F&I Summer Newsletter 2023
Sam York FBHS, Chair, 30th June 2023
Dear Members,
How on earth is it already the end of June?? With the longest day already gone, summer is in full swing, the hay is ready to be cut and the horsefly season is in full force!
I hope you are enjoying the amazing light mornings and long summer nights – my very early morning runs with the sun coming up are spectacular, and coaching into the evenings still with the sun on my back is a pleasure compared to our normal rain, sleet and snow. But it also feels like a marathon with these long days. I’m sure you are flat out from crack of dawn to nightfall with coaching, training, camps and competition support for all our horses and riders, but please be kind to yourself and let’s make sure we are not heading towards “coach burnout”. I know I’m the world’s worst for taking on far too much and working long hours as well as all the additional roles that we all have, so we must try and make a little bit of time for ourselves and enjoy our own horses and our family and friends. Remember there is always someone to talk to and we have a great support mechanism around us within the F&I Association, if we just pick up the phone (or text) and chat.
Worryingly I have had several riders this year seriously say they are ready for hanging up their boots, and that it’s all too expensive and horses keep going wrong and the fun seems to be going out of it. Some of these riders are also coaches and run large yards – and they say they are really starting to question if it’s all worth it. I do feel that people are starting to really watch their pennies, and certainly in the eventing discipline I am seeing more and more people withdrawing from affiliated eventing as they say it’s just too expensive, with too many events being cancelled and the ground always threatening our horses’ soundness. With the weather going from a fair winter to torrential rain that put a stop to so many BE events, the event season didn’t get started properly. And now the financial crisis is hitting so many events, and with competitors waiting till the last minute to enter putting even more risk onto the event organisers, unfortunately they are also putting their hands up and cancelling the events and calling it a day!
Certainly around me in the Midlands we have lost the majority of our lower-level events so far this year and some of my riders have no runs at all. The by-product of that is of course seeing horses under-prepared and not being as successful as the riders had hoped. Despite a great amount of advice, some riders cannot see the importance of changing their goals and adjusting their plans. This is again our responsibility to advise, support, and insist at times, so the horses are truly ready for the competitions that they are being campaigned for.
There is much discussion behind closed doors about the future of BE and I think we will see some changes in the future. Let’s hope BE can come out of these challenges in a good way. At least our elite level events that can normally rely more on the financial support of the public footfall through the gate, will survive, and we can all look forward to those events as we move on through this year.
We have had a run of amazing F&I events so far this year and there are, as ever, some brilliant reports written about these. I was at Badminton all week supporting riders, alongside many other meetings and sponsorship responsibilities – and of course attended the F&I course walk which was fantastic. Poor Nick Turner FBHS who was going to conduct our course walk, unfortunately broke his ankle while out in Kentucky 5* coaching and so the lovely David Doel who was 8th out in Kentucky came and gave us a great walk around and was so insightful of what a rider thinks and plans during these course walks at this level. Massive thank you as ever to Ann Bostock BHSI and Jude Murphy FBHS for their superb organisation, and I know we will all look forward to our next one at Burghley on the Thursday 31st August with our wonderful Eric Smiley FBHS.
I was also able to attend the Irish day this year, and as always it did not disappoint. With a super tour of the Kildangan Stud in Monasterevin, Co. Kildare, and the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) at Curragh House, myself and my two great F&I friends from Scotland, Jen Morris BHSI and Richard Johnston-Smith BHSI, made a few days of it, and we had some much needed time out from work for some tourist activities as well as attend the wonderful day put on by Faith Ponsonby BHSI and Brendan Bergin BHSI. A great report and video are available on the website. I highly recommend people getting over the water and spending a couple of days to take in the wonderful Irish sights and the F&I day next year – we should get a gang of us together and have the craic!
There have been many other fantastic days as well. Sadly I cannot attend them all but again there are great reports that allow us to gain an insight into the days and the key aspects that were demonstrated, discussed, and absorbed by those attending. We really are very grateful for the people who write the reports, and they are well read by the members and give us all such food for thought. There has been a fabulous Eric Smiley FBHS day, and a very productive “Talland” day with super hosts Pammy Hutton FBHS and Islay Auty FBHS, what a team! And of course also the always popular Judy Harvey FBHS day that was wait-listed and was a very insightful day – thanks again to Ann Bostock BHSI.
