Hello

One of the worst horses I ever had is one of the horses I now remember most fondly. She was an ex-racer that fitted every stereotype going (she was also a chestnut mare – in colour and spirit!). Cantering in an open space was only wise if you had a death wish and most days I was terrified to ride her full stop. At the time, I really wasn’t experienced enough to understand or cope with her hair-raising ways. But, with perseverance and patience, we got somewhere together and she did end up being a horse I loved to ride. I needed a lot of help along the way but eventually I could go out with my head held high, showing anyone who’d doubted us that, actually, we did work well together. Why did I stick with it? Because I had to. I made the choice to buy her, despite some concerns about her temperament, so I had to find a way to ride her well, get the best from her and keep her happy. The thing is, you and I will always (most likely) end up with ‘normal’ horses. Horses our budget can stretch to and ones we’ll fall in love with at first glance (despite that slightly dodgy conformation and questionable personality quirk). But, just because your horse is not Valegro, it doesn’t mean they’re not capable of reaching great goals or being your perfect partner for life. Sometimes it’s a case of working with what you’ve got and enjoying the ride. You might even do something extraordinary together. With this in mind, we’ve been working on a brand new Your Horse series called Hairy Hopefuls. Don’t laugh, that really is the name and we love it because it tells you what it’s all about – normal horses with normal riders who hope to do something brilliant together. And brilliance is perfectly achievable if you know how – our expert coach Alison Short will be on hand throughout the series to explain how you can train your horse for success, whatever his size, shape or temperament. Get set to silence those doubters and never apologise for your horse again – he or she can be brilliant in his or her own way. Let us show you how.