SHOW PREPARATION HILLGROUNDS FEINLINE (Basil) Owned and ridden by Holly Armstrong 5-year-old dressage horse
STABLE TALK WITH SHOWING STAR tes Jo Ba
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ultiple championship-winning show horse producer and Absorbine brand ambassador, Jo Bates produces horses to top level. Jo has produced show horses to take Horse of the Year Show and Royal International Horse Show titles as well as several successful dressage horses. From their yard near Banbury, Jo and her daughter Holly take us behind the scenes and introduce us to a few of their current horses.
AWESOME II (Paddy) Owned by Ami Miller 11-year-old, coloured non-native horse “Paddy is such a lovely personality with a permanent smile on his face. He loves his job and always has his ears pricked forward – he is just one cool dude! “Paddy is already qualified for the Royal International Horse Show with Ami and we are aiming to get them qualified for HOYS later this year. He is coloured so obviously I really look after his white bits! Because we have orange mud here on the top of the hill, I have to be especially careful
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about not letting him get too dirty. “He is turned out in a hood and washed regularly in ShowSheen 2-In-1 Shampoo and Conditioner, but the real godsend for me is Absorbine Stain Remover and Whitener – it keeps his white bits really white! I love that is has stain lifters for a deep clean without bleach or blueing agents and that it has provitamins so it is good for the hair at the same time. “This will be Paddy’s third
season with me, so he is well established with his way of going. It’s now just a question of keeping him up to date, supple and on top of his transitions as well as doing some lateral work. We take Paddy hacking but unlike other horses who prefer to hack in company Paddy is better hacking alone – with others he talks too much and gets spooky!“
“Basil and Holly have already qualified for the British Dressage Winter Championships and the Summer regional finals so now all we have to do is qualify him for his relevant age classes. Continued overleaf...