When you confidently know how to lunge a horse, then you might be interested to learn how to lunge a young horse, especially if you have aims of working with a new horse or a project over the forthcoming months.

Why should I lunge my young horse?

Lungeing is one of the first training exercises a young horse learns during his early education. Some of the benefits include:

• Encourages a horse to move forwards freely before being ridden
• Gets the horse used to tack, including a bridle and a roller or a saddle
• Helps the horse to become balanced on his own before the weight of a rider is added during the later stages of training
• Helps develop muscles and body condition
• Aids the bond between rider and handler; the horse becomes responsive to voice commands which can be used when he is being ridden
• The horse gets used to light pressure

What age should you start lungeing a horse?

You can begin to lunge your horse when he is mentally and physically ready to start light work. Every horse is an individual and it’s important to ensure that the horse is sufficiently developed to commence any type of training.

As with all forms of training, lungeing work should be introduced gradually, and sessions should be short in duration and low in intensity. In the early stages, it’s important to do little and often. Lungeing is hard work for the horse as he is working on a constant circle so always ensure that he is strong and developed enough before you start training him. If you are unsure, consult with your vet.

If you are inexperienced at lungeing, it is advisable to ask a trainer or someone with more experience to teach your horse before you take over. Practice with a horse who knows how to lunge before you try lungeing a younger horse.

Before you begin lungeing a horse he should be established in his ground work and should lead confidently with good manners. He should be able to walk in-hand and have respect for the handler before you start lungeing, too. Before you start lungeing, you could also train your horse on the long reins, as this establishes control by developing steering and brakes.

Tips on how to lunge a young horse

If you want to know how to lunge a young horse, then four-time Olympian Jennie Loriston-Clarke MBE FBHS has some helpful recommendations to follow. Jennie’s advice has a particular focus on training and exercising young horses on the lunge, but the legendary rider and trainer’s tips can be applied to horses of any age.

1. Walk the horse in-hand on the right rein around the area where it is going to be worked before you start so it can get its bearings. If you don’t have a lunge pen, you can improvise and make a suitable area in the corner of a field or by cutting off your arena with blocks or wings and poles. Once the horse is settled waking in-hand then change the rein and lead it in the opposite direction.

“By showing it the lunging area on the right rein first, this means it will leap inwards away from the handler if scared or spooky, rather than over the top you,” explains Jennie.

2. Expect the horse to behave differently if you are in a different or new place. Always be alert as accidents can happen quickly, particularly if the horse is young and fresh.

“When sending a horse out on the lunge be aware that they can turn away from you and kick towards you, as well as turning in and turning around,” says Jennie.

3. Dress appropriately when lunging a horse. Ensure you are wearing a riding hat, gloves and have suitable footwear. If you do not have pen or penned off area, it is helpful in the beginning to have an assistant standing in the open area of the arena to help guide the horse around the circle if needed.

4. Don’t be in a hurry: “With young horses you have to give them the time they need to understand what you want of them. Have patience, don’t start working with them if you don’t have plenty of time to give them, you need to allow the horse to learn in its own time,” says Jennie. “If the horse learns in its first lesson to walk on and to halt, then praise in a soft voice as a reward. Don’t muddle the horse by asking too much in each session.”

5. Start lunging with a light contact on a big circle.

“Have a light feel on the lunge rein, keep your elbows bent like when you are riding and remember to give with the rein when the horse accepts the contact and the circle,” adds Jennie.

6. Remember that your voice is key when lunging a horse.

“Your voice is one of the most important things in lunging and riding and is your first communication of the natural aids. Start using it to give instructions — the horse should recognise it and be obedient to it — a soft voice to calm and slow down, a sharper voice to activate and tighter body language. You don’t want them to be frightened of you, but to have respect,” continues Jennie.

7. Use your body language as well as using your voice.

“Slow your body’s direction on the circle and relax when asking the horse to slow down and act positively to encourage it to go,” says Jennie.

8. Limit canter work.

“There is no real need to canter young horses on the lunge, you are better to train them in canter on straight lines when you are riding them,” says Jennie.

9. Introduce an outside side rein before using both.

“Putting the outside side rein on when lunging teaches the horse to accept the outside rein and helps the horse to become better balanced and carry itself better,” adds Jennie. “Don’t overuse it though and give the horse plenty of rest in its neck without the side rein as it will tire easily. Always release the side rein when changing the rein. Introduce the second side rein on the inside when the horse is happily accepting the outside side rein.”

How to lunge a horse – your essential guide

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Britain’s first dressage medallist Jennie Loriston-Clarke put the sport well and truly on the map in this country through her extraordinary love of horses and consummate all-round ability, discovers Lucy Higginson

For years, when young hopefuls at H&H job interviews were asked to prove their knowledge by naming a British dressage rider or two, one name was offered above all others: Jennie Loriston-Clarke.

Jennie is in some ways the archetypal English horsewoman; riding from an early age, hunting through her childhood and surrounded always by ponies, hunters and foals. Yet in other ways, Jennie has been a pioneer, taking up dressage in its infancy in this country and doing much to put the sport on the British map with her skill, showmanship and generosity over a 35-year riding career.

