Innholdsfortegnelse for 31-Dec-2020 i Horse & Hound

THERE is some intriguing work going on in assessing equine behaviour, as Professor Madeleine Campbell explains (vet, p26). Researchers have even established that a horse will remember an angry facial expression and eye that person for a greater length of time on their next meeting. This might seem abstract, but looking into behaviours will help riders and experts understand the best of two choices of action – be it taking a horse straight home after competition to rest in his own stable, or stabling him overnight to travel later. Or which of two possible training methods is best. It is fantastic, and absolutely right, that these are the lengths professionals are going to in order to ensure we have all the knowledge to make the best decisions for competition horses.…

THREE of British Equestrian’s (BEF) member bodies have achieved the foundation level of the Equality Standard for Sport. The British Horse Society (BHS), British Dressage (BD) and Endurance GB (EGB) achieved the standard, a framework that assists sports organisations to widen access for underrepresented individuals, groups and communities and aims to reduce inequality. The standard comprises foundation, preliminary, intermediate and advanced levels. BEF holds intermediate and is working towards advanced. A BEF spokesman said the BHS, BD and EGB had worked to develop policies and produced evidence to demonstrate a clear commitment to equality, that they hold equality policies shared with stakeholders, and are aware of their profile and position. “I’m very pleased BD, BHS and EGB can demonstrate that they are working at the foundation standard,” said BEF head…

Eventer Piggy March was crowned British Eventing’s (BE) top rider for a second year running. Piggy’s ride Brookfield Inocent claimed the BE horse of the year title for 2020. Para dressage rider Natasha Baker has been elected to the British Paralympic Association athletes commission. It represents athletes on topics such as classification. The Equine Grass Sickness Fund has appointed Kathy Geyer as a research fellow. Dr Geyer is looking forward to working in an “exciting but scientifically challenging area of research”. Secretary general of the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation Christina Abu Dayyeh is the new FEI endurance director. The FEI said it is “very happy” to welcome Christina. Photographer Helen Spiegl claimed the title of equestrian photographer of the year at the 2020 Xperience Awards. Helen’s picture was of Vicki…

A 17th century “rubbing house” at Salisbury Racecourse has been awarded Grade II-listed status. The building, one of the few of its kind to survive in the country and at one of England’s oldest racecourses, is among a number of historic sites given the protection this year. Rubbing houses were once common, used to wash and dry the horses after work. This one was built between 1675 and 1706. “Architecturally, the building is well-detailed and of high quality, emphasising how important its role was,” a Historic England spokesman said. “The functional elements of the building are still evident, such as the tall entrance, which would allow the horse and rider to go through the doorway, the tethering rings and the wide doorways designed to protect horses from injury.”…

I ENJOYED reading your news story about removing barriers to people wanting to get into equestrianism (3 December). I couldn’t ride as a child as money was tight and riding schools were few and far between in London, where I lived. Nobody else in my family had any interest in horses, but my highlight of any holiday was a daily donkey ride. However, once I started work, I saved for my riding kit, found a riding school I could cycle to on a Sunday morning and so my hobby began, culminating in running a Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) group for many years. You cannot force an interest in any sport on young people – they must have the urge and desire to take it up and stay committed…

OPINION I STRUGGLE to understand why anyone would hesitate to have the Covid-19 vaccine. I’m the world’s worst queuer, but would join a very long line if it meant being vaccinated and getting back to normal a bit sooner. For one thing, inconsistencies surrounding coronavirus rules make me scratch my head. When we were competing in Vilamoura, Portugal this winter, they checked everyone’s temperature as you entered the showground. It took a few seconds per person. In the six weeks I was there, I never heard of anybody becoming ill. Yet on the homeward journey, I found myself on a packed aeroplane and no temperatures taken before or after the flight. Even in normal times, a plane is an ideal environment for infecting other passengers. I recently went to Tedworth…

