world
Horse Brilliant Exciting times ahead for Blair Castle Horse Trials, says cross-country course designer Ian Stark...
Blair B
Inset photo: Kit Houghton
lair Castle Horse Trials in Perthshire, Scotland, has been offering a warm Highland welcome for 25 years, but this year’s event (21-24 August) is one with a difference. In the run up to the 2015 European Eventing Championships at Blair Castle, the event has chosen former international rider turned course designer, Ian Stark, to craft the crosscountry tracks. He says: “It’s an honour, being from Scotland and with the European Championships here for the first time. “My first major change was to turn the track around, so it’s going in the opposite direction this year. There’s no shortage of natural features to work with. The flats are very flat, but it’s alongside a river and there are endless hills. It would be too easy to use too much of the terrain. So my big thing is trying to get the balance right and not
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have too many drop fences.” With CCI*, CCI** and CCI*** (international three-day Novice, Intermediate and Advanced) courses to design, Ian has had plenty on his plate. As an Olympic, World and European medallist, and winner of the CCI* at Blair Castle in 2005, he understands the horse’s perspective. He says: “I hope that I have a feel for what works for the horses in my courses. My aim is to keep everything understandable for them. There must never be any tricks.” Will Ian be watching on the big cross-country day? “I watch and I feel sick all day. I want to make a challenging course that everyone will enjoy. It’s a huge responsibility and I hope that I get it right. I am usually pretty uptight and neurotic all day!”
Ian Stark and Murphy Himself
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PART TWO In this feature... ➤ Jumping a course ➤ Seeing a stride
Photos: Bob Atkins. As told to Céleste Wilkins. Many thanks to Toggi and Champion for their help with this feature. Visit toggi.com and championhats.co.uk for more information.
Our trainer Piggy French is an international event rider and has represented Great Britain on many occasions including the World Equestrian Games in 2010. She was second at Badminton Horse Trials in 2011, in 2013 won Barbury International CIC3* and has had great success in 2014.
It’s all about
the rhythm Solve your jumping problems and set up a simple, yet effective course with event rider Piggy French
Our models Susannah Paybody and nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse Brownie (Castletown Clover) have successfully competed at BE80, where they were placed 10th in their first event, and are aiming for BE90. Maya LawtonSmith’s pony, Dolly, is usually ridden by her brother – but Dolly stood in at the last minute when Maya’s pony went lame. Maya is aiming for a Pony Club one-day event. Louise Forsythe rides six-year-old home-bred Koda (Lekota Moon). Louise’s mum used to drive Koda’s mum and they still have her at 20 years old! They’ve done unaffiliated eventing and riding club events. Louise hopes to do a BE90.
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8a
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ast month, Piggy French helped three Horse&Rider readers work out the kinks in their flatwork. This month, she fine-tunes their showjumping so they can achieve their goals of competing at BE90. Piggy says: “It’s important to practise your jumping at home so that you are prepared for competitions. Making up and remembering courses at home is great preparation for events or showjumping competitions, especially if, for whatever reason, you aren’t able to walk the course. The last thing you want to do on course is be cantering along and forget where you’re going! It’s really important that you always have a plan of where you’re going and what you’re doing between fences, and practising at home will go a long way to keeping you focused at competitions.”
Piggy’s simple course
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In the saddle
➤ Dealing with stops at jumps ➤ Building confidence in showjumping
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Susannah says: “We start out with a nice, even canter at the first jump, but then Brownie gets quicker and quicker as we’re going around the course.” Piggy says:
“When you’re schooling, do a circle after each jump, get your rhythm back and then proceed to the next. Use half-halts to steady him and help him keep his balance on his hindquarters. On your landing, be quick to get your canter back, change leg if you need to and set him back into that steady canter. Above all, don’t panic. He knows what he’s doing, you’re going together and he looks safe – you just need to maintain his rhythm.”
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t s a F and
furious Extreme sports meet equestrianism in horseboarding. H&R’s Céleste Wilkins gets the full experience
I H&R’s Céleste and Horseboarding UK’s founder, Daniel Fowler-Prime
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f you’re an adrenalin junkie looking for your next adventure – look no further. Horseboarding is making a splash at country shows and there’s really something for everyone – whether you’re more comfortable on a mountain board or on-board a horse. The sport began when stunt rider and daredevil Daniel Fowler-Prime came up with the idea of being towed behind a car on a mountain board. He soon replaced the car with a horse – and the rest is history.
have the other teams and spectators cheering you on the whole way around the course. There are lots of thrills and spills, and it’s not uncommon for boarders to hit the deck!
Starting out
I was lucky to have Horseboarding creator Daniel to introduce me to the sport. First he tugged me along on the board, to get me used to feeling the jolt at the beginning when the horse starts to take up the slack in the rope. We practised turning –
Thrilling competition
The aim in horseboarding is to have the fastest time around a course. The course is marked with the types of poles you’d find on an alpine slalom course. Riders towing their boarders must go in-between two poles, across the diagonal or on the straight. There are novice and elite-level courses, with the addition of ‘weave cones’ to zigzag in and out of. At the elite level, you’ll see riders at full gallop around the course, but the novice teams go at varying speeds, depending on their experience. That’s what’s great about the sport – it’s for all levels and abilities. What’s more, you’ll be sure to
Getting used to being towed
In the saddle
Céleste kitted out and horseboarding with ex-racer Atters providing the horsepower
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and it helped that I did a bit of skateboarding and snowboarding as a child! Then I was attached to the horse by a harness around the saddle and a quick-release clip. Atters, the patient ex-racer who pulled me along for my first time, started slowly. I soon got the hang of it and we were cantering in no time!
