Henrietta Knight’s view

AS a former top-level event rider and British eventing team selector, as well as a highly successful National Hunt trainer, Henrietta Knight is very well placed to compare eventing and racing.

She says: “I have always taught young racehorses to carry themselves properly and to go in a balanced way. Topline is very important; all the power comes from behind and they need muscle on either side of their spines.

“Trainer Aidan O’Brien does a tremendous amount of work in the early part of the year using bungees and running reins to make his [Flat] horses use themselves and develop topline. “But there’s no point making it too complicated. If a horse is comfortable and

going in a nice outline, you’re halfway there.

Racehorses don’t need to be able to canter a 10m circle.

“So many event horses aren’t fit enough now, and I’ve seen some terrible riding and

unfit riders. In both sports riders lack balance; in eventing they never ride without stirrups and rely on their hands, while in the racing world they perch on top and bump about.

“In terms of times of races not having improved, I think that is probably down to poorer, overraced surfaces on racecourses, but I think the standard of competition now is as high as it has ever been.”