing pony, Mr Max, who taught me so much. When I outgrew ponies, my first horse was an ex-racer called Marco. The rest is history, as they say.
Buckingham Boys really solidified my love of ex-racehorses with his honest, willing and lovely temperament. His presence in the show arena turned many a judge’s head on his way to the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) seven times (including SEIB racehorse to riding horse, ladies hunter, ladies show horse and lightweight hunter). I’m pictured top with Word of Warning, Jack the Giant and Definightly.
Buckingham Boys Credit: Jo Sutherst Photography
Former racehorses are my passion. Nothing beats the journey from that raw, fresh off-the-track project. Through the hours of hard work, sweat, tears and patience, come results from the first time in the show ring to the goosebumps walking through the purple curtains at HOYS. I have been lucky enough to have made the walk through those purple curtains on eight different occasions with ex-racehorses.
Each racehorse requires some downtime when they first arrive. It is essential that they have the opportunity to ‘be a horse’ and learn to relax in a different environment. I then start their retraining with relaxed hacking and light schooling. The next step is to take on the dressage arena with a low-key unaffiliated competition.
Nabatean Credit: Jo Sutherst Photography
In January, Nabatean, a seven-year-old ex-Flat horse, went to his first public outing. Since he arrived with me, I have been working hard on his groundwork and in the school to improve his frame and his muscle. At first, he was quite lean, and so had to learn to use himself differently to how he would have as a racehorse. His muscle has now built up and he has changed shape.
All the hard work is paying off as he loaded beautifully and went onto to compete in two tests — an intro and a prelim. As an ex-racer, he has had to learn to work with other horses in an arena, so the numbers warming up provided him with a new experience. To ex-racers, the concept of other horses in an arena, moving in different directions instead of one, is an alien one. His biggest challenge of the day… hairy cobs — Nabatean has never seen legs with hair! He did not know what to do with himself, and his eyes were fixated on the legs. A minor meltdown later and Nabatean met the cob, but still he could not take his eyes off that hair. Despite several nervy moments, he went onto score 66% in his prelim test to finish third behind two lovely young eventers. There is a lot to look forward to in this boy’s future.
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None of this would be possible with the support of my family. My amazing husband, Colin, is not from a horsey background, but his belief in my journey and his encouragement make him my biggest supporter. He has even mastered turning a blind eye to the washing machine being constantly full of hairy, smelly horse laundry!
Pippa the lorry dog Credit: Jo Sutherst Photography
The rest of my support team are my three lovely children — Amy (13), Poppy (12) and Arthur (nine). Along with Pippa the lorry dog, they love the road trips up and down the country on the show circuit.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoy my musings. I look forward to sharing just how #thorough[bred]lyversatile life can be with a former racehorse.
Clare
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