Tricky one – whoever I mention will leave others off ended. My three most experienced horses are all completely opposite in character though all complete triers with huge hearts – Chequers Play The Game (Elvis), Super Cillious (Ken) and One Night Love (Sweep). I am fond of all my youngsters, but I guess Twiggy (Secret Legacy, by the late Cevin Z) has earned herself a mention by jumping a real sword stabbed in the ground (pictured).…

AN area of research which is of direct relevance to the welfare of competition horses relates to our understanding of equine cognition, which is the ability to learn from experience – specifically, the effect our own emotional state can have upon that of our horses. Evidence suggests that horses can read and remember human emotions. Research has shown that not only can a horse identify between an angry human face and a happy one, but also that he may recall the previous facial expression of a person when he meets them again – and adapt his behaviour accordingly. Horses tend to view negative events with their left eye, processing this potentially threatening stimuli in the right hemisphere of the brain. In studies led by Professor Karen McComb and Dr Leanne Proops, horses…

Counting my blessings LAST December, my showjumper, James, went in for a routine back injection due to a mild case of kissing spines. Unfortunately the injection caught a nerve and paralysed him for two-and-a-half hours. He fell to the floor and couldn’t get up. Once he managed to scrabble to his feet, he incurred a serious hock injury and lost all use of his tail due to nerve damage. I set about trying to rehabilitate him, and because of the endless vet visits had to sell my horsebox to afford to treat him. For the first three months I couldn’t ride him at all. I was heartbroken seeing him in the field, not joining all the jump clinics at our yard that he so loves. My friends stood by my…

Cranwell Bloodhounds, Temple House, Lincs IT may seem unlikely, but the Cranwell Bloodhounds were founded by the late Phil Broughton and his wife Wendy as a result of a children’s television programme. “One day Phil was at a friend’s house and a Channel 4 kids’ programme called It’s a Dog’s Life was on the TV,” recounted Wendy. “Each week they featured different dogs and that week they featured the Coakham Bloodhounds. When Phil saw the bloodhounds baying and the horses jumping, he just loved it.” Phil and Wendy immediately went about setting up their own pack of bloodhounds: “It was 1992 and we went to visit every pack of bloodhounds we could, to get an idea of what would be involved,” recalled Wendy. Eventually, they got drafts from the Windsor…

2 RIDERS PREVENTED FROM TRAVELLING TO HARTPURY TO COMPETE DUE TO TIER FOUR RESTRICTIONS, KEITH ROBERTSON AND NATHALIE KAYAL 2 PREGNANT RIDERS AMONG THE LINE-UP: HAYLEY WATSON-GREAVES AND NIKKI BARKER 4 HORSES IN THE GRAND PRIX SIRED BY DIMAGGIO 19 – the age of the oldest horse in the starting line-up – Megan Ingham’s Wanadoo 2015 The only time Charlotte Dujardin has been crowned national champion before now, riding Barolo 75.4% Sonnar Murray-Brown’s previous freestyle personal best with Erlentanz. They exceeded it by more than 8% here 9 – the age of the two youngest horses in the field, Charlotte Dujardin’s Gio and Alex Harrisons’s Diamond Hill…

MOUNT ST JOHN FREESTYLE Charlotte Dujardin scored her first plus-90% test since Valegro on Emma Blundell’s mare to win the grand prix freestyle and be crowned British Dressage national champion (report, p54). SHANTOU The leading National Hunt sire has retired from covering aged 27. He gave his former trainer John Gosden his first Classic win with the 1996 St Leger and has sired Grade One winners including The Storyteller. GK CASPER The 12-year-old showjumper has joined Irish rider Darragh Kenny. He was campaigned by Bertram Allen, with wins across the international circuit including the 2019 Toronto leg of the FEI World Cup series. CLOUDY DREAM The former top chaser has been reunited with his stable lass Nikki Curwen, after she wrote to owner Trevor Hemmings. He was injured in 2018,…

