Clue Up for Cold Weather Colic
Well here we are again in mid-winter. The average horse owner is likely to be well acquainted with their horse’s predisposition to colic regardless of the season, but with very cold weather come complicating factors that all owners should be prepared for. The number one cause of colic during the winter is a lack of fresh, unfrozen water. Horses must drink 10-12 gallons of fresh water every day and will dehydrate quickly if water is unavailable. If your horse is not able to get enough water, it is at greater risk of conditions such as simple indigestion or impaction. A frozen water trough is...
Read MoreBob Looks Right Guy for the Grand National
Chris Guy admits he learned about horse racing the hard way. When he first became interested in the sport of kings, he gambled far too much and his own princely ambitions soon turned sour. Then when he decided he wanted to become a part-owner of a race horse, his dreams of success were dashed when his four-legged friend had to be pensioned off. But Chris is a determined type, and since then he and his wife Jenny have continued their pursuit of race horse ownership with a great deal of success. So much so in fact, that Chris is quietly confident that in the not-too-distant future he could be...
Read MoreTim Stockdale’s Hilton for Horses
It’s not often you get a chance to spend a day with one of Britain’s top show jumpers and this was one assignment that my wife would not let me turn down: a day at Tim Stockdale’s yard, located in Northampton. Tim kindly gave us permission to roam around wherever we wished, unaccompanied, weighed down with our cameras. “I don’t usually do this as a rule, but I do like your magazine and I trust you,” he said as we arrived. Tim’s day had already begun and we found him hard at work in the outdoor school, training top Irish show jumper Melanie Davidson, who had travelled from Dublin...
Read MoreAndy Blanch the Nagsman
Andy Blanch, 40, started riding horses at the age of nine when his mother took him to his local riding school at Luccombe at weekends. “I suppose it got me out from under her feet, and anyway I liked it because it was primarily a girl’s sport, so I had lots of girlfriends and I wasn’t complaining,” he says. Andy left school with nine CSEs and knew straight away he wanted a career in horses. His first year after leaving school was spent at Luccombe Farm earning only £15 per week, helping out in the yard and doing odd jobs. “When I was on £15 a week it was really hard. Even though I...
Read MoreHidden Talent
Robert Booth (48) is dressed in jeans and chaps. Tall and slim, he stands in the middle of his impressive arena at Rodgebrook near Porchfield, with his head bent permanently to one side. He is watching every nuance of the horse and rider he is training. A little tweak here, and little push there, it is as though he is riding the horse himself, but from the ground. His arena is full of showjumps and there are no dressage markers on the post and rails separating it from his 11½ acres and his newly built house. It would seem then, that Robert Booth is a showjumper, but, when you watch him...
Read MoreWhat’s in Your Equestrian Christmas Stocking?
For the horse owner, the winter can be very long and dark. Mud and rain is dished out in uneven portions and the summer evenings out hacking seem a very long time ago as we struggle to keep our horses fit. But Christmas, and all that it brings, not only allows us some precious time to ride during daylight hours, but it gives us the excuse to visit the tack shops and feed merchants to buy presents for all our horsey friends. And on the Island, equestrian shopping is easy and fun to do. So, what would I like to find in my Christmas stocking? The list is endless. First of all, you can never...
Read MoreTim Stockdale – Gearing up for Spring
Tim Stockdale is as fed up with the weather as the rest of us. It’s the only time of the year he really appreciates his indoor school. “I don’t like the running costs of it,” he says, “but it does mean I can still work the horses.” And there is plenty of work to be done this spring with a nice collection of international show jumpers in an Olympic year, plus a yard full of useful youngsters to educate. Tim’s latest ride, the grey mare Lou Lou, had a good showing at the London International at Olympia, and was placed in four out of five classes, but this year Tim will...
Read MoreTim Stockdale – Top Form as Olympic Selection Draws Near
“I like a horse that uses himself and works things out.” “I wish it was tomorrow,” says Britain’s top showjumper, Tim Stockdale when he talks to Island Life about his preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games this August. Time is ticking away towards the summer, but not quickly enough for Tim Stockdale and his grey mare Fresh Direct Corlato. “She’s one of the top horses in Europe,” he says proudly. Although Corlato has been on top drawer form throughout the winter show circuit, in order to secure her spot on the British Olympic show jumping team for the event...
Read MoreTim Stockdale – Putting the Icing on the Cake
When Island Life talked to Tim Stockdale in the middle of May, Tim and his 17.1h grey mare, Fresh Direct Corlato, had just finished competing at Royal Windsor, Corlato’s first outdoor show of the season and part of Tim’s carefully constructed build-up programme of events prior to the much-hoped for Olympic selection. “We’re just exactly where we want to be,” Tim said of Corlato’s Windsor performance, where she was fourth in the Grand Prix. “We were early to go in the jump-off and we had some good horses behind us, but I am very happy with how she went.” For...
Read MoreOnce an Olympian, Always an Olympian
“One day, I want my grandchildren to ask: What is that gold badge on your suit? And I shall say: ‘That’s the official suit that I wore when I rode at the Olympic Games’” It is fantastic really. It’s everything I have worked towards for the past two years. But it’s not just me. Although I am the one who will go in the ring, it’s the whole team. It’s the owners, the sponsors and everyone who has been involved over the years. The mail box is still full. I’ve had texts, letters and cards from people I haven’t seen for 15 years saying well done, and...
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