Posts

Between dressage, show jumping and cross-country, there is rarely enough time for a leisurely grooming session. At an event, I need to make Archie look tidy,…

A horse that becomes too excited in the warm-up ring can make a competition feel difficult before the first bell has even sounded. Archie is usually a sensible…

Summer competitions bring a familiar mixture of early starts, dusty yards, polished boots and horses flicking their tails at every passing fly. For Archie, a…

At home, I can usually get through a schooling session with one pair of gloves and a quick wipe afterwards. Competition days are different. There is more…

A quiet dressage arena looks peaceful from the judge’s box, but it can feel very different from the saddle. There may be a PA system crackling near the…

Cross-country riding has a way of making a familiar horse feel completely new. In the arena, Archie can be precise, patient and wonderfully predictable, but a…

A few months back I arrived at a country event around lunchtime, unloaded Archie, and walked the dressage ring while the warm-up was still in chaos. Within ten…

I have been riding for most of my life, but it took me a while to realise that the longest conversations I have about my own riding happen when Archie is tied…

There is a particular kind of sick feeling that arrives about fifteen minutes before your dressage test, when you reach for your bridle and discover the buck…

Archie and I came back from a school at a mate's property outside Camden looking like we'd done a dressage test in a swamp. The tyres on the float had a…