TOP NATIONS CUP TEAMS CONFIRMED BRITAIN and defending champions Ireland are among the 10 teams confirmed for the top European division 2021 FEI showjumping Nations Cup series. The 2020 series was postponed in April, owing to the coronavirus. A rule change meant 22 nations were invited to the final, but this was later also cancelled as the risks of going ahead were “simply too great”. This means Europe division one remains unchanged for 2021, with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden completing the line-up. La Baule, France, will host the division’s opening qualifier in May. CHARITY HITS ITS £500,000 TARGET RACING WELFARE has hit its £500,000 target for its Covid-19 Emergency Appeal. The appeal was launched to fill the gap the charity faced owing to Covid-related…

▲ EFFORT A group of riders denied a festive get-together by Covid celebrated on Zoom instead. “Just as fun, cheaper than the pub and we could stagger straight to bed afterwards!” said one, while another added: “And I didn’t even have to have a shower after doing the horses.” What could be better? ▲ WORMS A rider asks how much wine one must drink to wash away the wormer one inadvertently ingested while removing the cap with one’s teeth. Copious amounts, surely. Alcohol is, after all, a superb cleanser. Cheers! ▲ MOTIVATION Discussing prize money, a rider reveals that during lean times, she would pay £19 to enter a class, and first prize was £20. “I had to win to afford the diesel home,” she said. “And it worked; I…

IF Scott Brash likes eggs, I’ll bet he’d cook them sunny-side up. Known for his ice-cool nerve in the ring, he’s cheerful and positive in conversation, especially when discussing his horses’ characters. Talk about lockdown, and he refers to “differences” rather than difficulties – putting his own frustrations into perspective. Mention the Olympic postponement and he focuses on the bright side of being able to build his top-flight string. Self-belief, allied with hard work and dedication, underpins his whole career. “If you believe enough that something will happen, I think it can happen,” he says. “If you’re negative, it won’t. I’m a strong believer in that.” As the curtain falls on a discombobulated year, all thoughts turn (again) to the Olympics. Scott already has one Olympic gold medal in his…

I’m one of those nauseating people that had never commentated before, applied for a job in the Sporting Life, and got it. I was so naive, I didn’t realise at first that I had to send a demo tape; the rejection letter crossed with the tape I eventually sent, which got me the job! The key to commentating is accuracy and finding a rhythm that’s comfortable for the listener. The most surprising skill is not to over-learn, to trust yourself and allow your brain to be uncluttered. Some days I struggle to put a sentence out but others, in a competitive six-furlong sprint, I know I’ve got five or so lines in my head that might work. When you’re on it, you feel so alive. “The horses are the stars;…

“WE found Imperial Aura at the Goffs Land Rover Sale in Ireland in June 2016. I particularly liked him, and his pedigree was understated – his dam, Missindependence, had won a bumper at Punchestown but she wasn’t a black type. “We thought he would be a great project for the future and we were prepared to wait for him to develop. He moved well, and had scope and size. However, he was rather gangly. He was a shell of a horse. He had plenty of bone, but just needed his topline to fill out. “After the sale, we sent him to Kevin Ross, who is based in County Antrim, where he was produced until he was ready to go into training in September 2017. I am friends with Kim’s assistant trainer,…

Nurturing young talent I OPENED up my riding school at the start of the 1970s in Cornwall. I taught in a fenced-off paddock on an oval of soil. I taught lots of pupils and never missed a proper surface except in the depths of winter, when we usually hacked. Sometimes if it was too snowy we raided the feed shed for empty sacks to go tobogganing down the slope in the fi elds, sometimes ending up in the freezing pond at the bottom! Great fun and the kids loved every moment. My best pupils were always taught the last lesson of the day, where I mixed it up with bareback, jumping, musical quadrilles, side-saddle (on normal tack) and lots without stirrups. There was a queue for this lesson and the…

