Equine Careers - including a sculptural artist, painter, author and Chief Medical Officer

Five Minutes With... William Moulton-Day

William (Billy) Moulton-Day is from a small village called Gestingthorpe just outside Sudbury in Suffolk. Billy specialises in custom artistic metalwork.

“I started welding in September 2017 after taking part in an evening class in welding. I needed a change in my career and this opportunity fitted the bill. “Just before Christmas 2017 I got hold of some old horseshoes from a local farrier and created a simple but effective reindeer. After selling fifteen of them I realised that there was a market for my metal creations. “So the back end of 2017 I set up my business, Rusty Creations UK, and by using only old horseshoes from my local farrier I started creating other small items such as wine racks, boot racks, hearts etc. “As I progressed and gained more experience I started moving on to big artistic sculpture work, still using old horseshoes, but in different ways. “I have recently created a very detailed horsehead from recycled horseshoes. The piece is to scale and each shoe has been heated, forged and welded into position. “Each sculpture can take up to 200 hours to complete and no two ever look the same.”

www.facebook.com/ RustyCreationsUK

WILLIAM (BILLY) MOULTON-DAY IS AN ARTIST FROM THE RURAL SUFFOLK/ESSEX BORDER. BILLY CREATES UNIQUE SCULPTURAL PIECES FROM RECYCLED HORSESHOES AND OTHER MATERIALS.

ELIE LAMBERT ART EXHIBITION

Equestrian painter, Elie Lambert, lives and paints in a studio apartment in Deauville, overlooking the glamorous racecourse. He paints the racing scene in brilliant colours and with a sense of fun.

Exhibition dates: 14th June -3rd July Location: Osborne Studio Gallery 2 Motcomb St, Belgravia, London, SW1X 8JU Entry: Free admission to the gallery

www.osg.uk.com

Emma Cooper EMMA COOPER IS A HORSE RIDING COACH, BASED IN ESSEX. HAVING TAUGHT NERVOUS RIDERS FOR TWENTY YEARS, SHE FOUND THAT THEY COMMONLY SHARE THE SAME STRUGGLES, AND SO DECIDED TO PUT TOGETHER A GUIDE, WITH A SELECTION OF BOTH MINDSET AND PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES, WHICH HAVE BEST HELPED THESE RIDERS TO OVERCOME THEIR FEARS AND ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. HERE EMMA SHARES AN EXCERPT FROM HER NEW BOOK, ‘THE NERVOUS RIDER’S HANDBOOK’

When you ride you have an open channel of communication with your horse, he is constantly asking you questions, and you are answering him through your body language, he will pick up on everything you are feeling. Your state of mind has a direct effect on how your horse reacts to you.

When you start to move forward with your horse, and are thinking about riding, preparation is key to helping your confidence. Preparation cannot be overstated when it comes to confidence building, especially if you are working alone. The more you prepare for each time you are at the stables, the more competent and less nervous you will feel. Confident riders still get negative thoughts, but they know how to shut off these negative internal dialogues and replace them with positives. They have trained themselves to think of ways to encourage success, and now you also have these skills to be able to do this for yourself. Use your self talk constructively and positively. Tips for increasing your ridden confidence:

• Learn to use your breathing and relaxation techniques while on your horse, to calm

you down. You can use these both before, and during riding to reset yourself. It is impossible to tense up whilst performing deep breathing.

Get in the habit of taking a few deep breaths when you have first mounted, and are walking your horse around. He will immediately feel at ease too; your horse is completely in tune with your muscle tension and breathing.

• Learn to relax your muscles to

‘fake’ relaxation, thereby, sending positive vibes to your horse.

• Learn to control your emotions

around your horse. Horses are so sensitive to us, they even match heartbeats. • Go at your own pace, set yourself small goals.

• Ride in the present, don’t think about the past or the future.

The book is available from Amazon, in both Kindle ebook format, and paperback.

