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. www.visitilife.com 93