Event Reports

F&I ‘Annual Course’ – Wednesday 6th January 2021, 7pm, via zoom It is uncertain whether the 80 F&I members attending on Wednesday 6th January was indicative of our appetite for knowledge or a desire to escape the chaos of the outside world! One thing is for sure, many of us have significantly upskilled our tech…

Ruth Baxter kindly organised the Webinar on the “Biomechanics of Horse and Rider from a Coaching Perspective” delivered by Dr Russell Mackechnie-Guire on 4th Nov 2020. After a few anxious moments linking up to the Webinar which Ruth planned so well we were treated to a most wonderful 2 hours of research that is ground breaking…

“Mental Fitness for Equestrian Athletes” So, some salient points from last night:  Firstly, how wonderful to get together with so many like-minded people with such a huge range of experience – and why ever don’t we do it more often?  It’s so stimulating and thought- provoking.  Charlie is a super presenter with endless enthusiasm for…

Our first day out for the F & I Association since the Annual course dawned warm and sunny as we made our way to Judy Harvey’s yard in Buckinghamshire. Judy has been a long time member and supporter and is generous in allowing us to watch and learn from her own riding and coaching skills.…

As I write this on the train heading back to Cheshire, I am reflecting on what has been a truly thought provoking day at The National Equine Forum. I firstly want to say a big thank you to the F&I Association for the opportunity for myself and Alex Wyatt to attend the forum. Having arrived…

This day was kindly organised by Talland School of Equitation. A group of eager F’s and I’s were welcomed by Pammy Hutton FBHS at Talland School of Equitation on a cold Monday morning. The group was a mixture of both riders and spectators. At 10am prompt, an action-packed programme began and the first of the…

January 2020, Addington. What an inspiring two days. Corinne Bracken and Adam Kemp complemented each other, both in their methodology and in their delivery. For two days we felt totally torn between which coach to watch! The discussion section held on Tuesday was a brilliant idea and gave us a good insight to both coaches’…

The summer camp started on Tuesday 24th September where Eric Smiley FBHS was going to be doing gridwork sessions focusing on mental gymnastics. There was a line set up in the indoor arena, but Eric promptly changed the lay out. I was in the first group of the afternoon and you could tell straight away…

As one approached the second fence on the Burghley 2019 course, the meeting point for the F and I course walk, it was hard to control the excitement at spotting “the flower bed” which was more like a raised bed for a giant.  It is only human nature to design courses which you would like…

Ladies Day at Hickstead dawned bright and clear – and it didn’t actually rain!  I look forward every year to a day at the Royal International Horse show, watching Show Jumping from the BHS box overlooking the main arena, and meeting up with friends. It has now become an annual event for the Campbells, Anne…

Myerscough International Arena, 20th June 2019 The topic of the day was ‘Suppleness and Straightness within the Jump Arena’. We were all looking forward to Andrews’s wealth of knowledge and experience, plus the opportunity to catch up with friends and fellow peers. The morning started with a couple of hours of flatwork, Andrew worked with…

How lucky were we to wake up to a glorious sunny morning in Co Kildare, for our Irish F and I day. On arrival to Jessica Harringtons yard at 10 o’clock , we found that we had only missed one lot as they do not start till 8 as many of the staff have yards…

A fascinating and informative day It was a drizzly day to begin with, but as we started in the barn where the stocks are, we all kept dry. There was a maximum number of ten people which made sense when I realised how we were going to read scans to determine various different stages of…

A small but high quality group of F&I members and guests gathered at Bramham. We headed up to fence 1 to meet Bramham course designer Ian Stark FBHS. 2019 marks Ian’s tenth year as course designer – when asked whether he was on a fixed term Ian revealed that when the compulsory retirement age for…

Ann Bostock wanted help with the canter work for her 18yr old RoR. Judy addressed this by helping the horse to become more comfortable in his surroundings and worked to get him supple around Ann’s leg. This enabled him to let go in all three paces and lessened the need to ride him so forward.…