Event Reports

A fascinating and informative day It was a drizzly day to begin with, but as we started in the barn where the stocks are, we all kept dry. There was a maximum number of ten people which made sense when I realised how we were going to read scans to determine various different stages of…

A small but high quality group of F&I members and guests gathered at Bramham. We headed up to fence 1 to meet Bramham course designer Ian Stark FBHS. 2019 marks Ian’s tenth year as course designer – when asked whether he was on a fixed term Ian revealed that when the compulsory retirement age for…

Ann Bostock wanted help with the canter work for her 18yr old RoR. Judy addressed this by helping the horse to become more comfortable in his surroundings and worked to get him supple around Ann’s leg. This enabled him to let go in all three paces and lessened the need to ride him so forward.…

Friday morning was bright and clear with a chilly wind as 14 members and their guests set off for an insight to Eric Winters’ imposing XC course, running in a clockwise direction, with Nick Turner FBHS. This year Nick promised us that it wouldn’t be a “route march”, but our fit group managed to overtake…

What a fantastic day we had at Wellington on Friday,  courtesy of David of course!  We were all very pleased to be using the fantastic indoor facilities on such a windy day! All I can say is ‘wow’ – so many exercises and so much to take in.  The hour’s lessons were jam packed –…

Opened by Lord Gardiner the Under Secretary State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity, the National Equine Forum yet again excelled in offering everyone opportunity to learn about so many important topics that influence and affect the Equine industry in both the UK and abroad. The announcement that the value of the UK equine industry is…

Tuesday was an early start for Sue Ricketts and I and when we arrived at Addington at 8am we learnt our first thing…do not arrive early, you get accosted to write the report! My focus over the course was Corinne Bracken who was our jump trainer this year.  I had never had the opportunity to…

Contact The underlying theme that seemed to come across from both the dressage and jumping sessions was that the horses had to be working to the contact in order to create enough power. However, this still meant that the horses had to be in-front of the leg in order to be to the contact. During…

We were treated to a fantastic day at Aintree Racecourse. A guided tour and course walk was followed by a sit-down lunch in a private function room and an afternoon’s racing. December 8th dawned dry and sunny despite a wet and windy forecast. We were greeted with coffee and mince pies, which was a sign…

November 8th dawns – well actually it hasn’t as the alarm went off at 1.15AM & it’s pitch black!  Fran & I left Malsbury Cottage in Wexford at 2.15 AM to drive to Dublin Airport to change Faith into Fran as dear Faith had a family bereavement, the wig wouldn’t stay on Fran’s head &…

Honesty, Energy, Time Those that attended the course walk were in for a treat this year as we were lucky to get input not only from Eric but Captain Mark Phillips himself. At the very beginning of the walk the first thing Eric explained was that as a rider you need to know your horse,…

What a super day I had at The Royal International Horse Show on Saturday 28th July.  The day was spent with many other F & I members and their guests where we had the luxury of the BHS box    with a supply of drinks and a lovely lunch right next to the main ring. …

at Bold Heath Equestrian Centre, Cheshire on 5th July 2018. We had five groups of eager riders for the training day with Nick Turner. Mark Baker and his team at Bold Heath had built a fantastic track for us, with a testing series of jumping exercises for us. They have fantastic outdoor arenas at Bold…

BALLYPATRICK STABLES, FETHARD HORSE MUSEUM & COOLMORE STUD, 26th June 2018. ANOTHER FABULOUSLY ORGANISED DAY BY FAITH PONSONBY BHSI BALLYPATRICK STABLES On arrival we were greeted and shown round by Olga Doyle (Greg Broderick’s sister). Greg represented Ireland as the only Irish show jumper at the Rio Olympics in 2016. I think to say we…

We were lucky to have the opportunity to study the Burghley young event horse classes with the assistance of Nicola Baguley who has bred and ridden winners here. 
Firstly we studied the 5 year olds starting with the dressage where the marks are awarded with future potential in mind as a opposed to it being…