Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Jan-2019 i Horse & Hound

THE blatancy with which you see a few equestrian employers advertise for staff, with set hours but under the instruction that they are self-employed, suggests that they lack knowledge rather than intend to break employment laws. Either that or they have an incredible disregard for or arrogance about the legal side of business. The most recent survey (news, p6) on this subject verifies what many in the industry already know or suspect — too many grooms in particular are being employed illegally. Any groom who is employed into a permanent role and told which hours they work, but isn’t given employee’s rights because they are informed they are “self-employed” — and yet are not set up as such — will eventually be caught up with by HMRC. As will their…

FEEDING steamed hay reduces the odds of horses developing inflammatory airway disease (IAD) by almost two-thirds, a study has found. Research by Dauvillier et al, commissioned by Haygain and published in The Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, was carried out over three years, involving more than 700 horses. It found horses with fungal elements in their airways were more than twice as likely to have IAD than those with no fungi present. Horses fed dry hay had 2.6 times more chance of having fungi presence, and 2.7 times more chance of being diagnosed with IAD, than those fed with steamed hay, the study found, while soaking hay did not influence the presence of fungi. Several studies have found that up to 80% of horses have IAD, which can have an…

ACTION TAKEN ON EQUINE OBESITY THE British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) is working on helping vets and owners tackle equine obesity collectively. H&H reported (news, 10 January) that leading figures in the veterinary world are urging owners to make the most of winter to kick-start equine weight loss, which can cause fatal health conditions, and the issue has been picked up by national media. BEVA is encouraging owners to monitor horses as prevention of weight gain is better than cure. A spokesman added: “BEVA is currently developing information and tools to help vets work with owners as a team to tackle equine obesity.” FINN’S LAW IS A STEP CLOSER A BILL to amend the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in relation to service animals has passed the committee stage in parliament.…

Irish eventer Jonty Evans is back in the saddle of Cooley Rorkes Drift (Art). Jonty, who was in a coma for six weeks following a cross-country fall in June, said it’s “where I’m meant to be”. Dressage rider Laura Tomlinson and her husband, international polo player Mark Tomlinson, welcomed their third child on 15 January. Hanni Rose Tomlinson is a little sister to Annalisa and Wilfred. Children’s author Hannah Russell has been named as a youth ambassador for Brooke. Hannah, who supported Brooke in 2018, will focus on engaging young people between the ages of eight and 25. Dressage rider Michael Eilberg has undergone surgery on his hip. Michael said his New Year’s resolution is to be “dedicated” to his rehab work so he is able to return to the…

SPARE PARTS The gelding has retired aged five, after sustaining a tendon injury. Trained by Phil McEntee, he won seven times in three months last season and was All-Weather Championships’ joint most-winning horse. MIDNIGHT CHASE Neil Mulholland’s former stable star has died, aged 17. The Cheltenham specialist’s career spanned seven seasons. He retired in 2013 and excelled in eventing, hunter trials, showing and as a field master’s horse. GLOCK’S JOHNSON Hans Peter Minderhoud’s medal-winning ride will retire at the KWPN Stallion Show. The stallion’s achievements include European individual bronze and team gold, world team bronze and a top-10 finish at the 2016 Olympics.…

FILMS One got very excited by the news of a forthcoming film called The Mule. Would it be about Wallace the Great’s rise to glory? Napoleon the mini hunting mule soaring over banks and gates? Sadly, neither, it’s about drug-smuggling. Opportunity missed, Hollywood. DISCRIMINATION Overheard at a show, a male onlooker, the husband of a competitor, asking a rider on an Irish Draught: “You’re not entering that, are you?” Um, yes. And, as later shown, to a higher place than your wife. You were saying? PHONES Feel for the rider who was struggling to get her phone to charge, and took it, after many muttered oaths, to an expert for help. It was entirely possible the approximately half-bale of straw removed from the charging port may have had something to…

FOLLOW MY LEADER WE know that horses learn from one another and that youngsters learn from older herdmates. Two experiments in Denmark have revealed how rapidly such learning can be passed on. In the first, 32 halter-broken warmblood fillies that did not know each other were divided into eight groups of four and turned out. By observing their behaviour, the most socially dominant filly in each group was identified. All the groups were trained to come once a day into an arena, where four feed buckets were arranged in a semicircle where a person stood motionless holding a closed umbrella. The leaders were then taken out separately and half were exposed to a new stimulus: while feeding by themselves, the person opened and flapped the umbrella. This spooked the fillies…

