It feels like this has been an autumn full of poignant goodbyes to some of the former greats of the sport, and today, we’re sad to share the news that Laura Collett’s Rayef has been laid to rest at the age of 26. Before there was Laura the European Champion, Olympic gold medallist, and multi-five-star winner, there was Laura the Junior rider: after a successful Pony career aboard Noble Springbok, she was able to sell her pony for enough to create a career-starting nest egg, and one of the first purchases she made was that of the young and inexperienced Rayef, who she found in the pages of a horse sales magazine. She produced him from BE100 (US Training level) through to her Badminton debut in 2011, where they finished 11th, and along the way, they won double gold at both the Junior Europeans and the Young Rider Europeans. The pair were selected for the 2011 European Championships and were alternates for the London Olympics, when Laura had barely aged out of Young Riders, and so to say that Rayef has been a fundamental building block in the story of one of our generation’s greatest riders is no exaggeration. Fly high, Rayef – may we all get the chance to have a horse so transformative enter our lives.
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Is improving your horse’s topline one of your off-season projects? It’s not a bad one to have: this is a slow, but rewarding, process that has to be done properly, and the yawning months of the winter are a great time to get back to basics and work on those foundations with the help of nutritional changes and groundwork exercises. This primer, from the UK’s Your Horse magazine, covers all the essentials and provides you with some handy starting points for that in-hand work you’ll be mastering. Goodbye, noodle neck!
We all know that volunteers are the lifeblood of our weird, expensive, impractical sport – but that goes so much deeper than the odd day of fence-judging for some of these warriors. Like, for example, Crystal Santos, who is Area I’s Volunteer Coordinator, and makes sure that her troops are ready for action and placed in roles that allow them to flourish. Oh, and she’s often squeezing in her own competitive rounds around all this, too! Meet the northeast’s resident Wonder Woman in this piece.
It’s hardly glamorous, but knowing how to keep your horse’s turnout blankets waterproof is a seriously good trick to have in your arsenal, and could save you a whole bunch of money. Here’s how it’s done, how to check your horse’s current wardrobe, and how to ensure you maintain those garms for as long as possible, without hefty bills from the rug-wash lady.
Sponsor Corner: Kentucky Performance Products
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Switching from pasture to hay too quickly can lead to disruptions in the microbiome, which can result in GAS COLIC. Slowly making the transition from pasture to hay allows the microbiome to adapt without disrupting the delicate balance.
View and download a handy infographic from Kentucky Performance Products on how to reduce your horse’s seasonal stress by slowly switching from pasture grass to hay here.
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Oh, go on then, let’s have a little winter warmer in the form of Jonathan Bailey telling us about his favourite co-star, Jack. A little treat, because we like you.
