Summer Newsletter
Dear Members,
Well, the longest day has come and gone – and so has summer, I think? I cannot believe that we are now in July already, and I’m sure, like me, you are all in the middle of a very busy equestrian time of year, with so many competitions, qualifiers, regional championships in all disciplines, as well as our big events and of course Olympic fever growing. Do we have any members going over to Paris, to judge maybe, ground jury, or coach riders, support teams, or even as spectators? If you are, we would love to hear all about it, so please do keep us up to date and feel free to put together a little write-up and photos to share your experiences with the rest of the members.
Well, we have had some fantastic events since my last newsletter, starting with an evening zoom event “Managing your Energy” organised by Liz Eaton FBHS on 25th April. Becky Thompson is a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner (NLP MP), and Energy Leadership Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), just to mention a couple of her relevant qualifications! She has been coaching for over 25 years beginning in the corporate world where she was responsible for delivering coaching training to managers and for coaching senior leaders. Her focus shifted to specialising in Confidence and Mindset Coaching, both of which seemed vital in many areas of her own journey, specifically as a Mum of two, as a manager in corporate, as an Expat and also as a passionate horse rider. Now considered an equestrian life coach! This event was inspirational, helpful and a great self-reflective activity. There is an excellent report written by Sarah Thorne BHSI which is a great read that’s written in such detail and is now a super working document for us all to revisit when needed. Thanks, Sarah, for this brilliant report and to Liz for organising the event. Here is a link to Becky’s website if anyone would like to visit it again and/or contact her. https://www.mindhop.co.uk/site/aboutme
Our next event was our very popular Judy Harvey (FBHS, BD List 1 judge, UKCC3), Study Day on 29th April, organised by our own superwoman Ann Bostock BHSI. We are so privileged to be able to spend the day at Judy’s yard and be able to receive or observe Judy’s vast knowledge and experience on the training of horses and the coaching of horse and rider combinations. Judy’s CV is phenomenal, and we really are so lucky to be able to spend a day with her. There is a super report written by Mandy Chaffin BHSI for the morning with a great summing up and take-home message of keep things “simple”, “honest” and “quality”. Sally Jackson BHSI then wrote a very useful report on the afternoon sessions, highlighting some key aspects for coaches being prepared for coaching assessments, such as ensure that you position yourself at the side of the arena to see what the assessors may well be seeing, and so that you get a complete perspective of the horse and rider you’re helping. Judy also encouraged the coaches to ensure they have a “back pocket full of different exercises ready to deploy when needed”. The day was full of excellent examples of Judy’s brilliant eye for detail as well as her effortless coaching tools and exercises that showed improvement all round.
We also had our brilliant course walk at Badminton – always a popular event and a great time to get together at such an iconic event but also so privileged to have Eric Smiley FBHS. Eric must be one of the all-time greats, especially when it comes to expressing in words the principles, art and interpretation of great training of horses and riders. To apply this to looking at jumping some of the most challenging fences (and ultra-challenging course) in the world is nothing short of world class – and these are opportunities that only F&I members (and lucky guests) can get; as they say, these are activities that money simply cannot buy.
Our next event of the same ilk was of course the fabulous “Irish day”. I was so sad to not be able to attend this event in the end I like to make a few days of it, but it’s just proved to be impossible this time to get away, but the brilliant report and video was a great substitute on this occasion. So, on the 11th June F&I members and their guests were welcomed to the Hughes Horse Stud (HHS), based in the beautiful countryside of Graigue, Cuffesgrange, Co. Kilkenny. The HHS continues the legacy and vision of the late Seamus Hughes, whose passion for horses and whose keen foresight for quality Irish breeding programmes has perpetuated some of the highest quality bloodlines, as well as producing national and international champions. The second visit of the day was to the Ballylinch Stud, this is one of Europe’s leading thoroughbred racehorse breeding operations. Owned by John and Leslie Malone, Ballylinch has bred or consigned 17 Group 1 Winners. We have an incredibly detailed report by Leanne Waters and a top-class video from our dearest friend Fran, Jillie Rodgers BHSI’s better half! Thankfully I’m not within hitting-with-a-posh-hat distance!
Please do go and visit these reports if you haven’t already, you’ll really enjoy them.