SIMON CHARLESWORTH SIMON began his showing career as a child. His first win at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) was the coloured championship with Merrigan in 2003. In 2012, aged 29, Simon won the horse supreme at HOYS with Pearly King, becoming the youngest adult rider to earn the top title in the supreme’s 33-year history. TRAINING THE STARS Merrigan was initially terribly lazy, but genuine. Using these exercises, he learnt to give a very light and responsive ride. Military Crisis was another lazy horse. He didn’t want to go forward and was miserable. He’d become bored by going to too many shows as a young horse. We worked through it and he came right in the end. However, if there’s a change in your horse’s behaviour, there’s usually…

South Tetcott, Hessacott Farm, Cornwall RECENTLY, Simon Kerslake, joint-master of the South Tetcott, stopped off at a lay-by for a bacon roll. He noticed a couple of men in tweed sitting on a bench drinking coffee. After paying, he went and joined them. There were no formal introductions; conversation just flowed. They chatted about what they were all doing that day. Simon was off to a meeting; they were going shooting. Names and places were mentioned and common ground found. When they left, a lady asked Simon if he knew the gentlemen. Obviously he didn’t. It transpired she was down in the West Country on holiday and could not believe it was possible for strangers to strike up conversation like that. It certainly wouldn’t happen on a train platform or…

Solihull, W Mids | Stourport, Worcs Riding her nine-year-old Uphill mare, Delight, Emily landed the grade V novice A test with 72.18%, followed by the team test with 66.28%. She has owned Delight for a year. “We got her from the Netherlands through Rebecca Hughes,” said Emily, who was born with a genetic condition called Ehler-Danlos syndrome, which affects connective tissue and joints. “I tried Delight when I was 16-weeks pregnant, so we have only been out competing during the last few months. But she is the sweetest horse.” Emily and Delight have also qualified for the elementary regionals and are hoping to qualify for medium next time around. “At home, we’re training at advanced medium,” added Emily, who trains with John Chubb and runs her own pet care business.…

THERE is only one thing more divisive than Brexit in the dressage community and that is Dry January. Friendships have been threatened as riders fall into two camps: the “give ups” and the “still drinking”. It’s great to see all the support, though — or in my case, to watch others support each other. The new year is always a time of change and there are many new proposals in the world of international dressage. The Olympic format will see considerable differences from 2016 and while the details are still to be confirmed, it seems that the team will be three riders with no drop score. The grand prix will be ridden as the qualifier, and the special as the team final. There are also new proposals for judging, which…

OWNER: Sarah Oppenheimer, Headmore Stud BREEDER: Bianca Holsten-Burfeind THE mare was the recipient of the 2019 H&H “outstanding mare” award, which goes to a mare judged to have made a valuable contribution to British breeding. “Ruby”, who died last year, aged 22, was a foundation mare for Sarah Oppenheimer’s Hampshire-based Headmore Stud. Ruby, awarded Elite status from the Hanoverian Verband, was by the grand prix dressage stallion Rubinstein I. He was a son of Rosenkavalier and out of Antine, a full sister to the Olympic horses Amon and Ahlerich. Rubinstein sired more than 90 approved sons — Rotspon, Regazzoni and Relevant probably the best known. Ruby came from the Half Moon Stud, who acquired her as a foal from agent Christian Heinrich. She was bred by Bianca Holsten-Burfeind,…

THE first premier shows of the new season are always awkward to build for as there are no previous results to go on. Being early, we need to cater for new ponies and riders, as well as more established combinations. The responsibility of a course-designer is to set good tracks that are up to height to obtain the correct result, particularly in qualifiers or second rounds, but the courses should not disillusion pony or rider for the rest of the season. It is always more constructive to set lines that make riders think, rather than overface them. BUILDING CONFIDENCE THE first track of the show here for newcomers ponies included a technical line, but it proved too much for some ponies in the winter JA classic. I was disappointed to…

TOPPING THE TABLES IN front of his home crowd at the CSI5*-W in Leipzig, Germany, Christian Ahlmann won his second World Cup qualifier of the season, this time riding the grey stallion Caribis Z. The pair were drawn last in a seven-horse jump-off and this victory puts the German rider, ranked 17 in the world, top of the Western European League table. “Caribis has always been a bit in the shadow of Taloubet and Codex, but he’s taken a huge step forward over the past season and he’s ready for big things now,” said Christian of the 12-year-old. “He’s a very sporty horse!” DOING THE DOUBLE SHANE CAREY completed a winning double of grands prix in Poland this week with the Maria Gretzer-owned mare Fecybelle. This time around, the pair…

