Brilliant in its simplicity.  Like all good plans and ideas that was the basis of Nick Turner’s jumping sessions at Addington at the Assoc. of F & I Convention.  The sessions were a masterclass in the use of the arena – maximising the space available and equipment, and minimising moving the jumps around, utilising every minute for the horses and riders.  The basic fundamentals of jump riding were drummed home, repetition and consistency allowing the…

Biddy Brasted Watts arranged a super day at Newmarket on 5th October 2015, for the F & I Association members and guests. The morning was taken by Rachel Murray MA VetMB MS Phd MRCVS Dip ACVS Dip ECVS at the Animal Health Trust. The subject of Surfaces and Competition Horses was covered By Rachel in depth from a huge amount of research undertaken by her and others.  The presentation was fascinating with wonderful power point …

Thanks to the boundless enthusiasm and organisation of Erik MacKechnie we were treated to a course walk with British Eventing’s World Class Performance Manager and Chef d’Equipe, Yogi Breisner FBHS, on the first day of the Championships. We met at the second fence on the course, at that point – after the completion of the first day of dressage – Team GB were in first place and Holly Woodhead in individual first place. Yogi’s introduction…

Eric started by getting into our minds by making us think about being on a horse of our choice. Then asked us to think about whether the horse in question runs out left or right? There was a shout from the group “both”!!! This is when the Irish humour started. Whilst walking the course with just one particular horse in mind, we were able to clearly decide which route we would take. First question at…

We were a small select group this year for Ladies day at the RDS.  Once again our tickets were given to us by Ms Joan O’Connor, a client of mine, to whom we are most grateful.  F&I Association members, Grainne Sugars and Faith Ponsonby   joined Lynn Petersen (BHS CEO) me and a friend Bridget Radnedge in the Judges and Stewards box for the morning entertainment of the 4 and 5 year old Young Event…

Well the 1st August arrived with the sun high in the sky, so there were lots of dresses on show in the F&I Box at Hickstead! Numbers were up to 26 this year, and it was great to see so many of you there! We had a super day thanks not only to the F&I Association, but also to great organising from Karen Irving, Senior Executive at the BHS and Alex Copeland the new Director of Education. Both…

The training day with Judy Harvey was very well attended considering the weather!!  Judy and her husband Malcolm landed back from the States on Sunday afternoon and drove straight to the yard and put up two gazeebos after listening to the weather forecast which for once was correct. Monday morning dawned……… very wet. As we all know riding is an outdoor sport and there was not one complaint as Ann on two horses, Gemma and…

TRAINING THE DRESSAGE HORSE  THE F & I PERSPECTIVE Monday 11 May 2015 It is many years since the F & I Association held anything in Scotland so it is not surprising that the Scottish membership has dwindled.  It was great therefore that Erik Mackechnie in conjunction with BHS Scotland has given it a kick start to set it in motion again. Patrick Print FBHS very kindly agreed to host the day and Gail Smith…

Badminton for me started with David (my son) riding the Guinea Pig Test on Thursday morning. Despite wayward changes, we were very pleased with the test – and what a fantastic experience to be able to trot down THAT center line…! I was therefore already “in Badminton mode” so it was fantastic for me to have the opportunity to walk this years course with Nick Turner – already thinking ahead to next year! Nick started…