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The last cross-country schooling day of the season arrived under a sky that could not decide whether to brighten or rain. The trees around the venue had turned…

For a long time, I assumed that a difficult training season meant I needed to work harder. If Archie felt tense in the warm-up, I added another schooling…

Water crossings used to be one of the parts of eventing that made me feel least prepared. Archie could walk through a puddle on a hack without much fuss, yet a…

Competition mornings used to leave me caught between two bad choices: eating too much before riding and feeling sluggish, or eating almost nothing and running…

Eventing asks a horse to move with precision, power, balance, and confidence, often across very different surfaces in a single weekend. Archie may begin with…

Dressage tests look wonderfully orderly from the outside. The arena is rectangular, the letters are fixed, and every movement has a place. Yet that neat…

Winter competition has a particular atmosphere that outdoor shows never quite reproduce. The cold follows you from the lorry park to the warm-up ring, coats…

At home, Archie can usually be tacked up, mounted, and ridden away without much fuss. At a competition, however, the same horse arrives in a completely…

Eventing asks a great deal from a rider’s calendar. A single competition can involve dressage schooling, show jumping practice, cross-country fitness work,…

A sharp turn on a cross-country course can arrive quickly: a flagged corner after a hedge, a jump that sends you toward a narrow line, or a change of direction…