EXPERTS have given the latest on what is happening to prepare the equestrian world for life after Brexit — deal or no deal. Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal was rejected by MPs on 15 January. This means the country does not yet have a deal with the EU on what will happen when Britain leaves on 29 March. Mrs May will present a new deal on 29 January, which will be debated and voted on by MPs. David Mountford, chief executive of the British Equine Veterinary Association, told H&H the government is working with the industry to ensure veterinary medicines are still available in the event of a no-deal Brexit. “Civil servants seem to be doing their best to ensure the sky doesn’t immediately fall in under a no-deal scenario,”…

ALTIOR The racing legend secured his 17th consecutive victory in the Grade One Clarence House Chase at Ascot on 19 January. Trained by Nicky Henderson, the nine-year-old gelding was piloted to victory by Nico de Boinville. WAULKMILL REDSTART Alison Bromwich’s prolific Shetland has died aged 15. Produced by Julie Barton for most of his career, the chestnut gelding was a multiple Horse of the Year Show, Royal International and Olympia finalist. ROMULUS The former police horse has died aged 19. The part-bred Shire served with Thames Valley Police for eight years, in riots, the London Olympics and providing security to The Queen. He retired to the Horse Trust aged 12.…

THE British Equestrian Federation (BEF) has been given £1.4m by Sport England to help maintain and build participant numbers. As the BEF is now compliant with the Code for Sports Governance (news, 10 January) Sport England has released the money, for which the BEF had previously bid. It will be spent on a range of projects involving member bodies, aimed at keeping active people within the sport and enabling those to participate who might otherwise not have done so. BEF head of participation Anna Hall told H&H the projects include one with the Pony Club, which will work with schools to give children access to horses. “Potentially there’s a range of options: people from riding centres going in to give talks, giving the children an opportunity to ride, maybe even…

SYNDICATE: joint owners of a horse — each member owns a share, and costs and prize money are generally shared within the syndicate. CLUB: these vary in exactly how they work, from support clubs which offer exclusive benefits for a membership fee, to others where the “club” owns a horse — or horses — and people can pay set fees to become members, but individuals have no ownership rights. CROWDFUNDING: raising money from a large number of individuals to finance something, in these cases, a horse.…

THREE special testimonial meets have been arranged for Quorn huntsman Peter Collins, who retires at the end of this season. There is one meet in each part of the Quorn country: Monday, 28 January, Friday, 1 February and Tuesday, 5 March. Visitors to the testimonial meets will pay a standard cap, and are invited to make a donation, both of which will go to Peter’s testimonial fund. “We would be very pleased to see friends old and new out with the Quorn on any day between now and the end of the season to celebrate Peter’s great hunting career,” said hunt chairman William Bevin. Contact the hon secretary Frank Herrick for meet details and to book by emailing secretary.qh@qh-mail.co.uk or call 0116 2595 530. Contributions to Peter’s testimonial fund can…

Sir — In response to social media discussions on the difficulty in recruiting and retaining racing staff, the industry appears reluctant to make changes to its traditional early-morning hours. I know this is steeped in tradition and how it has always been done in order to get all the horses worked in the morning, but by refusing to bend, the industry is missing out on an experienced and hardworking potential staff pool — that is, parents with school-age children. The rest of the modern world now seems to offer flexible hours to fit in with family commitments, so working a second shift from 9am-3pm is surely a possibility? Kirsten Smith Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs The writer of letter of the week wins a bottle of Champagne Taittinger…

WHEN showjumping mare Billy was struggling to give birth to a vastly oversized foal, there was no time to lose. Her owner Russell Stevenson and the referring vet Mike Barrott, from Cinder Hill Equine Clinic, loaded her up immediately for a journey to the Sussex Equine Hospital. Hospital stud vet Dr Noelle Baxter explains that dystocia, the term for difficulty giving birth, is a true emergency. “The potential for life-threatening complications for both mare and foal is very high,” she says. “Placental separation occurs within an hour of the onset of stage two labour. The foal then starts to lose oxygen, having relied on the placenta for oxygen transfer from the mother’s bloodstream.” On arriving at the hospital, Billy then underwent an internal examination. “It was clear she had a…

