life - EQUESTRIAN
Main: Melanie riding Vupardie under Tims watchful eye. Inset: Tanya with the top million pound showjumper Fresh Direct Corlato
Tim Stockdale’s
Hilton for Horses
It’s not often you get a chance to spend a day
with one of Britain’s top show jumpers and
this was one assignment that my wife would
not let me turn down: a day at Tim Stockdale’s
yard, located in Northampton. Tim (age)
kindly gave us permission to roam around
wherever we wished, unaccompanied, weighed
down with our cameras. . “I don’t usually
do this as a rule, but I do like your magazine
and I trust you,” he said as we arrived.
Tim’s day had already begun and we found
him hard at work in the outdoor school,
training top Irish show jumper Melanie
Davidson, who had travelled from Dublin
with four of her best horses and a groom.
“It’s quite rare that I do these sessions,” he
says, “but I had some time in my schedule,
so I could fit this in. Really my job this week
is to train the horses, not necessarily the
rider, but if I see Melanie do something
wrong, of course I will tell her, but that’s not
likely as she is a very competent rider.”
Does Tim enjoy doing this type of work? “Yes,
but I wouldn’t like to do it full time, I only enjoy
training riders who are near the top. I have a
filtering system in place to make sure both the
horses and riders are at a certain level before
I agree to work with them. They must have
won some top shows for me to be interested.
I’m not here to teach people to ride; I am here
to take already successful horses and riders
to the next level. Refinement is the word. It
would be my worst nightmare to give riding
lessons all day on horses that would not move
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even if you lit a bonfire underneath them.”
One thing Tim’s certainly not, is a Prima Donna .
While he was training Melanie, he barely took
time for a cup of tea, and he stuck to a strict
half hour lunch. “I feel that I must give people
their money’s worth,” he says. “Melanie is a
lovely lady and has travelled all the way from
Ireland with four of her top horses, and that’s
not cheap to do, so I feel that she deserves 100%
commitment from me. I don’t mind putting
in the time for good riders and horses, both
the horse and the rider deserve it, they’ve
worked very hard to get where they are.”
We asked Melanie why she trains with Tim
when their must be an equivalent trainer in
Ireland? “I’m not saying that there are no good
horse people in Ireland, but the benefit of
training with Tim is that he goes that extra mile
in explaining things. He doesn’t just tell you, he
explains what is happening and how to correct
it. That to me makes a big difference, and it’s
well worth travelling all this way. When I go
back to Ireland, the horses go so much better
and I have gained invaluable knowledge.”
So, does Melanie share the tips that Tim gives
her with her friends? “Of course I do,” she
laughs. “It’s not that competitive and I feel it’s
only fair to help my friends out.” she adds.
Walking around Tim’s yard was an experience
in itself. Over the years, Tim has extended the
facilities and strongly believes in an immaculate
yard, in fact, a spotless yard. We could have
walked around with bare feet it was so clean.
“To me this is very important; I have people who
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