Think of your granddad, a wisened ol’ fella with a twinkle in his eye. Then imagine his frustration when his young spirit has to wait for stiff joints and the aches and pains of old age and you have my 24 year old horse, Brin.

Brin and I have been together thirteen years and enjoy the benefits of our long-term relationship with earned understanding and comfortable ease.

Long gone are the days of bolting, rearing and bucking, giving way to a successful career at lower level unaffiliated dressage.

Like your granddad, Brin has had to start taking pills with his meals to aid his mobility.  We have not had to change diet as all his teeth are intact, but he definitely feels the cold more, so I am particular about getting his rugs just right to keep him cosy and comfortable.

As with all older people, I think it’s important to keep up the exercise, warming up the muscles slowly, allowing his stiff joints time to loosen up.  We spend much of our time on hacks and pleasure rides, keeping in the back of our minds the importance of schooling to maintain his suppleness, which helps keep his old body in time with his young heart.

I didn’t have time to speak with the farrier though, because the next day Alvito was very lame and clearly uncomfortable. We removed the shoe and began a routine of twice daily soaking, poulticing and wrapping.

We repeated our routine for the prescribed period, followed by dry poulticing, then wrapping, then just barefoot on soft ground.  A quick visit and the vet confirmed that he was sound and could have his shoe back on.

Gently, the farrier tapped his shoe back on. Leading him away, he was lame again. The shoe came off, and we started back on our soak and poultice plan.

In time, Alvito was re-shod with particular attention to balance, and we started a 12 week fitness program, with four weeks of walking.

We walked for Britain! Over ground and raised poles, up and down the hills we could find and around and around the school, twice a day, in the dark before work and in the dark after work. We were just about to trot when we stumbled into a… set back.

It wasn’t exactly a disaster, but it was scary. A young horse broke through Alvito’s fence and the two had a fantastic time galloping around the paddock, playing and practicing their sliding stops.

By the time I got to the yard, he was steaming in his stable, trembling with excitement. He was however, lame again. Tears of frustration streamed down my face as I washed and cold hosed his legs that evening. We had been so close to trotting!
 
I decided it was time for x-rays to see if there was an underlying problem. I booked the vet and their portable x-ray equipment and started reading books about all the horrible things they could find.

When the vet arrived, we flexed, trotted, blocked and lunged before sweeping the bedding back in Alvito’s stable and settling down to take x-rays. With a laptop and a few very expensive attachments, we positioned, manipulated and took pictures of the troublesome front leg, as well as a couple of the other leg for reference.

Because the x-rays were digital, the pictures were available immediately. I felt light-headed and sick as we sat down on a bale of hay to scroll through the images on the laptop screen. Software scans the x-rays for abnormalities and changes in the bones – and in Alvito’s case, they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. We then went through the pictures manually, the vet patiently explaining what he was looking for, and mercifully, what he couldn’t find.

At the end of the process, the vet told me Alvito had strong and correct legs and feet. He then prescribed a course of treatment and management to get through the lameness. Giving Alvito a big pat, he said he thought we’d be fine. I felt weak with relief.

It took two weeks to get back into the saddle – and this time I did all the walking with a big smile on my face, listening to his beautiful clip-clop, clip-clop.

One boiling, beautiful summer day my Warmblood tripped and fell on his face. I don’t know how I stayed on, but that incident shook me up more than any fall I’ve ever had – possibly because I had considered not wearing a hat that day as it was so hot, and I knew that had I fallen, my horse would have had no choice but to trample over me.

I’m not a nervy rider, but I am of the opinion that you never know what’s going to happen with horses – so you may as well protect yourself as best you can.

Less than a week later, I was deposited on the floor in what was my first fall in over six years. Everything was going well, when suddenly something spooked the horse. We went from medium trot to reverse gear in a fraction of a second. As he span round I shot out the side door and managed a close verbal impression of Gordon Ramsay, which spooked him even further. Then he was off and I was left on the floor.

I quickly realised nothing really hurt and got to my feet. He can be a nervous horse, so I was worried how he would feel about our parting company. He let me catch him easily and seemed fine, but all of a sudden the realisation of what had happened hit me and I felt out of breath and giddy. Fortunately, another rider in the school kindly got off and held the horses so I could sit on the floor and gather my thoughts.

I think it was the speed at which things had gone wrong which really surprised me, and I was annoyed at myself for getting out of balance. I dutifully got back on and trotted around the arena a few times. Everything was fine so I called it a day.

There are however, some important lessons I can take with me from yesterday. Firstly, falling off needn’t result in a visit to casualty, as most of my previous falls have done. Secondly, although I don’t plan on doing it too often, I’m not so worried about falling in the future. And finally, although I didn’t land on my head, I’m even more convinced I need to wear a hat every time I ride – even when it’s scorching hot.

