InFocus

Hector McLoughlin Aitkenhead, or Hec to those that knew him, was born in the summer of 1933 in Parakai, New Zealand. The son of a sheep and dairy farmer and grandson of a Clydesdale breeder, Hec was instantly immersed in the rural lifestyle. Horses were a part of his life from the get-go, his youngest daughter Shona laughs. “He reckoned he learnt to ride before he could walk.” When asked if he remembers an early experience with a horse, Hec says “yes. Clear as day,” and describes the first time he rode on his own. “We were going up Fordyce Road, driving some sheep, dad and I…he was leading me along, you see; I wasn’t very....

We Equestrians have heard breed stereotypes at one time or another. ''  Thoroughbred horses are hot'', ''Arabians are crazy”, “Quarter horses can't jump”, to name just a few.  While sometimes your western-bred Appaloosa jumps better than your jumping-bred Warmblood, it is factual that different breeds are bred for different purposes and the bred in conformation traits help determine what the horse will excel in. Speaking in general terms, every breed has it's pros and cons and everybody has their preferences, some well justified.  The question is, how many of these stereotypes are real and how many are simply myths? While....

On many levels, I found this article incredibly difficult to write.  Several of the world’s top and highly respected event riders are currently hospitalised or incapacitated from the result of serious head and neck injuries received while competing their horses.  This has at the very least interrupted the direction of their UK event season, the all-important one leading up to Rio Olympics 2016.  I too suffered a serious life changing head injury many years ago, so the subject matter was close.  But here we are talking about a vibrant young girl, twenty years old, her carefree life filled with hope and great prospects all ahead of her.  In a split second,....

Before I delve deeper into this article, I ask the question, have you ever experienced judges, judging you and your horse in any discipline, getting it very wrong?  Whether it be the fence judge marking you down for not jumping their particular jump, giving you a stop when you know you jumped it, or saying you went into a black flag area when you know you did not, it seems these things happen all too often.  Why?  Perhaps you'll be thinking we are all human and everyone makes mistakes.  I am aware this sport runs on the commitment of volunteers, who we are all incredibly thankful to for their support, however, this is an issue in the sport that needs to be....

Olivia Dalton recently returned to New Zealand from what was to be a very exciting time away in Australia, particularly for a thirteen year old show jump rider, who in her mother’s words ‘is not overly established as yet’. 

The New Zealand FEI Children’s Gold Tour Class trial was held last January, when Olivia was simply not ready to be jumping the heights of 1.20.  But she had another shot at trialing when her highly regarded show jump coach, Vaughn Jefferis (NZ) suggested she go to Camden, and trial there for a chance to make the finals in Mexico.  Bling Du Rouet, a 16hh Warmblood Sportaloosa Stallion, previously owned and ridden by....

There once was a time when Eventing experts and veterans could compete fairly in ‘open’ classes, much to the satisfaction of those rightly competitive in their field of expertise.  Yet now with the uprooting of open classes, these experts and their highly experienced horses are able to compete at the lower levels with no penalty. Competitive pre-novice riders are being penalized for their commitment at their level because experienced Edgar is pot hunting.  Removing the ‘open’ classes allows competitors to achieve success by competing in a class low enough that they are able to win. It fundamentally undermines the belief that training hard grants success.....