Finding the one FROM the moment this light bay, hairy cob came bounding over the field, bucking and broncing, I knew he was the one. I was 19 and on a desperate search for my own horse after always schooling and loaning other people’s. I had a measly budget, and as I travelled throughout Wales looking at endless unsuitable ponies, I got a mysterious call from a woman who’d been told of my search and wanted to meet me, but wouldn’t give out any details for the horse beforehand. I thought she must be wasting my time but I travelled to the small village of Llanddewi Brefi to meet her. Before I could see the horse, the owner peppered me with questions: my long-term plans, whether I’d be a forever…

BEING crammed into a small metal startingstall, sitting on what is essentially an unexploded bomb waiting for the off, would be a fairly heartthumping experience for most of us. Perhaps circling at the start of the Pardubice or the Grand National would get the pulse rate high enough to fulfil most adrenaline junkies’ aspirations. However, for many jockeys this is not quite enough of a thrill, and so they seek other avenues to attain the hit. We usually see those slender little chaps with bodies of wire and balls of steel wearing a myriad of bright silk colours and paper-thin breeches. Occasionally, though, if you are lucky, you will get a glimpse of them crossing the country behind a pack of hounds. No screaming punters or crescendo of commentary here,…

TAMARILLO Bay gelding, 16.2hh, 1992-2015, by Tarnik out of Mellita (Master Spiritus) Bred by the Hon Finn and Mary Guinness; owned by Mary Guinness Mary says: “Mellita was so amazing – copybook beautiful. I hunted her and Diana Burgess evented her for a period. And Lucinda Green actually won an event on her, too. Her dam, Darya, was an Arab.” “HE was an absolute showman, but in no way was he arrogant; a show prince who wanted to look lovely, but needed your approval and reassurance. He felt he was important, but not superior,” says William Fox-Pitt. Anyone who took even a passing interest in eventing in the first decade of this century knows which horse he is talking about – the quixotic, charming Tamarillo, whose unmistakable dished face revealed…

WHEN I drove into the College Valley one Saturday before hunting, I can’t have been alone in casting a glance into the drive of a bungalow on the outskirts of Hethpool. Until very recently, this bungalow had been home to a much-loved supporter of the College Valley hunt who had died earlier in the week, aged 96. Gwen Elliot was one of those rare souls who radiated goodwill. Compelling and cheerful, with a Mrs Tiggy-Winklesque twinkle, she was a renowned horsewoman locally and had point-to-pointed very successfully in the late 1940s and early ‘50s, notching up three successive years as champion lady jockey of the north. Hunting was also a major part of her life and she only stopped hunting on a horse at the age of 82. After this,…

EVERY year, from October onwards, we hear and see the heartbreak caused by fireworks. Just this year, H&H reported on the death of Flashy, who fractured her spine in terror of fireworks, and had to be put down. It is thought zebra foal Hope, whose birth during lockdown had been a ray of light, died instantly when she collided with a fence during a display. Dettori, a 21-year-old gelding, lost an eye after he was injured during fireworks, and five-year-old mare Kaprika was found standing over her aborted foal on 5 November, exactly a year after another of the same stud’s mares had suffered a miscarriage. These are just four we have heard about, this year, and whose heartbroken owners we have spoken to. In a recent Blue Cross survey…

OPINION MY first thought when Isabell Werth asked me if I’d like to be on the board of the International Dressage Riders Club was, “Oh no, this is one I won’t be able to wriggle out of.” Anyone who knows Isabell knows she doesn’t take no for an answer. On reflection, I feel she has chosen people from a wide range of countries and ideas, and some very strong personalities. I look forward to some clashes! A very experienced group of people, some with over 30 years in the sport, will take over after the hard work Wayne Channon and Kyra Kyrklund have put into the club. The difficulty has been getting riders to join, be aware and be part of the decision-making process. The excuse of too much riding…

All about Vittoria The Gloucestershire-based Italian event rider has finished in the top 20 at the Olympics twice and won team bronze at two European Eventing Championships, as well as finishing in the top 10 at Badminton. Who was your first pony? Blù-Blù was a small riding school pony in Italy who I rode when I was five. He was grey with a hogged mane and I adored him despite his occasional habit of ducking out of the arena under the fence, while adults ran to rescue me as I was swept off by the rails! He would wait for me outside the café while I went in to get water. If you could have any horse in the world, which would you want? I just hope I get to…

