On June 13 approximately 50 fortunate F and I members and guests assembled at Carl Hester’s idyllic Gloucester base to feast our eyes and fuel our minds with Carl’s inspirational ways. The morning started with Carl discussing his four year olds and then progressing through the ages and stages finishing up with Dances with Wolves – a horse which Carl is very excited about. We were in store for an extra treat as double Olympic…

“Forward Forward Forward………” I heard in the background of my “hands free” as I turned the car around and waved for the third time at the man walking his dog who laughed and waved back. From there Traffic Controller Ann talked me in to the yard! Needless to say I missed the best part of the first session, however I did hear an excellent explanation of how to encourage a horse to take the neck…

It was unusual to drive south from Northumberland to find that spring was also late at Badminton with slow growing grass and no swallows in the main arena on the Friday. However, sun, blue skies and a fresh wind made perfect conditions for course walking. Nick started by saying how well and fit all the horses had looked at the initial trot up the previous evening and that he felt that this year’s course was…

We were blessed with lovely sunshine when we headed to Boomerang for our cross country training with Janette Brakewell. It was bitterly cold, but, at least no rain and the going was ‘good to firm’. The schooling area is regularly harrowed and you really couldn’t complain about the going although it was a little frosty to start !! Russ (owner) drove the tractor through the 2 water jumps to break up the ice so there…

This is the first time that I have ridden at an F&I Course and both myself and my horse thoroughly enjoyed it. The first day was all about the fundamentals, which after all are the base to everything. We worked in particular on straightness to create more power. We started in walk; weaving in and out of the jumps, and then proceeded in trot, working on transitions between walk, trot and halt, also rein back.…

We were very privileged this year having an opportunity to receive some training from Stephen Clarke FBHS. The course was well supported and there were horses from Novice to Grand Prix, so we all got the opportunity to see Stephen’s philosophy of training horses at all levels. For all riders and spectators Stephen provided great training. He worked well with all riders and horses and there was great improvement shown especially on the second day.…

Speaking personally, I find marketing quite difficult and have often felt frustrated with the BHS, that they do not promote our qualifications better. I am very proud of my qualifications and really want them to be recognised as the best training system for instructors/trainers in the horse industry. I also feel like I have wasted a lot of money on useless advertising over the years and don’t want to continue doing so! When this day…

I was lucky enough to be invited to join the F & I Association course which was held at Coleg, Gwent (Usk). The course was taken by Gareth Hughes. What an inspirational trainer. He worked with 10 combinations all at various levels of training from an ex racehorse to PSG. Gareth assessed each combination, quickly identifying the “honest” strengths and weaknesses. He then clearly explained to the riders and to the spectators WHY the combination…