One of six siblings raised by Anne and Colonel Jack Bullen at their home, Catherston, Jennie – remarkably – is one of three siblings to have ridden at the Olympics. Her elder brother Michael evented in Rome on Cottage Romance and in Tokyo with Sea Breeze, and her sister Jane (now Holderness-Roddam) won team gold eventing in Mexico on Our Nobby. Meanwhile, the stud named after the Bullen home is still thriving, in its fifth incarnation near Nether Wallop, Hampshire. Anne Bullen supplemented the family’s income by producing, breeding and showing horses often for owners – besides being a tremendously talented artist.

“We had all sorts of oddments at home, mostly for hunting really,” remembers Jennie. “My parents would go on buying trips to the moors – Dartmoor, Exmoor and Wales – brought home various wild things and tamed them to make riding ponies.”

Clearly an intuitive and imaginative horsewoman, Anne Bullen influenced Jennie hugely, particularly in the way she trained animals not just for riding, but other things too, like the small circus she ran between the wars.

“She was a very go-ahead person, vivacious and quick-thinking,” says Jennie of her mother. “And she understood how an animal thinks – she never dominated it, but asked and gave a reason for doing something.”

Small wonder that people say almost exactly the same thing about Jennie in turn: “She’s a go-getter, a practical person, very down to earth and exceptionally knowledgeable,” says former Olympic dressage rider turned eventer and performance coach Christopher Bartle. “She puts herself into the skin of the horse and thinks like a horse. She was the British rider I looked up to in my early days.”

Smart show animals

The Bullens began crossing a small thoroughbred polo pony called Golden Fern with native ponies to produce smart show animals, and Jennie and her siblings competed widely – going to some shows even by train – learning early in life how to present a horse to its best advantage to catch a judge’s eye. Inheriting her mother’s skill in teaching ponies for more than just the show ring, Jennie taught some of them other tricks too, which led to some novel side projects over the years, including training horses for a Lloyds Bank advert.

It was a demonstration at Horse of the Year Show one year by Danish rider Lis Hartel, however, that helped Jennie to cement her focus on dressage. A polio victim who had to be lifted on to her horse, Lis was an Olympic silver medallist who could do extraordinary things with her horse, Jubilee.

“She rode a beautiful display to music including piaffe, passage and one-time changes,” remembers Jennie. “I decided I’d love to do that one day.”

Anne Bullen was able to persuade Lis’s trainer Gunnar Andersen to give some clinics at Catherston, one of several instances when she persuaded leading figures in the horse world to come and teach. Over the years, Jennie was able to learn from many continental experts including General Linkenbach (“He used to say, ‘Do not touch zee mouse!’ – meaning mouth,” says Jennie); Germany’s team trainer Willi Schultheiss and Franz Rochowansky, former chief rider of the Spanish Riding School.

“You take the best of everyone and they all had good points,” Jennie reflects.

While numerous riders have come to dressage from a showing background, including Charlotte Dujardin, few can say they have hunted, point-to-pointed, evented and even qualified a horse for Badminton, as Jennie has.

“I do think it’s helped in many ways, the variety,” reflects Jennie now. “How can you really lengthen a horse’s stride if you’ve never felt a horse gallop properly?”

Carl Hester also thinks this made Jennie a particularly brilliant demonstrator: “I settled down for what I thought would be a stuffy dressage demo she gave once at the Fortune Centre, I think on Dutch Gold. And she ended it with 15 one-time tempi changes, reins in one hand, into a 3ft 6in parallel,” he laughs. “She’s a complete and utter horsewoman in every respect.”

An elegant show hack

The first horse Jennie taught proper dressage was an elegant show hack, Desert Storm. The mare’s paces equipped her well for dressage, but her temperament less so – she was prone to tying up and hated standing still. Although they were shortlisted for the Mexico Olympics, Jennie accepted she didn’t really have the temperament to go, but Jennie still made a great contribution to Team GBR there by grooming for her sister Jane and Our Nobby, members of Britain’s triumphant eventing team.

“I was totally reliant on her help and expertise at the Olympics,” says Jane. “I mentally wasn’t interested in dressage and nor was little Our Nobby, but Jennie had amazing patience and got the best from both of us. He probably did his best test ever in Mexico.”

The quest to find a horse capable of making British teams led eventually to the purchase of Kadett, a sharp Trakehner/thoroughbred gelding from Germany. Although the horse took her to both the Munich and Montreal Olympics, it became apparent that he did not have sufficient talent to win medals. That honour fell to her next championship horse, the stallion Dutch Courage, who also became a sire of huge importance for the Catherston Stud.

Bought as a three-year old in the Netherlands, Dutch Courage was not an overnight sensation, but by the time he was six Jennie knew he was the best horse she’d yet had – supple, athletic and eager to learn. By the age of eight, he was finishing in the top 10 at the European Championships.

Dutch Courage gave Jennie one of the best moments of her career and a milestone for dressage in Britain, by winning bronze in the grand prix special at the 1978 World Championships at Goodwood – “on home ground too, at a wonderful place. It was very exciting,” says Jennie. But he was also desperately unlucky never to get to an Olympics. In 1980, the British boycotted the Moscow Games and the horse contracted a virus shortly before Los Angeles four years later.