IRISH showjumper Trevor is a two-time winner of the Hickstead Derby and has won many prestigious classes including the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. The 41-year-old lives in West Sussex with his showjumper wife Caroline and their two children. BEING Irish, Eddie Macken was like God in our house growing up; what he did in his career was unbelievable. But so, too, were John and Michael Whitaker and Nick Skelton. I remember the incredible feeling the first time I rode alongside the Whitakers in the warm-up at Wembley as a young rider. I know them all very well now but sometimes I’ll be walking round talking to them on a horse and think to myself, “Jesus, I’m actually talking to Michael Whitaker!” I didn’t pursue a professional showjumping career until later…

A PERFECT CHILDHOOD JOAN GIBSON, 88, was brought up on a farm in Ireland – Ballysallagh Farm in Kinsalebeg, near Youghal. Her father had three stable yards where he trained racehorses, so horses were an integral part of her life. Joan fondly speaks about how her father taught her to fall off a horse safely, for which she was forever grateful to him. He told her: “I will catch you but the most important thing is to relax, don’t tense up, and keep your feet out of the stirrups so you don’t get tangled in the saddle.” Joan continued that he also used to instruct her as follows: “Head and heart keep up, hands and heels keep down, knees keep close to your horse’s side and elbows keep close to…

Reviving the buzz ON Christmas Day 2019, I lost the love of my life, Dusty, my fox terrier. I turned my horses away due to my retrained racehorse not recovering for ridden work post kissing-spines surgery. My mental health hit rock bottom; I was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. The Covid-19 lockdown allowed me to rest and begin recovery. Due to not being able to attend shows physically, I decided to venture into an online equestrian world as an equestrian micro-influencer. I opened an Instagram account @samanthaosborneequestrian, with the aim of helping other riders struggling with mindset. My page is almost at 10,000 followers and I have been selected to represent a range of companies as a brand ambassador, too. I was devastated when I had to…

“He’s incredibly lazy to exercise, but goes up several gears in the hunting field” "I THINK Ted thinks he is part of the mastership himself,” says Issy Frampton, wife of Heythrop joint-master and huntsman Charles. “There is something absolutely statesmanlike about him; he’s a very special horse.” Tom Riall sent Ted up to Issy to try to sell to someone nice because he didn’t quite have the scope for the biggest Dorset hedges, and she knew immediately that Christopher Cox, one of the Heythrop jointmasters, should buy him. Christopher says: “I started hunting very late – in my midthirties – having given up riding when I was a child of eight or nine. To start with, it was all pretty chaotic; I kept falling off left, right and centre, causing…

“SHE was hot to trot today!” said Amy Woodhead with a grin after scoring 74.78% in the freestyle on Mount St John Kom Fairy Tale. The 14-year-old Furst Heinrich mare, on whom Amy has had the ride for a year, showed great energy and expression but looked close to boiling over once or twice, and Amy rode cleverly to keep her forward and on side. “Dad [dressage coach Ian] was here to warm me up yesterday and the plan was a clear round; I wanted her to enjoy it and stay settled. People said, ‘Well done, and now you need to turn her on,’ so today I let the handbrake off and off she went,” said Amy. “But she stayed with me, held it together and really tried.” It was…

CHRISTMAS jumpers brought festive joy at Sparsholt as riders dressed up and donated to Naomi House and Jacksplace, local hospices providing care for children and young adults. Julia Walker took the theme a step further, weaving fairy lights into her mare Rodhea’s mane and riding to Christmas music, to take the advanced medium freestyle with 73.17%. Rodhea had been away from the UK competition scene for five years, partly because her owners moved to France and also due to injury, before returning to the arena earlier this month. “She’s not as fit as she could be, but she has come back well,” said Julia, who works for Char Lassetter. “I’ve been taking her to the beach at Hayling Island as often as I can. We go in all weathers; last…