Localrider Magazine
EVENTING • SHOWJUMPING • SHOWING • FUN RIDES www.localrider.co.uk
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Sept/Oct 2018
Jake Tarrant Event Rider & Entrepreneur
Hickstead Dreams Come True!
www.localrider.co.uk
Show Reports & Local News, including... ● SsangYong Eridge Horse Trials ● British Showjumping Championships ● Coakham Bloodhounds Beach Ride
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September/October 2018 • VOLUME XVIII NUMBER 6
EFS Top Contender
...and lots more!
COVERING KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, BERKSHIRE & THE ISLE of WIGHT
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SPOTLIGHT Jake and Trojan Odyssey competing in the BE100 at Eridge Horse Trials
Jake and Theres Waldo competing in the BE90 at Eridge Horse Trials Jake competing in pink at this year’s Firle International Horse Trials. Jake does this every year in memory of his mother’s sister, Sue, who died of breast cancer. To date he has raised over £6,000.
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ll-round equestrian Jake Tarrant is currently eventing Charlotte Stephens’s 12-year-old Trojan Odyssey alongside Sally Warren and Mike Burgess’s seven-year-old Irish Sports Horse, Theres Waldo. Jake admits: “I would love to end up at four star, but it is not the be all and end all.” For Jake, it is much more about the journey with the horse, building their confidence, creating a bond, and seeing them improve within their own capabilities. Whilst Waldo has been bought specifically to event, many of Jake’s past horses have come to him to be rehabilitated. One such horse, was Albert VII, a big striking palomino originally destined for a bullet. Luckily, he was saved by Poppet, a lady who had admired him on the hunting field and looked after him during his holidays. She rang Jake quickly, and said ‘he doesn’t deserve this’, and thus, their partnership was formed. Jake evented Bert for seven seasons, and by the time he was ready to retire, he was eventing him at BE Novice level. Jake believes that you can usually tell if the problem is manmade. If the horse is fine on the ground, but only has a problem when it is ridden, then usually it has been caused by the rider. These aren’t quick fix problems, but with Jake’s patience and generous nature combined with his ability to ride difficult horses he hasn’t failed to rehabilitate one yet.
Double the trouble Anyone who has met Jake will know he has a great sense of humour and is not unknown to play the odd practical joke. His training began young when he and his twin brother, Mark, used to swap clothes to fool people, with Jake even giving Mark his glasses to wear, as only Jake wore them. The pair, who also have an older sister, Sarah, grew up riding alongside their mother, Vicki. Members of the Southdown Hunt East Pony Club (SDHEPC), they enjoyed doing a bit of everything, especially Prince Philip Cup and going to camp. While an academic career beckoned for Mark, who now lives in Castleton in Yorkshire and works as an ecologist, Jake left school after his GCSEs to train to work with horses. Aged 17 he headed to Patchetts Equestrian Centre in Hertfordshire to do his stages and BHSAI, and to begin with earned just £15 a week including board and food, and by the time he left 18 months later his wages had increased to £42 a week and he had passed his stage 3. Frustratingly,
Pic by Spidge Photography
Jake Tarrant
East Sussex based entrepreneur Jake Tarrant lives his life to the full, running a livery yard alongside his family’s metal work business, with early starts and late finishes allowing him the time to pursue his passion for riding and eventing. Fiona Rafferty went along to chat to Jake at his yard in Little Horsted.
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Products from the Profiles Range
Jake with his dog, Sammy whilst he never had any issues teaching, confidence issues caused him to fail the oral part of the Provisional Teacher’s Test (PTT).
Crash test dummy From Patchetts Jake moved to Honnington Equestrian Centre, just outside Tunbridge Wells in Kent. During his time at Honnington he passed the PTT and completed 350 hours of mentored teaching. After 18 months at Honnington, Jake went to work for Ian Bareham at Golden Cross Equestrian Centre. Jake worked alongside Fiona Cardrick, Tom Crisp and Sharon Moore (Mepham). He remembers fondly that in addition to exercising the competition horses he was also regularly used as a ‘crash test dummy’ on the horses in for breaking and there was one occasion when he fell off and broke his only pair of glasses the day before he set off to teach at the SDHEPC camp, meaning he spent the whole week at camp with his glasses rather fashionably stuck together with Sellotape. As his time at Golden Cross drew to a close Jake knew he needed a different challenge and approached his father about joining the family business, Bretvents Ltd, which was started by Jake’s grandfather in 1963, and originally made ventilation units. Jake’s great grandfather had been an ornamental metal worker and his grandfather had apprenticed with him, now Jake is the fourth generation of Tarrant men to follow this path.
