Innholdsfortegnelse for 04-Jan-2018 i Horse & Hound

BRITISH streets, marketplaces and country landmarks were lined by cheering supporters on Boxing Day as hundreds of thousands of people showed up to support their local hunts. An estimated 6,000 people turned out to back the Heythrop in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, while “several thousand” showed their support for the Duke of Beaufort’s in Gloucestershire. The Ludlow welcomed thousands to Ludlow Castle, Herefordshire. Joint-master Oliver Dale said: “Days like today — when thousands of people came out to show their support — demonstrate the importance of our hunting activities to the rural community.” Warwickshire hunt chairman Sam Butler said the Boxing Day crowd size increases every year, adding: “It’s magnificent that so many well-wishers make such a huge effort to get here to show their support.” Countryside Alliance head of hunting…

THE prime minister is expected to scrap plans to give MPs a chance to repeal the hunting ban. A free vote on the 2004 Hunting Act was among the pre-election promises in the Conservative Party’s manifesto. Downing Street has reportedly claimed rumours that Theresa May will not keep the promise are “pure speculation”, but reiterated the government position: no vote that could change current fox hunting policy is scheduled for this session of Parliament, which runs until 2019. Hunting was missing from The Queen’s speech, which — among other issues — outlines laws the government hopes will be approved over the coming year. In a message to members on Boxing Day, Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bonner said the idea this activity should have become a national political issue is…

ANNE SOPWITH A TIRELESS supporter of the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA), Mrs Sopwith died peacefully at home on 29 September 2017 aged 88. Anne became involved with the RDA when her six children were at boarding school, which led to the Dyffryn Ceiriog group’s being formed in 1973. The popularity of the group grew and she fundraised tirelessly to buy premises at Llanfynydd, which were developed into the Clwyd Special Riding Centre and opened by Princess Anne in 1984. Her commitment resulted in the centre’s growing to include holiday accommodation and an all-weather carriage driving track. It is now recognised as an RDA “centre of excellence”. RDA chief executive Ed Bracher wrote to Mrs Sopwith’s family after her death to say how “hugely Anne was loved and respected…

FATHER CHRISTMAS Pity the big man, who turned up at Lingfield to spread festive cheer — and became the subject of an inquiry. FC and his elves, on a horse and two ponies, paraded on the racecourse just before the big day to the crowd’s delight. But “biosecurity is always an issue”, harrumphed the British Horseracing Authority. Bah, humbug. DIVORCE Apparently up to one in 15 break-ups of “better-off” married couples now features a dispute over who keeps the horse. Or maybe who doesn’t, in the case of some escape artists, mainly Shetlands, who we’ve known… SABS Boxing Day wasn’t a great one for the sabs, was it? Hundreds of thousands turned out to support hunts, at least one “Landy” got stuck in a ditch — again — and then…

THE Christmas Eve headline in The Sunday Times “May ditches hunting” was a bit of a storm in a teacup, despite being picked up by other papers at a time when there was little other major news. To date, no official announcement has been made as to whether the Conservatives are going to abandon their manifesto commitment to hold a free vote on hunting. Does it matter if they do? Technically, no. We have always known that there is no point pushing for a repeal vote unless the numbers of MPs who we can be sure would vote for it would clearly stack up in our favour. At the moment, they don’t. The Tories should, however, tread carefully. There are a lot of rural voters who sway towards the Conservative…

NEW FOR YOUR DIARY •Dressage WE foresee a flurry of new freestyles as riders go all-out to reach the new summer music championships, in which a winner will be crowned at every level up to prix st georges. The ever-expanding British Dressage calendar will also boast a bronze championship, with qualification from prelim to advanced medium. Dates and venues to be announced. •Eventing EVENTERS in the north will be all smiles, with Hopetoun returning at grass roots level and Scottish Championships at BE90, BE100, novice, intermediate and open taking place at Blair Castle. A new venue, Frenchfield Park, near Penrith, will also be up and running. “Expect sandy soil and an open, undulating course, dotted with Cumbrian stone walls,” says organiser Douglas Weymouth. “Riders can test their horses’ fitness on…

DRESSAGE PARA star Sophie Christiansen has nicknamed her new ride Amazing Romance after Prince Harry (“being ginger”, she explains). Just like his royal counterpart, the 17hh chestnut is set to be big news this year. “He’s only eight but he’s sensible and has a phenomenal walk,” says Sophie of Harry. “It’s early days, but I’m aiming him for the World Equestrian Games [WEG] and Tokyo.” Another one to watch is Hawtins Delicato, who will debut at grand prix in early 2018 and is earmarked as Carl Hester’s WEG and Tokyo ride. Charlotte Dujardin has guided the Diamond Hit eight-year-old though his career so far, claiming the inter II title at the nationals and a fistful of small tour victories. EVENTING WE’RE with Mark Todd as he likens his hot new…