Upcoming events – save the dates – include Thurs 31st August 2023 our Burghley course walk with Eric Smiley and Monday 18th Sept a Scottish F&I day, at Netherton Equestrian, “Let’s focus on Show Jumping” – more details to follow from Jen Morris BHSI – and several more in the pipeline around the country, so watch your email and our F&I closed facebook page!
As you all know, the F&I Association exists to allow the two highest level of BHS qualification coaches to have their own Association of which they can be super proud – and it gives us a platform from which we can tap into some exclusive trips, events and training days that many organisations and individuals wouldn’t have opportunity to do.
Many of these days are only possible due to the goodwill of individuals and the long-term relationships that some of our key members have forged and maintained over long periods of time, and these key members ensure they look after these relationships which in turn therefore allow us to continue to have such incredible experience days with some of the top trainers, judges, riders, and organisations and venues in the country. These days do take a lot of planning and usually there is a team – not only the named F&I organiser but also the venue hosts, the presenter and also the staff at the venues who often work extra hard to ensure the day runs smoothly whilst having so many guests attending. Often these days are quite disruptive to a working yard, and we must all remember we are privileged to be invited and be able to attend such events.
I know how proud we all are of the level of qualification we have all gained and the feeling we all had on achieving it. When we first attend F&I activities we are proud (and sometimes a bit nervous) and feel that we have joined an exclusive Association that gives us access to special opportunities. Equally I do feel that we all have a responsibility to conduct ourselves in a way that those who look up at us would expect of us. We should lead by example, and maintain the highest standards of professionalism that we all demonstrated to gain the BHSI or FBHS in the first place.
Following a couple of conversations, I have been asked as a polite request to remind everyone that when attending any F&I days, events, training or meetings that we please try and maintain the highest levels of etiquette, manners and conduct that the rest of the industry expect of us.
- Firstly, be on time! However, if you are going to arrive late, which at times cannot be helped, please contact the organiser on route (if safe to do so) and without fuss and disturbance please also provide a sincere apology to the organiser/host on arrival.
- Please be respectful, cheerful and polite to all staff, volunteers, yard, horse owners, grooms and support staff. And always thank the long-suffering organising team!
- Please follow instructions carefully – even if they seem irrelevant or trivial to you, they will have specific reasons behind them, that will be important to the venue.
- Please try to maintain high levels of horsemanship at all times and again lead by example, demonstrating the highest safety standards when handling and preparing horses for work sessions, ensuring we all practice what we preach. (Also mindful of social licence to operate and how we appear to the general public).
- And of course could we please ensure that we always do the little jobs, such as pick up droppings promptly both in the arena and in the lorry parking areas and always leave a yard as we find it – or even better!
Please take this information with the grace and professionalism with which it is sent, and I know that we will all move forward with the highest level of manners and appropriate and professional conduct in the future.
I know many of us are continuing to reflect on our behaviours, language and techniques when coaching and training in view of our “social licence to operate”. I have continued to present on this subject up and down the country and internationally as I know others have as well. I do feel there is a greater understanding by the wider equestrian audience and that in turn is making positive steps towards a united front. Our next responsibility that we can all address is to be mindful of what pictures and attitudes we put on social platforms and even more importantly promote positive story telling as much as possible. One campaign we would like to start within F&I is a hashtag ( # ). A hashtag which precedes a word or phrase is used on social media sites to identify digital content on a specific subject. We would like to propose that we use #donthidecoachwithpride (“Don’t Hide, Coach with Pride”) where you can fill social media with great images of the love for the horse and how important the horse is when caring, riding, and coaching the horse and rider. Any other ideas? You may need to be ultra-careful selecting photos to ensure the horse in particular looks clearly happy (rather than just tired or bored or worse!)
Finally, we are delighted to confirm that the F&I Annual Course is booked for Addington on the 3rd/4th January 2024 with our trainers being Gareth Hughes for flatwork and Dickie Waygood for the jumping. The booking form will be available from 1st September. Also, in 2024 we will be holding an F&I course in Scotland!!! More details to follow soon.
Do keep your feedback coming, just call or message any of the committee at any time, and we’ll do our best to get back to you. So, keep the sun cream close to hand, wear your F&I baseball cap, and don’t forget your trusty rainwear just in case!
See you all soon, and meanwhile have a super summer,
Sam
Sam York FBHS
Chairperson for Fellows & Instructors Association (F&I)
Technical Delegate for International Group for Equestrian Qualifications (IGEQ)
International Equestrian Coach
UKCC level 4
12 – 21 BE Accredited Coach
BHS Lead Assessor
Tel: +44 07989970138
Email: sam@samyork.co.uk