WINTER has set in at Ros Canter’s yard in North Lincolnshire. Ros is sheltering from the biting cold under the heat lamps in her covered barn, as she tacks up a compact grey, Lordships Parc Royale (Polly). Once aboard, in her impressive outdoor arena, which features a mix of cross-country schooling fences as well as showjumps, Ros moves quickly into an active trot. Today, the focus will be on jumping skinnies, and approaching fences at speed — the opposite ends of the spectrum. But overarching all aspects of jumping is the development Ros has made to her position. “Since training with Chris Bartle, I work a lot on my jumping position, and this has transformed my cross-country results,” she says. “I’m now in a safer position, and I’m much braver…

• One in 532 starters at FEI events sustain a serious or fatal injury. • One fatal fall every 14,369 starters. • One in five rotational falls results in a serious rider injury. • In 2006, when frangible pins were introduced at all levels of British Eventing, the risk of a rotational fall was one in every 268 starters. In 2017, this had dropped to one in every 572 starters. • Ditches had the highest proportion of falls per 1,000 jumps (1.6 falls per 1,000) at British Eventing fixtures in 2017, closely followed by trakehners.…

CHARM SPIRIT: 8yo by Invincible Spirit out of L’Enjoleuse (Montjeu); triple Group One winner and leading first-season sire 2018. Stud fee: £17,500 HAVANA GOLD: 9yo by Teofilo out of Jessica’s Dream (Desert Style); leading first-season sire 2017; Group One winner. Stud fee: £15,000 HOT STREAK : 8yo by Iffraaj out of Ashirah (Housebuster); fastest two-year-old of his generation; Group Two winner. Stud fee: £7,000 LIGHTNING SPEAR: 8yo by Pivotal out of Atlantic Destiny (Royal Academy), Group One winner and champion older miler. Stud fee: £8,500 ROARING LION: 4yo by Kitten’s Joy out of Vionnet (Street Sense); four-time Group One winner and world champion three-year-old. Stud fee: £40,000 ZOUSTAR: 9yo by Northern Meteor out of Zouzou (Redoute’s Choice); record-breaking first-season sire in Australia. Stud fee: £25,000…

WHEN H&H visited the Holcombe Harriers in early December, the news was full, as it still is, of the deadlocked Brexit deal. It was good to arrive in a place where a strong female lead has triumphed. Sue Simmons is the kind of dynamic, unequivocal woman who gets things done. It is 10 years since she took over as master of the Holcombe Harriers, so it is a good time to stand back and evaluate what she has achieved. “We are not some ragged operation,” she says confidently. “I am proud to say that we are a shiny, bright, successful, fun hunt, and we carry on going from strength to strength.” Sue has hunted with the pack for 28 seasons. Her parents had showjumpers with Robert Smith in the 1980s…

Summerhouse EC, Glos | Mount Ballan, Mons Bea, who scored 71.17% with Calcourt Duke in the elementary 53 qualifier at Summerhouse EC, started working and training at Laura Tomlinson’s yard late last year. “It’s amazing what a bit of consistent training can do — we’ve come on in leaps and bounds,” said Bea, who co-owns “Samba” with Megan Chambers. “Laura and Lara Butler have an incredible attention to detail and an in-depth way of explaining things.” Bea describes the British-bred San Amour gelding, now rising eight, as “reasonably hot but straightforward”. “He tries his best,” she said. “I always get off him smiling.” Jackie Budd won the prelim 14 outright and took the novice 23 bronze at Mount Ballan with Blakeswater Matador, the young New Forest gelding she bought as…

Myerscough Arena, Staffs | Field House EC, Staffs Laura originally bought the 17-year-old to event, winning at intermediate level before injury led to dressage. “That was three-and-a-half years ago and I decided to give dressage a go,” said Laura. “If I’m honest, I used to hate the ‘stressage’, but this horse made me love it so much that I sold all the event horses and bought dressage ones, albeit ones that jump.” That said, Laura had toyed with retiring Sam over the winter. “I wasn’t sure if he was enjoying the competing,” she added, “but he suffers from allergies and we’ve cut out everything he reacted to. He’s got his confidence back and inter I is the aim for the summer.” Equine vet and dental technician Heather Urquhart won both…

