Despite the many years I’ve been at this game when the beginning of the season comes around I’m always rusty in remembering what to take/do for an event.

Several years ago Jenny and I wrote down ‘things not to forget’ in terms of preparation for the first event, both before and during. It still exists on [...]

I use the following approach to make a plan for any horse:

1. Think about the overall goal(s) for a horse for the season
In settling upon a goal for a horse for the coming season I will reflect on how I think the horse went in the previous season, what I thought its strengths were, [...]

Every rider I know has bits of tack that they favour. I know I do, and if I’m honest these then tend to change over time as I try new things as tack evolves, but also based on the expansion of my personal knowledge. So I thought it would be helpful for me to share [...]

At Little Charingworth we tend to routinely ensure all of the horses are regularly checked over, I liken it to checking the oil, water and tyre pressure on the car on an ongoing basis. As a basic rule of thumb we will get a horse’s:

·         Teeth checked every six months.

·         The physio to look over [...]

When it comes to the end of the season and what to do with your horse in terms of a holiday, I would encourage you to put as much thought in to what is best for the horse for this phase of the year as you do in to preparing him or her for the [...]

Crucial information for a season on the road if you are based in the Cotswolds!

1. Charlie the Coffeeman – without doubt by far and away number 1 in my ranking. In fact Jenny has been known to nap at coming to events with me especially in the early part of the year if Charlie’s not [...]

The two most common mistakes I see people make when riding cross country are:

1. Going too fast, galloping in what appears to be a full tilt canter/gallop with little control and little rebalancing before fences and relying on the horse to sort itself out

2. Crawling along too slowly and not staying [...]

Going Up!

It’s quite hard for a horse to jump up steps, particularly if you are going too fast. So take your time to get organised before jumping up a step or set of steps. Get the horse back into a balanced canter with its hind legs underneath it (think positive show jumping [...]

Feed Size

The new concept of feeding hard feed is to feed little and often rather than big feeds less often. The reasoning behind this is that the horse’s stomach is actually small in comparison to the rest of its digestive system as in the wild they are grazers and intake small amounts of food on [...]

1.    Talcum powder  – we get many odd stares in Boots or the supermarket as we buy talcum in bulk. It’s a very useful product whether it be for using on the inside of xc boots, or on a horse’s heels after washing and towelling dry if a little pink and sensitive.

2.    Equi heel – [...]