I won’t go on about it, but as the weather gets warmer and the temptation to ride without a hat becomes greater, please think about that decision very carefully.

What a great weekend I had!

I went riding for the second time this year after long break. This time, it was with my 19 year old niece, Laura.

She’d reminded me at a family get together, that I hadn’t seen her new horse, Zoomie, yet and she’d had him a year already! And then she made me promise that I would get on and ride.

So I turned up at Zoomie’s yard on Saturday, a little nervous about how Zoomie and I would get on.

Firstly, Laura and I had to catch him from the field, then tack him up, and finally, get me on board.

I’d had to borrow some boots from the yard, and had recently updated my riding hat to reach the current safety standards, so I was all ready to go.

Laura left us both in the outdoor school to get acquainted. Zoomie was a gent! A 13 year old, 16.3h, chestnut Thoroughbred, ex-racehorse, adopted from nearby Moorcroft Racehorse Rehabilitation Centre.

We started off slowly walking around on the track on both reins. When I felt confident with that, we progressed to a trot. Zoomie was really responsive to my aids, and I was impressed at how we worked together.

I could feel I needed to loosen up in my legs, and this was confirmed by my rising trot! There was definitely blue sky between me and the saddle. He was bouncy! Boy, I knew I’d be sore tomorrow!

I slowed back down to walk, a little concerned that my bouncing may make Zoomie sore as well, particularly as he’d had a rotated pelvis when Laura first got him and an osteopath had identified uneven muscle tone on his back, which Laura had worked on to rectify.

After our getting to know each other session, Laura came into the school, beaming! The yard owner had suggested we both hack out around the fields, and allowed Laura to ride her own horse, Ornella, the yard dressage diva! I could tell this was a great privilege from her expression.

A 20 minute walk in the autumn sunshine, around tree-lined fields. We both really relaxed and chatted, a great introduction back into leisure riding.

It really boosted my confidence and I’m now planning some lessons at a local school to get my fitness back before I dare to ask…

Laura, can your Auntie borrow your horse again?

Talk about the cat who got the cream! After three years of telling myself I would never leave the ground again, I came into the Horse&Rider office grinning from ear to ear!

The reason being that I have, in fact, just left the ground on a horse and now I’m flying around on cloud nine! I had my first jumping lesson in three years with a friend of mine, intermediate eventer and BHSII instructor, Selena Farmer, and I’ve loved every minute of it.

Okay, it may only have been a couple of feet off the ground, but I’m ecstatic that I’ve had the confidence to even consider jumping again. I’d had no real ambitions or incentives to do it, following a knock to my confidence a few years ago with my very unbrave eventer. However, I’m sure that having an ex-Grade A showjumper who’s now doing dressage and needs a bit more variety in his life, has had an awful lot to do with it.
So with steely determination, I decided to give it a go again and the confidence my beloved Hendy has given me is second to none. However, having a horse who really knows his job has obviously helped give me the psychological boost I needed and going into my lesson, I had absolutely no fear or apprehension. I trusted Hendy completely and knew that he’d look after his dear old mum.

But he really came into his own at the end of the lesson when Selena had a pop on him. We kept putting the jump up three holes at a time for her, until it was about 1.20m and you could see Hendy thinking, “At last, a jump I can get my teeth into!” And it was a joy to watch him go on to automatic pilot, locking on to the jump and drawing Selena in like a magnet. He loved it!
And am I going to do it again? Absolutely!

I took my cob, Harry, to a local show jumping show recently. He was an angel to catch, groom, load and unload – then turned into a little devil in the warm-up!

The venue was new to both of us. I thought it was lovely, a nice big open field, surrounded by trees. Harry obviously thought it harboured all manner of dangerous things, and the other horses innocently warming up were mad brutes who might go for him at any moment. He passaged around the arena (if a cob can passage), then every time I turned him for the practice fence he put his head down and charged!

Our first attempt in the ring was the opposite of the ideal show jumping round. Far from maintaining a nice, rythmic canter, we were either trotting or tanking, but amazingly we got a clear round, and a rosette! Having put in a huge effort trying to stay in control, I felt as though I was going to burst into flames – Harry hardly turned a hair.

Our next attempt was somewhat better, but we badly mistimed one fence and had it down. Then the proper competition started, over the same course, and of course Harry thought he knew what he was doing and got careless.

Again, I didn’t get the stride exactly right at two fences and had them down. But I felt more in control, and we did get a good canter for most of the round. It really was a fun evening, and we loaded up and went home happy, especially as Harry’s friend Red had come third in the class.