Worrying about something that happened in the past, or fears of what might happen in the future distract riders from focusing on what is happening now. Develop the ability to accept and dismiss immediately any mistakes, you cannot change the past, so put it out of your mind.

• Focus on what you do want to

happen, not what you don’t, as this negative thought pattern can make the negatives more likely. When thoughts are negative, stop and refocus on your goal and how to get there.

• Don’t push yourself into a high

anxiety position, take small steps and gain confidence first.

It is ok to stretch yourself, but try not to enter the ‘panic zone’.

• Use visualisation before you

ride. Visualisation allows you to focus, shut out distractions and get things ‘right’, as you have already acted out what you will do in your mental rehearsal.

• Plan for how to cope with possible problems. • List positives about yourself as a

rider. If you think of any negatives, turn each negative belief into a positive one and write them down.

• Use your ‘thought stopping’

technique if you feel any negatives creeping into your mind as you are riding.

• Keep your mind busy, and more importantly, your horse’s mind

busy. If you are both focused, then the tension will not grow into a problem from either one of you. This is a tried and tested method, and really does make a difference. Before your session with your horse, write your plan down, include all transitions and movements, almost as though you are designing your own dressage test.

Search on Amazon for ‘The Nervous Horse Riders Handbook'. www.thinkingrider.com

MAKING MOVES... Dr Diane Fisher

The British Equestrian Trade Association has appointed Dr Diane Fisher, a consultant in major trauma and emergency medicine at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, as its chief medical officer.

Diane will act as a voice of authority on all aspects of rider safety and sit on the BETA Safety Committee. She is set to spearhead initiatives to improve the reporting of equestrian accidents, assist with BETA’s safety courses for riding hat and body protector fitting, and provide safety advice and guidance to its member companies. “I am really honoured and excited to take up this position,” said Diane. “Rider safety sits at the very heart of BETA and I am really looking forward to helping to make a difference. “I know that details of equestrian sport injuries are not recorded by hospitals and I really want to get something done about this. We need this data, which should be collated on a national level so that we can feed it back to safety garment manufacturers. “I think that riders can get a raw deal when they come into hospital. Medics understand the potential for injury in a motor accident, but they don’t always when it comes to equestrian incidents.” BETA executive director Claire Williams said: “Diane is a breath of fresh air and so enthusiastic about supporting us in our efforts to promote rider safety among consumers and the trade. “This, coupled with her huge amount of knowledge and expertise in trauma and emergency medicine, will prove invaluable in helping BETA to raise the benchmark even further for safety in equestrian sport.” Diane formed her popular All the King’s Horses Instagram and Facebook pages last year to help educate riders about how they should respond following an equestrian incident. “Some riders really don’t help themselves when they put on a stiff upper lip and withhold what could be crucial information to the medical team and they end up under-triaged,” said Diane. “They really need to know the basics, such as what to tell the paramedics when they arrive at the scene or what to do when there is an accident and people are worried about moving a rider’s neck. There is so much I can share with riders and this page helps me to reach out with really important advice.” Diane is based at the trust’s hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and lives on the family farm in Cheshire with her husband, Stuart, three horses and three dogs. Her son, Joe, is a Gurkha officer in Brunei, daughter Abbie is a solicitor and stepdaughter Hannah is in her second year of studying psychology at university. A keen horsewoman, Diane trains with Pammy Hutton at the Talland School of Equitation. She competes at low-level dressage and is currently awaiting grading confirmation, which would allow her to compete as a para rider because of nerve damage sustained in her lower leg following a freak non-equestrian accident fifteen years ago.

3 DONKEYS GETS TWEET FROM DRAGON

3Donkeys Clothing has received a business boost from retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis. Amanda Marshall, owner of 3 Donkeys Clothing, tweeted Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’ and was one of six weekly winners to gain a retweet by Theo to his near half a million Twitter followers.

As a result, www.3donkeys.co.uk has lots more followers and extra orders for their women’s 2-into1 Coveralls. They are also profiled on the #SBS website. www.3donkeys.co.uk