First of all, thank you to Andrew for organising the day and the coffee on arrival. Carl showed us five horses ranging from 7yrs to 11yrs, he told us that his first important criteria is “has the horse got the ability to go to Grand Prix” – he likes a horse to be quick in…

A good day was enjoyed by the eleven F and I members and their guests at Hickstead on Ladies day. We had use of the BHS member’s box along side the main arena next to the water jump which made excellent viewing for the Queen Elizabeth Cup….. 13 feet of water followed by a 1m…

As BHSII’s with our E and C exams looming, it was with great interest and excitement that we attended the training day at Judy Harvey’s yard. First was Amanda Holloway who was riding a welsh X. Judy’s emphasis was to work on rhythm, keeping the tempo slow enough to improve the quality of the trot…

Walking the course with Nick Turner (previous Badminton competitor, now Brazilian Eventing Team Coach and Snr Selector for British Eventing) was a fantastic way to learn all about the challenges of this true four-star course. The big message of the day from Nick was how critical it is that the rider has absolute understanding and…

As always, Kenneth Clawson delivered an informative series of coaching sessions, encouraging all participants, riders and audience alike, to think and to participate. Emphasis was on awareness of the horses’ regular stride patterns, together with control and accuracy. The Counting of Strides, and in particular the riders being challenged to be consistent in being able…

Adam Kemp FBHS gave us two days of clear, systematic training at our annual two-day course. With 12 sessions each day he certainly had plenty to do – and we had plenty to watch and discuss. Horses ranged from Novice to Small Tour and highlights for me included watching Adam work with Sue Pimbley on…

Around 25 of us lucky souls managed to congregate at Hickstead on Saturday 31st July 2010, for what is fast becoming our social highlight of the summer – the RIHS. There were even a few BHSIs who, despite distinguished careers in the horse world, had never done the Hickstead pilgrimage – so it was quite an…