WE all know practice makes perfect so ensure you have done your homework and are well prepared for the competition. “Be inventive at home and make your own courses to practise over,” says Ibby Macpherson. “Include barrels and skinnies and vary your lines. If there’s a puddle in your school then put a jump at the side to practice jumping into water — get creative.” Sarah Bullimore agrees: “At home practise jumping angled fences, skinnies, corners and ditches. Make your own coffin or ditch using poles on the floor, rectangular blocks or a water tray. Try lots of different combinations so you can jump these things confidently and without question at home and then you won’t be fazed at the event.” While your horse isn’t going to be at peak…

“AND when we see it waving there against the wintry sky, we know the leading hounds are right, and soon a fox will die.” The Perfect Hat is a Will Ogilvie poem immortalised by Lionel Edwards in his brilliant painting of a huntsman taking his hounds to a horseman with his hat held high. It is this old-fashioned language of hunting that stirs the blood and makes my British heart sing. The new, sanitised but sadly necessary version that revolves around the phrase “trail-hunting” is an abomination to all those who reminisce about past glories. It was great stories of the chase that first captured my imagination, starting with the author “BB” — Rugby School art teacher Denys Watkins-Pitchford — who, it is said, “wrote like a painter, with an…

& CHRISTIANSEN H TAKES TO THREE WHEELS PARA gold medallist Sophie Christiansen (above) swapped a horse for a trike last month, taking part in the Superhero Series Winter Wonderwheels event. She completed two 5km races, one as an individual and the second as part of a team of three. Other Paralympians taking part included Jonnie Peacock and David Weir. “There are so few all-inclusive sporting events out there, I jumped at the chance of becoming an ambassador to encourage more people to get active,” said Sophie. JUDGES CONVENTION CONFIRMED FIVE-star judge Stephen Clarke and renowned trainer Ferdi Eilberg will present the 2018 British Dressage National Judges Convention. The pair, who delivered sell-out conventions in 2009 and 2016, will share their extensive expertise on judging principles. The convention takes place on…

OPINION I HAVE had support across the board in response to my previous piece in H&H regarding the lack of a team at the European Championships. I was critical of performance manager Di Lampard, but the powers-that-be have decided she is the right person for the job. She has confirmed Great Britain will be sending a team to WEG, so it’s now up to owners and riders to support her. But it does lead me to ask, what is British Showjumping (BS) for? The bottom end of the sport is well looked after, but they appear to have no idea how much damage has been done to the top end — largely since the combined rankings list was ditched in favour of purely international results, making national shows pretty much irrelevant…

BOXING Day is all about Kempton and the King George VI was a good race this year, as Might Bite was very impressive. It was disappointing for Nigel Twiston-Davies that Bristol De Mai didn’t run well, finishing sixth of seven, especially after his 57-length victory in the Betfair Chase. He also lost his chance for the £1m bonus for the Triple Crown (the Betfair Chase, King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup). However, the Twiston-Davies-trained Imperial Commander ran badly in the King George twice; after the first he landed the Ryanair at Cheltenham in 2009, and after the second he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2010 — so I wouldn’t write Bristol De Mai off yet. Might Bite looked the real deal though — he travelled and jumped really well.…

FOR stallions at Shade Oak Stud, Christmas was a Grade One cracker. As a warm-up, Sam Spinner — sired by one of the Shropshire nursery’s senior residents, Black Sam Bellamy — won the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. Then three days later, on Boxing Day, Might Bite, a son of more recent recruit Scorpion (pictured), took the festive season’s top prize, the King George VI Chase at Kempton. Might Bite was bred in Ireland, where Scorpion stood until he moved to Shade Oak for the 2017 season. The stallion was a top-class runner from a mile and a half upwards for the Coolmore partners — he won the Grand Prix de Paris and the St Leger at three and the Coronation Cup at five — and retired straight into their…

AS the turkey becomes an increasingly distant memory and we prepare to take our decorations down, I can't help feeling extremely grateful that Christmas comes but once a year. The children, Alec and Mary, are loving the Father Christmas years (definitely the best phase) but for us, the party years of our 20s are well and truly over (I do not miss those Christmas Day hangovers) and we are 10 years into phase three, the parent years — which means that the season is a mad period of activity that doesn’t cease until mid-January. You need serious stamina to get through it all and if you add horses, ponies and hunting into the mixture, you need to be seriously organised too. I definitely don’t help myself and Christmas Eve was…