19 Jan: Blue Chip jnr newcomers.— 1, Bilboa Lad (T Kyle); 2, Dollys Pride (G Molton); 3, JAC Surprise Addition (O Sheppard). 1m open.— 1, Air Flow (M Heath); 2, Oakwood Daisy (M Shore); 3, Intention EEZ (T Hooper). Blue Chip Pro sparkle JC/JA h'cap.— 1, Tobar King (A Morris); 2, Beech Comber (H Cooper); 3, Trevoulter Ladies Man (E Jacques). Charles Britton Equestrian Construction winter JA classic.– 1, Robe Ruadh (J Burchmore-Eames); 2, Harry (M Li); 3, Flavia (M Heath). winter JC second round.— 1, Horseabout Zibu (T Mauree); 2, Coolatooder Liath (E Burden); 3, Billy Wish (T Francis-Jones). Foxhunter.— 1, Bermudez BDA (D Williams); 2, Eskers Apache (T Clarke); 3, Macuta II (J Myers). 1.10m.— 1, Westervelds Florijn (A Mauree); 2, Ronja (T Fry); 3, Tekila Du Bary…

Ascot Racecourse, Berks ALTIOR extended his unbeaten run over obstacles to 17 races when he won the Matchbook Clarence House Chase at Ascot on Saturday, 19 January, beating Fox Norton by seven lengths. However, in football parlance, the highest rated chaser in training “won ugly”. Often in a sport, when you put a very good player against a lesser player, the good player will perform to the level of his lesser rival rather than the other way round. Not even someone as dominant in his sport as Roger Federer plays brilliantly in every match. From the outset it was clear that Altior, under Nico de Boinville, would have to do something alien to the great chaser: make the running against his two rivals — Fox Norton, a horse who has…

FIRST, I would like to say how very sorry I was to hear about the tragic death of Natasha Galpin while riding work for trainer Iain Jardine. My deepest condolences go out to her family and colleagues. We do this job day in, day out, and rarely allow the fear of injury, or worse, to come into our minds. However, what has happened to Natasha gives us all a reality check. Recently, I wrote a blog for my website about the staffing crisis in racing and how tough it is being a small trainer. I have been overwhelmed with the feedback and support from other trainers, staff and the public. As a small trainer, the struggle to keep going is relentless. I am self-sufficient, with no partner or family involved…

NO woman is going to thank their husband (or partner in the modern way) for giving them bootcamp sessions or a Hoover as a present. Apart from being grim to receive, the unspoken subtext screams: “You’re a big unit or the house is a tip.” Adam gave me a hip flask for Christmas — unspoken message: “Get some drink down you and chill out”? In this case, I don’t think there was a subtext. He simply thought it would be good for me to share some drink around on a hunting day and have the odd sip myself. I’m really pleased with the flask, which is one of those big cylindrical ones — metal not glass, because I’m clumsy — which hangs in a leather case on the side of…

CAPT CHRISTOPHER COLDREY AN instrumental figure in global equestrian sport, Capt Coldrey (pictured, above) died on 9 December aged 90. Educated at Sherborne, he joined Kings College Cambridge as a choral scholar, to read history. After university, Capt Coldrey signed up to join the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars and fought in the Korean War, serving at the 1951 battle of Imjin River in a centurion tank. During his time in the army, Capt Coldrey took up riding seriously. When he settled in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) he showjumped at top level. His jacket, in the Rhodesian colours, was worn at Capt Coldrey’s funeral by eventer Gavin Connell, who rides for the Coldreys. In 1961, he started the Chinhoyi Derby, based on the Hamburg Derby — which is also the inspiration…

▲ SARCOIDS Spotted on Facebook, a rider asking: “How many of you have horses with sarcoids that compete?” One’s horse’s sarcoids were pretty lazy, tbh, they never did more than hacking and the odd light schooling session… ▲ PANTS Feel for the point-to-point jockey who put on his colours in the changing room, only to find a pair of children’s pants in the sleeve – and the trainer, the child’s mother, felt only relief that the offending underwear was not her own. “At least they were clean!” she added, which is a fair point. ▲ DRESSAGE A showjumper making a reluctant foray into the dark side of dressage was delighted to tell her friends she’d come second. How many were in the class, however, was a detail she would not…

There were no horses in my life until I was 50. My husband Josh owned a garage; we had old Porsches and took part in amateur classic car races. When the recession hit in the 1990s, we had to give up the cars. A horse was a comparatively cheap alternative pastime. I bought a Shire called Sydney with cart and harness. He was six, inexperienced and sparky — totally unsuitable for a beginner. We converted the garage into a stable. I soon learned he needed companions and found a field to turn him out with some pals. At a heavy horse club meeting, I sat next to the great Ron Creasey, one of the last farm horsemen. He was old by then, but he gave me lessons. Without Ron, I…