Equivation was born Jake’s father didn’t have a specific role for him but offered him workshop space to create his own products. Combining his knowledge of horses with that of production Jake’s first product was called the ‘Easisoak’, developed to take the effort out of hay soaking. Handmade feed bins, storage trunks and tack lockers followed with more products being added to the Equivation brand all the time. Jake’s stand can regularly be seen at Hickstead, HOYS, Your Horse Live and Olympia, as well as various county shows selling products from the Equivation collection alongside the family’s Profiles Range. The Profiles Range was created by Jake’s mother Vicki during the 1993 recession. As the family sacrificed their own luxuries to keep their staff in work, Vicki, known as the ‘creative one in the family’, went back to the Tarrant family’s roots and produced an ornamental range of metal items which she sold at Christmas Markets. The collection took off and 25 years later includes house signs, weathervanes, hanging basket brackets, key holders, bridle racks, coat racks, plus lots of other fantastic products. They all have a decorative top with designs including horses, farm animals, plus many sporting activities. There are 270 different dog designs alone and Vicki has calculated there are over 50,000 different design and product combinations available. Perfect as Christmas gifts, the range is sold all over the world and is particularly popular in the USA, Germany, Australia and Japan. Two days after I interviewed Jake he was heading to Philadelphia for AETA (the American version of BETA) to assist on the Shires Equestrian stand, the American distributor of the Profiles Range. Jake said: “Americans love products made in England and it is great for them to have an Englishman there, I can tell them all about the different products.”
Eventing commentary Jake’s charm and ability to keep talking have seen him develop a new skill as a commentator at British Eventing competitions in the South East. His talent for holding a microphone was discovered at the South East Eventers League Ball back in 2014, when Jake managed to apprehend the microphone and suddenly found himself helping to sell raffle tickets. He has since been the official master of ceremonies at the ball and commentates at British Eventing competitions. Jake normally competes one day and commentates the next, although he has been known to do both on the same day. He explained that not all commentators have ridden or evented themselves, so he tries to fill the gaps with his first-hand experience and will always walk the course, so he knows how combinations and tricky elements should be ridden.
Military planning If you meet Jake at a competition or show, he is always lighthearted and fun, but underneath the surface you will find a determined, successful businessman, who manages to create a balance between work and pleasure with military style planning. Leaving the house in the morning at 5.30am with his Labrador, Sammy, Jake heads to the yard where he will ride one or two horses depending on the day ahead. He has two freelance stable staff who turn out the horses and prepare their stables, looking after the yard while Jake is at work. Luckily Jake’s yard is only five minutes from the farm unit where his family’s business is based and he aims to be at work by 8.15am, generally staying until 5pm, after which he heads back to the yard. Evenings often involve riding and teaching, before heading back to the unit to complete any work that wasn’t finished earlier. Late checks at the yard and home for 9pm, unless it is Tuesday.
The next generation Tuesday nights are spent looking after Jake’s eight-year-old son, Harry, who splits his time between Jake and his mother, Becca Wood (of the Equi-Fun Club), to whom Jake was previously married. With parents who both work with horses, Harry is a proficient rider, but isn’t always fussed about riding. He has many other interests including tennis and recently won a gold medal at a local tournament. Already helping his father at Hickstead and offering advice on the stand, perhaps in the future Harry will be the fifth generation of Tarrant boys to join the family business. With Jake’s ability to spot new products, such as the EquiXTREME range of shampoos and horse care products which he started distributing in 2017, the business is very different from the one he joined 15 years ago. Extremely active on social media, EquiXTREME first contacted Jake about becoming a brand ambassador, but after further discussions and discovering more about his equestrian business, they asked him to become their UK distributor. Jake’s presence on social media has caught the attention of other equestrian brands too and he is currently sponsored by Voltaire saddles, 21st Century Rider and PW Equine Physio, as he continues on his eventing journey. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 Localrider 9
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