Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2018 | Page 93
Equestrian
TRAINING HORSES
with Robert Booth BHSI
We made it through Christmas
and January, with all 15 stables
full with horses for breaking
and schooling, plus our own,
and battling with the weather
when out teaching.
What with everyone catching the lurgy
that’s been going round, it has certainly
been a struggle, but as everyone with
horses knows, the show must go on.
This is the time of year when we
have to start planning the year ahead.
We tend to use the winter months for
training for the summer competitions
rather than doing the indoor shows,
mainly because the appeal of staying in
the lorry in sub-zero temperatures or torrential rain is
becoming less attractive to us as we get older.
We have two exciting horses to concentrate on this
year - a lovely big four year-old Calvaro x Quidam de
Revel gelding Java W, and a five year-old Van Gogh x
Heartbreaker stallion SHW CanCan. Their training has
come on by leaps and bounds this year and they are
looking very promising. They will be aimed at young
horse classes throughout the year, along with our
older horse Upgraded Flight for a few bigger shows.
Having gained my Artificial Insemination certificate
and having two lovely foals last year we also intend
to use CanCan for public stud this year - mostly on
the Island, but also looking to hopefully extend it
to the mainland with fresh and chilled semen. With
the breeding season just around the corner there
is a lot of work to be done but we have most of the
equipment and had a practice run last year, so we
are looking forward to this exciting New Year and
new venture.
Robert Booth is an Equine trainer for Rodgebrook
Horses. Telephone: 01983 521870 or visit
www.rodgebrookhorses.co.uk.
Useful tips on training your
horse: Mounting
The first thing we have to
learn is how to get on a horse.
I have seen many quite
experienced riders mounting
badly. The most common
fault is not having a contact
on the reins and landing
heavy in the saddle. Teaching
your horse to stand quietly
next to a mounting block is
a great help and easy to do
with repetition.
This allows you to position
yourself so that you don’t
have to heave yourself up,
collect the reins and gives you
the necessary control to land
gently in the saddle.
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