Back to the drawing board – or should I say, the manège!

Anyone who owns a horse will be well aware of all the ups and downs it entails. Just when you think you’re getting somewhere, something falls apart and you have to take a big step backwards. Or, on a more positive note, just when you think it’s never going to get better, something wonderful happens and you’re on top of the world.

Well, last year was a bit like that for me and my Trakehner cross Hanoverian mare, Lucy. I have owned her for nine years, and we have had loads of fun together, working our way up the levels of dressage, with very few low patches – fingers crossed.

Last year, however, an accident in the school meant she had a few months off, With a sound horse once again, I was desperate to get back to my passion – the dressage arena – and I set about getting her fit enough to do so.

However, I also had another challenge on my hands. Pre-accident, Lucy and I had moved up a level in dressage – to Medium level – and I have to tell you, it was a huge shock! We had been doing quite well at Elementary, and I thought to myself “how much harder can one level up be?”…

The answer is, a lot! Our marks went down by at least two or three per cent and instead of finishing near the top of the class in the placings, we were finishing much nearer the bottom. Although I was keen to get back out competing, I was also dying to prove to the judges that my horse and I were capable of riding good Medium level tests!

The first outing was a disaster. It rained heavily all day, and when I went into the indoor school to ride my test, I couldn’t hear anything apart from the rain beating down on the roof! I was sure I’d heard the bell to signal the start my test, but I hadn’t, and we were eliminated. I was allowed to continue through my test, and Lucy was calm and obedient, but we didn’t get a score, so I was no closer to knowing whether we were going to ‘wow’ the judges with our comeback.

Two weeks later, I hacked Lucy through a muddy bridlepath to our local dressage venue . I got some strange looks from walkers, I can tell you, and I think people were impressed with the effort I’d made to go for a hack! I rode my test, and was relatively pleased with our performance, so leaving a friend to check my score, Lucy and I set off for home.

“63.5% and you were joint first,” my friend said. I couldn’t quite believe it! A few days later, I took Lucy out for a hack and she came home lame.

You just never know with horses!

The horses know a thing or two about London

Horse&Rider’s Art Editor Heather Blagden

It’s been five years since I’ve even sat on a horse and that’s mainly due to a lack of confidence in my ability. I decided to start learning to ride in my early twenties, and never really progressed out of the school.

I think I sort of missed the essential experience of handling a horse on my own. I knew what to do technically and I loved my lessons, but I think I only went on three or four hacks in all those years! 

So when Kelly, our website editor talked so enthusiastically about her rides through Hyde Park, I plucked up the courage to say “Can I come, too?”. She swooped down on me with gusto, and before I knew it I was booked in and on my way to London. A quick train ride into town, and a few tube stops and I was there, ready for my hack with Hyde Park Stables and quaking in my trainers!

Turning up in jeans and t-shirt was not a problem (or so I thought), as I’d set out on a beautifully sunny day, but typical English weather had changed by the time I arrived into dark clouds and heavy rain.

At that point my nerves started to get the better of me and the thought of going out on a horse in those conditions seemed ridiculous. Wouldn’t the horses be spooked by the brooding sky and pelting rain?

Kelly soon put me at ease, assuring me of the horse’s bomb-proof character. Supplying a pair of jodhs, boots, half-chaps, and bright yellow rain coat, I realised there was definitely no getting out of this!

All the grooms at Hyde Park Stables were really helpful and relaxed about the whole experience. They supplied me with a hat and gloves, and paired me with Red, a laid-back 14.2hh chestnut pony. They helped me on board, checked my stirrups and…

We were off! Kelly was leading the ride on Micky and held on to Red and I with a leading rein. Part of the reason I agreed to ride at Hyde Park Stables was because someone would hold my hand like this!

As we walked out of the cobbled mews, despite the rain coming down in stair-rods and my jodhs soaked through to my knickers, I was really excited! Sometimes you just need that extra push to do things that you might usually talk yourself out of.

Then, we walked over a road and into the park, I started to relax into the saddle, and felt all the old enthusiasm for riding coming back. There was about eight of us in total on this ride, all of various ages and experiences, but keen as mustard to go out in such pitiful weather! 

As we got further into the park, the clouds moved off, the sun came out, and it turned into a decent day. We rode on through some tree lined areas, on sandy paths, passing traffic, and pedestrians, across a bridge spanning the Serpentine and on to Rotten Row.

Once on Rotten Row, we did a little trotting, which Red was really keen and easy about. He was quite bouncy, but I managed to get my rise and fall into his rhythm, and we seemed to make a natural pair.

I have to say I was really impressed with all the horses, not only were they forward going, but also laid back enough to tolerate the taxis, buses, road sweepers, umbrellas, and dogs that were around us. No spooking from any of them!
 
