Nestled in the Cotswolds, near to Cheltenham, is newlyweds Giovanni Ugolotti and Kathryn Robinson’s four-star eventing base. As Julie Harding takes a look around, standby for yard envy...
All the gear: Empshill Farm in Gloucestershire, where Giovanni Ugolotti and Kathryn Robinson rent 16 looseboxes, belongs to the Tew family. Additionally, it boasts ample neat post-and-rail fenced turnout paddocks, a lunge pen and a 1.2-mile gallop
Gio and Kathyrn moved into Empshill Farm, which is reached via narrow lanes lined by typical golden Cotswold stone walls, the day after last year’s Blenheim International Horse Trials
Family business: “Gio and I get on well, despite spending 24 hours a day together. We rarely waste energy arguing”
Gio, 35 and Kathryn, 32 met in 2008 at Olivia Simonazzi’s yard in Italy, where Gio was working and Kathryn had gone for two months of training. They had known each other for just two months when Giovanni decided to follow Kathryn back to the UK. They tied the knot on 1 July 2017 at Kathryn’s family home Cranford Hall
Early start: the day kicks off at 7am as head girl Sophie Richardson gets the feeds ready
Fast paced: it’s all go in the tack room as Gio and Kathryn work their way through exercising their strings. “Kathryn and I do everything with the horses ourselves, from the schooling to hacking. We try to treat them as individuals, rather than an industry”
Gio gives the seven-year-old Duke’s Sunny Boy (Sunny) a treat after taking him for a 40-minute hack
Kathryn and Gio make the most of the quiet country lanes
The couple have both represented their respective countries at eventing, with Gio riding for Italy in the 2013 and 2015 European Championships, and 2014 World Equestrian Games, and Kathryn representing Canada at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2015 Pan American Games
It’s all in the detail: Kathryn puts Castello 236 (Bambi) through his paces in the 30x65m outdoor school
“Bambi’s a real character. He loves to whip round for a bit of fun,” says Kathryn
First-class facilities: the couple make use of the horse walker
Don’t miss our full interview with Giovanni Ugolotti and Kathryn Robinson in this weeks’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine (19 April 2018)
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