“DYSTOCIA is a reasonably rare occurrence, affecting between 1-4% of mares,” says Noelle. “The most common cause is malpresentation — abnormal positioning or posture of the foal, accentuated by longer limbs compared with some other domesticated mammals. Other reasons include congenital deformity of the foal or death before birth. It is quite rare for a foal to grow too large for natural birth; this is more common in some breeds of cattle. “Caesarean section has become more successful in the last 20 years, largely due to the increased number of equine hospitals set up to accept these cases,” adds Noelle. “A good result depends upon the speed with which the decision for surgery is made, which is down to a responsive owner, a decisive referring vet and an efficient hospital…

ROS’ base in the Lincolnshire Wolds is ideal for training eventers. “We have great steep hills, so the horses are using their wind even if they’re not actually galloping,” she says, revealing that she is “not scientific about fitness training”, although the horses at different levels have appropriate schedules. “The novices don’t do any galloping, because they get fit hacking on the hills,” she says. “They go to our cross-country course, too. They only start doing a bit of fast work at two-star, but mainly three-star [now categorised as three- and four-star]. “The advanced horses go to a valley field belonging to a local farmer every four days, where they spend the session trotting and galloping three to five times up the hill. “We vary it each time, but they’ll…

FLEX-ON’S SAFE-ON SAFETY STIRRUP Shock absorbing and with an angled leather eyelet to aid your leg position, plus a choice of tread angle and grip type. From £219.95 flex-on.fr HORSERIDERSOS This smartphone app is designed to make riding alone safer. If you stop moving for a certain amount of time while it’s activated, it will send your location to a chosen contact. £4.99 horseridersos.com HELITE AIR SHELL PRESTIGE GILET This wind- and showerproof gilet is made of stretch fabric to allow for outward expansion in the event of a fall, plus it can be unzipped. £465 helite.co.uk ACAVALLO ARENA ALUPRO SAFETY STIRRUPS The stirrups have a stress-activated lock-and-release mechanism with a “one click” re-engagement of the mechanism. £119.95 acavallo.com LEMIEUX HIGH-VISIBILITY WORK…

AS soon as had I arrived back from taking Kjento and Glamourdale to Germany, we were off again — this time more locally, at Ermelo. I took another four-year-old stallion, Nick, to his first performance testing. It was for the NRPS (Dutch Horse and Pony Society) studbook — he was approved. Nick is a home-bred (Negro x Monaco) and this was his first time staying away from home. The performance tests are quite a lot to take in for a young stallion, especially as this was Nick’s first one, but he really enjoyed himself. He’s a sweet, cheeky stallion. At times he did get a bit excited — he looked really full of it when I first put him back in his stable after each stage, but five minutes later…

THE majority of packs have a committee of some sort; at a recent meeting of ours, the chairman moved the meeting along to item number four on the agenda by saying, “Next an item that never seems to take too long — fundraising.” We are blessed to have a supporters’ club called the Jorrocks Hunt Club — after RS Surtees’ fictional grocer, who hunted his hounds in Surrey — it is so proactive and does sterling work for our hunt. In fact, we would be lost without it, but once the hunt ball and point-to-point are in full flow we are always looking to any new ideas for raising much-needed funds. Over the years I’ve witnessed everything from “host a roast” and “bingo with ringo” to watching 200 numbered plastic…

ARE we soon to become a “third country”? It doesn’t sound good, but with the increased political bedlam since Theresa May’s Brexit deal defeat, one suspects that the tempo of the preparations for the “no deal” option has moved up a beat. A document published by Defra before Christmas assured the horse world that it will be prepared for the “no deal” scenario if and when the time comes, which ostensibly is 29 March. This means the application form for third country status — a country not an EU member so not aligned with its rules — is probably being filled in right now. Most horse owners won’t notice a difference, but those with sport or breeding plans for horses that involve travel out of the country soon will, as…

FROM 1 January 2019, the boot rule predominantly used for young horse classes and HOYS second rounds came into force for all pony and children on horses classes. To help ease this rule in and advise anyone unsure if their boots are legal, BS Stewards have been very proactive at pony shows and new laminated signs have been displayed at most major centres. The rule will also come into force for senior British novice and discovery second rounds, where BS Stewards will also be deployed this summer.…