New organisers reveal exciting Golden Horseshoe plans
The new organisers of the Golden Horseshoe have been confirmed and they have exciting plans for the ride’s future.
Last year the competition celebrated its 50th anniversary, but with former organiser Barbara Wigley stepping down and no new organiser in the pipeline, the future of the ride was uncertain.
However, new organisers Jo and Andrew Chisholm (pictured) have now taken the reins of the popular Exmoor endurance competition.
The couple from near Lydford in Dartmoor are taking a year to get to grips with their new role and the next Golden Horseshoe will run in 2017.
“We appreciate the size of the task we have undertaken, but felt we owed it to the sport of endurance to keep this wonderful ride going, given that we’ve had so much enjoyment from it over the years,” said Jo.
The Chisholms are passionate about endurance riding and have been competing at the Golden Horseshoe since the 1980s.
Andrew is on the Endurance GB (EGB) board, Jo is on the EGB South-west committee. They have six horses of their own.
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Andrew and Jo will be introducing one major change to the ride. They plan to run the ride over a weekend to encourage more riders to participate.
Previously the two-day ride has been run during the week.
“We are very grateful to Barbara for organising the ride over the last nine years, and also for offering us help with her vital local knowledge of Exmoor for future routes for the ride,” added Jo.
“We would also like to thank the Exmoor National Park for their continued support, along with the local landowners and people of Exmoor.”
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Barbara said she was “very pleased” the Chiholms have taken on the ride.
“I will help with the route with my knowledge of the area,” she told H&H. “I might even be crewing my daughter next year.”
The Golden Horseshoe website will be re-launched in the near future along with its own Facebook page where news and progress will be updated regularly.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.