 VALETS are basically the backroom boys. We carry all the jockeys’ kit to the various race meetings every day, so that when they arrive, their breeches, boots, saddle and silks are all in the right place. People are often surprised to hear that most jockeys wear tights under their breeches! At the end of the day, when it’s all covered in mud, we make sure we get it to the correct race meeting the next day. We get to the racecourse around four hours before the first race, and a typical day can be 12 to 14 hours long. But I’m used to it — it’s a way of life. ‘There can be huge downs when jockeys get injured — there have been some horrible falls in the past couple…

‘The beauty of this exercise is that it can be tackled in a variety of ways and it ticks so many boxes’ AIM MY trainer and partner Jeremy Scott introduced me to the two-circle pole exercise and I’ve used it on a variety of horses with impressive results. It is intended to be ridden in canter, but if the horse struggles, start off in walk or trot. The beauty of the exercise is that it can be tackled in a variety of ways and it ticks so many boxes, improving the horse’s balance, athleticism and adjustability. It is great for dressage, it helps to develop a showjumping canter and it teaches the horse to be able to adjust for the cross-country, where you need plenty of gears. It also challenges…

Nelson Bacon WARWICKSHIRE whipper-in Nelson Bacon, 22, is “totally dedicated to the job, a hard worker, loyal and a good horseman,” according to senior master Charmian Green. “He is good with hounds and polite to everyone, and has achieved a good knowledge of hunting in a short space of time.” Shaun Carter SHAUN, 25, has hunted with the East Devon since he was just old enough to stand up in the back of a pick-up and holloa on the hounds. He lives and breathes hunting, and bravely took on the East Devon mastership singlehandedly in 2015. Described as a “huge character with great energy”, Shaun also farms pigs, sheep and cattle and runs his own gardening business. Luke Chatfield LUKE Chatfield, 24, is in his second season hunting the Staff…

The Welsh section D/Andalucian mare Ruby De La Cruz turned in a double prelim win with plus-70% scores under Amber Young. Amber has been riding Carmen Campbell’s seven-year-old mare for two years, though this was only their second affi liated competition. “We train with Rob Waine, who held an unaffiliated dressage series in the summer that really set us up for affiliated competition,” said Amber. “We’re both new to BD but Ruby has been brilliant. She can be a bit of a diva and pre-empt my next move, but she’s won every time out. “Carmen bought her in pretty poor condition from a traveller in 2013. She practically begged him to sell her and she has turned into a lovely horse.” Another rider enjoying the ride on someone else’s horse…

OLYMPIC team silver medallist Fiona Bigwood has an exciting new ride in the shape of last year’s Finnish grand prix champion, Pin Rock’s Foxfire Blitz. The nine-year-old Finnish warmblood (Fernet x Caritas) moved to the UK in December, having been victorious with Finnish international rider Stella Hagelstam at the 2017 Finnish championships in June. The pair scored 67.74% at grand prix and 72.09% in the grand prix freestyle. Fiona hopes to begin Foxy’s international career in April or May this year, after doing some national grands prix. “I really want to get back on the British team and one of my Finnish friends saw my Facebook post about finding a grand prix horse, and got in contact,” explained Fiona. “I saw a short video of Foxy and decided that he…

‘He’s almost in Sprinter Sacre’s league for looks and sex appeal; you can’t help but love him’ NICKY HENDERSON ON MIGHT BITE The 32Red Winter Festival, Kempton Park, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey MIGHT BITE may not have been the most straightforward horse in the past, but he was on his best behaviour on Boxing Day when he began the process of fulfilling his huge potential by winning the 32Red King George VI Chase. It was a race his trainer Nicky Henderson had targeted for 12 months, since the gelding’s fall in the 2016 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase when leading at the last. There were no dramas this time and, although he only beat 50-1 shot Double Shuffle by a length, he appeared to be dossing most of the way up the…

JANE bought her first horse five years ago, aged 68, mostly to annoy her children, who think she ought to be babysitting their children at the weekends, not messing around doing something expensive and dangerous. “At your age, Mother, I do think it is rather selfish of you. I thought you could take Fred to his football match every Sunday,” grumbles Jane’s son. “It would have given me a bit of ‘me time’.” Jane feels she does quite enough for her family and bravely said so. She and her friend Janice do fun-rides nearly every Sunday, travelling miles for the best ones. The Burghley, Badminton and Blenheim fun-rides are highlights of the year and they always buy a picture from the official photographer. Jane and Janice own jolly sensible, hairy…

DON VHP Z The showjumper has been voted horse of the year by Landbouwleven readers in Belgium. The Diamant De Semilly stallion, who was produced by the West Sussex-based Brendon Stud, took individual silver at the European Championships in Gothenberg with Dutch rider Harrie Smolders in August. NICHOLS CANYON The eight-time Grade One winner has been put down as a result of injuries sustained in a fall in the Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown on 28 December. The seven-year-old was trained by Willie Mullins and owned by Andrea and Graham Wylie. SIMON The top showjumper ridden by the US’s Beezie Madden has been retired aged 18. Owned by Abigail Wexner, Simon took part in three World Cup finals, including winning in Gothenburg in 2013. Simon has been retired at the Maddens’…