We very often use funds from the events to make donations on behalf of the F&I Association. This year we have pledged to donate 500 Euros on behalf of the HHS to a new fund in memory of young Jack de Bromhead. This incredible centre, the Jack de Bromhead National Equine Centre, is a magnificent way to be able to remember this incredible young man. ChildVision are now going to be able to build a much-needed new indoor equine therapeutic centre, named in memory of Jack, and it will be built this year. This will give children who are blind, multi-disabled and neurodiverse access to the best global equine activities in a supportive and purpose-designed environment and will allow the ChildVision equine team and volunteers to extend their services to reach more children over more hours making a life-changing difference, especially through the winter months and in bad weather conditions. The centre is located in Drumcondra, Dublin – this could be a good place to visit if you are ever in the area. https://childvision.ie/how-to-help/the-jack-de-bromhead-national-equine-centre/
So what’s next? Well of course we have The Agria Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) on Saturday 27th July at Hickstead, as guests of the BHS. This is the RIHS’s Ladies’ Day and there is a great line up of events in the main arena all day including the miniature horse championships, double harness scurry championships, Ladies’ Day presentation (maybe one of our beautiful members will win it?). There is then the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (and there is a course walk of that for our members in the box), as well as the final judging of the small hunter championship and supreme hack championship and couple of other jumping classes. Wow what a day it will be. So the BHS have kindly offered us subsidised access to their private box, £130 per person for the day, which includes a 3-course lunch, afternoon tea, access to the show ground, and parking (bar drinks will be extra on the day). Only a very few spaces left. Unfortunately for me, it clashes with the British Eventing National Youth championships again and so I sadly cannot attend but it will be a super day all round! https://www.hickstead.co.uk/horse-shows-tickets/horse-shows/the-agria-royal-international-horse-show/ladies-day-saturday-27th-july-2024/ – if you’re quick you can still apply for a couple of places – check your emails, our Facebook page and our F&I website.
We also have the annual Burghley Course Walk with our wonderful Nick Turner FBHS, again organised by our amazing Ann Bostock, on Thursday 5th September – see the details on the Facebook page and the website. Not to be missed! Also a couple of really interesting Winter Zoom sessions are being developed – contact us if you have any interesting ideas and presenters to share with other F&I members over the winter of ’24/’25!
This brings us onto the 2-day F&I event running in Scotland, on Monday 7th / Tuesday 8th October. A new F&I event, the “Equine Coach Assembly” will be held at the Scottish National Equestrian Centre, Broxburn, near Edinburgh Airport. Very exciting to have Master Coaches Ferdi Eilberg & John Ledingham, as well as our own Russell MacKechnie-Guire and Sam York taking workshops each day. This event is booking up very well and is attracting interest from all over the country and further afield. Obviously, this is a F&I event and it’s going to be a big one, don’t let the logistics put you off as flights are really cheap, especially the earlier you book, and we are going to look at transfers between venues while you are there. Really excited about this event and great credit to Jen Morris BHSI who is leading the organisation and running of this event.
[Oh and there’s a small assessment taking place late October… good luck if it’s you!]
November? Racing of course! At Wetherby on 1st November, Newbury on 7th November –we have THREE brave F&I members as jockeys riding for charity for the BHS! Please support and sponsor them – their efforts to pass their fitness tests alone are extraordinary! Watch your emails and Facebook for more information over the coming weeks.
The other activity in the pipeline is the F&I and Fellows Association joint European trip – I’m afraid this is proving to be very challenging to set up, but I haven’t given up yet! So please do keep it in mind for November time for a few days away in Europe at one of our iconic equestrian centres. I know it’s getting late for you all to plan, but it really is being a bit of a nightmare to arrange the bespoke aspect of the trip. I will keep trying.
Finally, just to ensure you all have the dates in your diary for the next major event, our F&I Annual Course at Addington will be Monday 6th / Tuesday 7th January 2025, and, as always, excellently organised by Ann Bostock and the whole team. The two days will be based around looking at the future of coaching and training horses and we have some exciting guests lined up to attend and present for us. All will be revealed nearer the time and bookings will open as usual in early September.
As always, a massive thank you to everyone who has run events and written reports and special thanks to Alison Craig (our Secretary) and Jude Murphy (our Treasurer) for their constant administration and advisory roles and to all the other wonderful Committee members who help us make decisions and keep looking at future events and the overall direction in which F&I is going. It’s all very exciting!
Have a super summer all of you and we will stay up to date via emails (thank you Alison), the Facebook page (thank you Sam Champney-Warrener) and the F&I website (thank you Sally Newcomb). Please let us know about any activities you are up to (especially in Paris…) and let’s all keep in touch.
Best wishes,
Sam
Sam York FBHS
F&I Chair