We rode through some of the most famous areas of London, which was quite an experience on horseback, and certainly one I want to repeat!

Harry soon got the hang of jumping

Horse&Rider’s Editor-in-chief Alison Bridge

I’ll kick off by introducing myself and my horse, Harry.

My name is Alison Bridge and I’m the Editor-in-Chief of Horse&Rider and a fifty-something riding returner. I rode from age seven until I went to University and then only occasionally up until three years ago, when I caught the horse bug again. My horse bug resulted in the purchase of Harry, an eight year old, 14.3hh skewbald cob.

Harry is like no other horse I have ever ridden, more like a chunky, overgrown pony with attitude. It took me a while to get used to him (and vice versa), but now I absolutely adore him. He’s cute, clever, cheeky and brave – he’s had a bash (literally, sometimes!) at everything I’ve asked him to do so far, from sponsored rides to dressage.

Harry lives out 24/7 with his pony friend, Snoopy, and I ride him two to three times a week, or more if I can. Recently I’ve kept it to short hacks in the rain – I hate getting wet right through to my pants! And of course I spend lots of time poo-picking his field, not a lot of fun in the rain, either.

But a couple of days ago, finally the clouds parted and I had a wonderful riding lesson. My trainer Fiona is an event rider, and a great confidence giver, which is just what my training buddy, Jane, and I needed. We’d both had falls jumping, but Fiona has been brilliant, getting us happily tackling poles, grids and jumps again. This week she put up a couple of new grids. The first was a jump with a placing pole either side to trot over.

Harry was a bit puzzled at first – “is it a very high trotting pole?” I could almost hear him thinking – so he didn’t so much jump as scramble! He soon got the idea, but found it quite an effort: although he is quite powerful, he’s not a natural athlete.

Then we did a combination of two jumps, four long, or five short strides apart. I tried for the long strides first, legging him on in between the fences, and nearly got them.

Then Harry put in a fast short stride just before the second jump and shot straight up like a helicopter – cue my first shriek of the day!

We managed four strides on our next attempt, with Harry barrelling towards and over the second jump with gusto, then getting his head down and giving a few little humps – his version of a few cheery bucks – which my companions found hilarious!

Now Harry was really on a roll and thought he knew what he was doing, so when Fiona asked us to jump the combination in five strides, I had to take quite a vigorous check between fences. It worked, and we did a few more variations.

We ended our session by doing a spread, then a single fence on four long strides again, which he absolutely flew over without touching a pole. More humping from Harry, more shrieks from me, more laughter from my unsympathetic colleagues!

I was knackered – our session went on for an hour and twenty minutes – and I had minor whiplash, but I haven’t had so much fun for ages.

Roll on my next ride!

Jane

Deputy Editor of Horse&Rider Jane Gazzard

I may have ridden on and off for most of my life, but it’s only since I came back to riding 10 years ago after a long gap that I’ve experienced some of my greatest horsey challenges.

These challenges are admittedly nothing out of the ordinary, but they’ve certainly left their mark – probably due to the fact that as you get older, things become that much harder to do and ambitions more difficult to achieve. You’re much more aware of the pitfalls, the things that can go wrong – and the fact that you’re not as brave as you used to be!

Anyway, these challenges have resulted in me re-discovering my competitive streak – one that has been buried for longer than I care to remember! But now it’s back with a vengeance – and I’m loving every minute of it! I’m not going to take it so seriously that it becomes obsessive, but I’m glad I have my goals to work towards.

Like most people, I’ve had my share of horsy knocks – broken horses, unsuitable horses – and have been on the point of giving up altogether. And then along came Hendy (aka Carnaval King), the kindest, sweetest horse I’ve ever met…

He’s a 15-year-old British Warmblood who’s probably, in his former life as a Grade A showjumper, been around the world with his ‘job’ more times than I’ve had hot dinners! But despite his awesome credentials, he’s a bit of a baby, cheeky, unassuming and certainly not a show-off. But he is a load fun and together we have formed a close partnership and friendship.

Some people say I’m silly to treat my horses as pets, but that’s the way it is, I’m afraid – and that’s the way it will always be. So after what was obviously a demanding career, Hendy now probably thinks he’s died and gone to heaven! And all he has to do in return for all the cuddles and pampering is to get his mum out on the dressage circuit – something he’s achieved after her long break away from competitive riding.

We’ve spent hours together putting in the groundwork with professional dressage rider Lynn Wickes, who is also an excellent trainer. Lynn makes lessons fun and we talk for ages about everything under the sun, before we get down to the business of hard work. And with her help, we’re now slowly but surely reaping the rewards of that teamwork!