Picking up a trot
Have a
GO
If you want to try a new, rapidlyevolving discipline, give horseboarding a try. Here’s why... ➤ You can use the horse you own, as long as he’s confident pulling you around on your mountain board. At the competitions, you’ll see everything from cobs to ex-racers, and anything in-between. ➤ Horseboarding UK holds training days and is always keen to help beginners start out. ➤ The Horseboarding UK circuit tours the country and there’s likely to be a show near you. ➤ Want to convince your adrenalin-junkie friend or partner that horses are exciting? This is the perfect way to get them involved!
For more information about Horseboarding UK, visit horseboardinguk.org
On course
After I got comfortable with cantering in a straight line, I tackled the novice course, including some 90-degree turns. I did fall over a few times, as I found that turns requiring me to lean back made me lose my balance. After a while I got the hang of it and I had a blast – so why not have a go yourself? Trading places: Céleste has a go riding with Daniel on the board
The best bits
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Healing with the herd Emotional and sensitive, horses can help troubled people as many are discovering through equineassisted psychotherapy, says H&R’s Céleste Wilkins
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n a tranquil stable in Lancashire, a big, black Irish cob stands quietly, his presence comforting a young girl who has experienced significant trauma in her young life. This friendly horse is part of a growing herd used for equine-assisted psychotherapy, a therapy method that uses equines in the healing process. While many other animals are used in modernday psychotherapy practice, horses are particularly good because they’re sensitive to their handler’s fear and anxiety. Like many other animals, they’re not judgemental – they have no expectations or prejudices and they don’t care what you look like, what you wear or if you have friends or not. Equine-assisted psychotherapy incorporates horses with qualified human psychotherapists to achieve amazing results. The horses act as a
mirror for the human, and their presence can help the patient understand their feelings, develop their sense of self and self-esteem and generally improve their quality of life. People who have experienced trauma in their lives and those with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or anxiety may significantly benefit from sessions involving horses. There’s a shift that occurs when the patient leaves the clinical environment, where the focus is on the problems and diagnosis, to interacting with a horse in a variety of settings. The horse can help those who have difficulty connecting with or trusting others and controlling their emotions. Horses are naturally accepting, they don’t talk back and they enjoy being touched. What’s more, horses require humans to gain their trust.
The horse can be a great comfort, especially when he responds to the emotion of the patient — Julie Stirpé
In psychotherapist Julie Stirpé’s Lancashire yard, horses are used to complement more traditional forms of therapy. She’s seen incredible results in just three or four sessions with horses who have reaffirmed her belief in using them in addition to more traditional, talk-based therapy. Julie says: “The horse can be a great comfort, especially when he responds to the emotion of the patient. There’s a huge shift in the patient’s attitude when the horses respond.” Julie lets the patient direct the format of the sessions. Sometimes they happen in the arena, sometimes in the stable or in the field. There is some structure to the sessions, but it’s down to the skill of the therapist to use any situation that crops up as an asset – horses are, after all, spontaneous beings. The patient chooses which horse to interact with. “We don’t humanise the horses. We don’t give them a gender or a name – that way the horse is whatever the patient needs them to be. We use the horse as a metaphor for whatever they need at that time. It can be a representation of their fears, their anxieties – whatever they need.” The two mainstays of the programme are Julie’s own 16hh black, Irish cob gelding and her
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A therapeutic herd
Mind matters
coloured traditional gypsy cob mare. The rest of the herd is made up of rescue horses and ponies. “It’s good to have a range of different horse personalities. I rescued a Shetland pony recently – she’s a little firecracker! She doesn’t like people and doesn’t like handling, so in some ways the sessions benefit her, too. We’ve got another 16.2hh Irish Draught filly who sometimes doesn’t know where her feet are and an older, retired Dartmoor pony.”
Incredible stories
“My horses have taken to it like ducks to water!” continues Julie, who started her programme about seven years ago. She’s a long-time equestrienne and at first she was a bit wary of
combining her hobby with her work. “The horses are so sensitive to my patients’ emotional state,” she says. One such moment occurred with her Irish cob. “He’s quite a big boy and looks quite daunting, but he’s a real softie. I recently worked with a patient who had terrible problems – she had overcome severe heroin addiction and the accompanying problems that wreaked havoc in her life. With the help of my gelding, she turned her life around and found new ways of living. “When I introduced her to the horses, she chose the black gelding. He’s so soft and quiet, and it catapulted her into a whole range of emotions – being with my boy helped her realise how far she’d come in her journey. As we talked,
Horses can help those who have difficulty connecting with or trusting others and controlling their emotions
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