Getting the chance to look inside a world class stud farm is not something that happens all the time, but this is exactly what a group of qualified instructors – including four members of the F&I Association – did on a drizzly Irish day. Coolmore is known worldwide for its stable of incredible top class thoroughbred stallions. Winners come from these outstanding champion bloodlines worldwide including the recent Irish and Epsom Derby winner Australia. Coolmore…

The day started out and remained warm and even sunny in the afternoon so everyone did as requested and bought a chair and the dry weather! As attendees started to arrive Judy was already teaching her own students who are based with her. They are preparing for competitions up to and including PSG and were quietly working their way through various test movements whilst managing their horses coping with a lot of activity and bustle…

This was my first trip to the National Equine Forum and what a treat!  Jillie and I started off the day with coffee and breakfast near Big Ben and then moved on to the very comfortable surroundings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering.  It was a delight to sit and listen to some really good speakers.  There were three themed sessions.  The notes from the Forum will be available online and should make good reading but…

We are so lucky to have these training days at our disposal and I know we all found Darrell very clear and easy to understand and he produced amazing consistency in his methods throughout the day. His main ethos is ‘to give the horse a better ridden experience’ and as a trainer ‘to say the right thing at the right time’ – his Badminton tale ( too much would be lost in translation to repeat…

On Monday September 30th, Cherry Elvin kindly organised a morning for Members (and friends) to visit Emile Faurie’s Yard. It was an action packed morning with Emile giving us the opportunity to observe the training of six different horses ranging for a lovely 3 year old to Topolino, his GP horse. The first horse was a 3 year old that he bought as a foal and had been backed approximately 8 weeks.  It was great…

A Small group attended a course walk at Blenheim CCI3* organised by the BHS F&I Association with course designer Eric Winters, who kindly gave his time free of charge. The money collected has been donated to the Kenneth Clawson Memorial Fund. The aim was to walk the course and understand the philosophy behind designing a course of this level at this time in the eventing calendar coupled with  the constraints of running in a parkland…