Jockey Bryony Frost has won her first Grade One race. She and Black Corton won the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase. She is the second female in Britain and Ireland to win a Grade One over fences. Swedish showjumper Charlotte Mordasini has married her Irish partner Mark McAuley. The couple tied the knot on 21 December and are expecting their first child in 2018. Eventer Boyd Martin has been named United States Eventing Association’s rider of the year. “Many thanks to the owners of the horses that have helped achieve this success” he said. Canadian showjumper Tiffany Foster has set up a training and sales business, with bases in Florida and Belgium. Tiffany “really enjoys teaching” and will continue to compete. Four-star US event rider Doug Payne and his wife and…

EBAY BANS DONKEY SKIN 'MEDICINE' ONLINE auction site eBay is to ban sales of a “medicine” made from donkey skins. The Donkey Sanctuary successfully lobbied the website to stop selling traditional Chinese medicine eijao, which contains a substance from donkey hide. The charity’s CEO, Mike Baker, wrote to eBay on 8 December to highlight the “animal welfare disaster” caused by the eijao trade (news, 7 December). The website responded to say it would stop sales. Mr Baker said: “We’re incredibly grateful to eBay.” The Donkey Sanctuary said it is “optimistic that other online retailing giants will follow the commendable lead that eBay has taken”. FINALISTS NAMED FOR TRAINER AWARD EIGHT finalists have been named in the first National Trainers’ Federation (NTF) team champion award. The judges said they were very…

WAKING UP While parents everywhere bemoaned the fact their little darlings were up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, Harry Meade was different. It was he who was woken by the excitement of filled stockings, while his children were still “pushing up Zzzs”. “Time to start banging around the landing,” he announced on social media. BEING ON HOLD One is reliably informed that Horse Sport Ireland has “the most relaxing hold music ever”. Good job, really, for the H&H staffer who had to listen to a great deal of it… TUCKING IN A snapper covering the Coakham Bloodhounds’ Boxing Day meet was amused to spot a blue plaque declaring the building concerned was the birthplace of the banoffee pie. One for the fact fans, although one assumes the…

Sir — I found a wry smile creeping onto my face as I read your interview with Ros Morgan (21 December). To think that professional riders have to vie for the practice fence at top-level competitions seems an atrocious notion considering health and safety nowadays! However it did ring a bell as our local riding club committee — having witnessed one too many near misses and some downright bullying in warm-up areas — has scheduled a warm-up clinic in the New Year to educate riders on warming up in a shared space. This will include dressage and jumping warm-up plans and rules. It aims to help riders work in their horses confidently and safely without compromising their plans. Whether it will prevent riders from walking on the outside track remains…

IT is likely that the big recurring stories of 2018 will be similar to those of 2017 — and those of previous years. Improving horse and rider safety in eventing is of paramount importance to all involved in the sport and is sure to remain at the forefront of news in the equestrian world, particularly with recent calls for the FEI to make frangible technology mandatory on all suitable fences. On a similar theme, the various campaigns for rider road safety have been gathering momentum and show no sign of abating. With MPs’ and police forces’ awareness increasing, and social media as a powerful tool to help riders’ voices to be heard, road safety will continue to hit the headlines. Rider weight will continue to be a controversial topic, but…

EQUINE welfare is set to remain in the headlines as we head into 2018, and quite rightly so. Perhaps the question that needs to be asked this year is: “Who is responsible?” The obvious answer is that we all are, every day. Our horses’ welfare should be instinctive and we should be ever vigilant. As I work hard on my riding, asking more from myself and my horses in terms of suppleness and activity — and instilling the same in the training of other riders, their horses and trainers — my mind is on anything but welfare as I puff away. Instead of a conscious thing, it should be a common thread in the background. One of my students made me pause for thought the other day. Asked why he…

Summerhouse Equestrian, Glos ADAM Botham cherry-picked the best of the spoils from this show, claiming the feature Blue Chip qualifier as well as both the richest and the biggest classes of the schedule. Taking the opening day’s 1.30m open with Leonne George’s Katinka II, he went on to add the £300-to-the-winner Christmas cracker 1.20m final aboard Flipper Nouvelle. He rounded off an impressive debut at this venue by also claiming the 1.25m Blue Chip DDS Demolition Winter Championship Qualifier on his top ride Dakota. The nine-year-old mare, who is co-owned by Adam’s mother-in-law Marcine Marshall, was having “a little trip round” this qualifier track after missing out on Keysoe because of a mild colic. She made light work of the jump-off, using her ample scope to be the sole contender…