It's all very well turning our horses out as much as we can, but when show day dawns, we can't help wishing we'd been a bit more insistent on the rug/stable front. But these owners prove that with a bit of elbow grease, transformations can happen... Happy grooming!
Beau
“Not much in the way of mud in any of my pictures, but my horse Beau goes from looking like any old common nag in the field, to a proper, grown-up, shiny beast at competitions with the help of a bit of elbow grease and shine products.” — Tamasine Thompson
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(Image credit: Thompson, Tam)
Ted
“My pony loves sleeping and rolling in the mud. The first picture shows how I found him in the morning, and the second shows him plaited up out jumping with the riding club. I have only owned Ted for nine months but he is already turning into a little showjumping star and we plan to affiliate next season.” — Sarah
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Sabinas Apache Gold
“This is Sabinas Apache Gold aka Sebastian, my homebred four-year-old part-bred New Forest cross cob. He’s by the late Peveril Peterborough and I think he’s fantastic (but I am biased! ) He attended his first ‘pony party’ last Sunday (21 May) winning the coloured in-hand and getting a fourth in a hunter pony class.
He also hates hose pipes, so getting him clean was a challenge!” — Sam Andree-Parsons
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Bizzie B
“This is my 21-year-old Bizzie B. She lives out 24/7 and loves to roll! I got her in ready to go and do a side saddle display with the Side Saddle Association area 14 team last year at Hartpury. The coating of mud and dust was pretty impressive but she scrubs up well. Just lots of elbow grease to get the dust out and lots of thread for my plaits!” — Jackie Banks
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“This is Corkhills Cello aka Frank. He’s a lovely Welsh Section B gelding. Frank had been turned out all winter and had turned into a wild mud monster. Enough was enough and he needed a good scrub. Under all that grub I discovered a beauty! He’s got the most amazing summer coat now.” — Chloe Phillips Gray
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