“That was very tough because he was going so well,” says her sister, Jane. “She was really at her best then and felt that if he’d been on the team, they’d have been in the running for team bronze.”

It was some redemption perhaps to be riding at the next Olympics, in Seoul, on Dutch Courage’s son Dutch Gold, where they finished 14th individually. With a light, elegant frame, Dutch Gold evented alongside his dressage for some time, even winning the Midland Championships at Locko Park.

“I loved riding horses which were children of horses I’d ridden before – you almost knew the personality before you got on them,” says Jennie fondly. “The public loved Dutch Gold because he was so elegant and light.”

And Jennie, at the peak of her powers, really knew how to show him off. Although sadly dressage to music did not join the Olympic programme until later, the pair found an outlet for their natural aptitude for it on the World Cup circuit, winning six qualifiers and attending the finals in Gothenburg one year in company with the great showjumper Milton.

One qualifier in Paris ranks among Jennie’s most treasured memories: “The Parisians loved Dutch Gold and began clapping as soon as we halted at X,” she says.

A young Carl Hester remembers it too: “Her degree of difficulty would be right up there today… she went down the centre line doing one-handed zig-zags and the crowd went mad.”

“I was always competitive”

Since retiring from competitive riding, Jennie’s life has been predictably full, running a stud, teaching, judging and more.

But as with so many top riders, it’s the competing she loved best: “I was always competitive – I had to be with three brothers. I loved the Olympics when it’s just you and one horse, no other worries, and you just have to do your best.”

She cheerfully admits she’d kill to be 50 years younger and be able to do it all again, especially with her stallion Timolin, by Totilas, now competing at small tour in dressage and eventing to intermediate level.

“He’s so stunning and talented, another Dutch Gold in my opinion, only better. I’d love to be doing it again now,” she says.

“I can’t imagine many people know as much as she does; eventing, breeding, long-reining, you name it…” says Carl, who also loves that this comes with generosity and emotion.

Although public recognition for her sport did not come until later, the role Jennie played in helping British dressage to the top of the podium will never be forgotten. As Carl says: “It makes it very special that when we did finally start winning gold medals, she was there, crying her eyes out.”

Jennie on two special ponies…

Mossy: the Bullen family’s grey 13.2hh was thought to be by a pure-bred Arab. He made his way to the Bullens having originally been found pulling a knacker’s cart in Ireland, and was in poor condition initially. “Dad fed him up, gave him eggs and whisky and God knows what,” says Jennie.

Having lovely movement, he did well showing and went hunting and so on with Jennie, and was eventually ridden by her daughter Anne in turn.

“You could teach him anything,” recalls Jennie. “I rode him without a bridle, jumped through fire, all sorts of things. My parents nearly sold him once and I was devastated. I nearly died! I loved him.”

Bubbly: a 13.2hh pony stallion, who was palomino champion for a decade and very influential in Catherston breeding, his progeny including Second Thoughts, Catherston Moonstone, Catherston Moon Fairy, Catherston Double Bubble and Baby Sham. Competed mostly by Jane Bullen, he also produced some good jumping ponies.

Jennie on four favourite horses…

Desert Storm: an Anglo-Arab mare, found in a Newmarket stud as a three-year-old. Anne Bullen fell for her movement straight away. She became a very successful show hack and ladies’ hack and was the first horse Jennie trained properly for dressage, yet she hated standing still.

“She was a spectacular mover; spectators would gasp as she floated across the arena in an elegant, powerful trot,” said Jack Hance in H&H at the time.

When someone from Germany expressed interest in buying her for dressage, her owner, Miss Stubbings, kindly gave the horse to Jennie instead.

After starting dressage at advanced medium, the pair soon found themselves on a British team for some German internationals alongside Lorna Johnstone and Brenda Williams (Mrs V D S Williams).

Xenocles: this handsome thoroughbred stallion was “bred to win the Derby, but never made it”, says Jennie. “He was a lovely horse.”

He (and his progeny) proved versatile and kind, and would allow small children to pick out his feet. In Jennie’s hands, he rose to prix st georges in dressage and went advanced eventing.

Jennie says: “He was never top-class in dressage as he was quite difficult in the mouth and sensitive. You could never wear spurs.”

Dutch Courage: the horse people will forever associate with Jennie. “Bill” was bought as a colt from the Netherlands after he’d failed his gradings and been earmarked for castration. But Jennie liked his head, attitude and the way he moved. He was bought for £750 and arrived in a steaming temper on a lorry. Jennie thought: “I’ll need some Dutch courage to ride this one!” and thus found his name.

A clever and brilliant horse – he picked up piaffe in just three days – the Germans tried to buy him after Jennie took him training there once on a scholarship. The highlight of his career was probably winning individual bronze with Jennie at the 1978 World Championships at Goodwood.

His offspring included many great names such as Dutch Gold, Dutch Auction, Catherston Dazzler and Catherston Dutch Bid.

Dutch Gold: the son of Dutch Courage, “Willow”, became Jennie’s last international ride. An immensely versatile stallion, he won the Midland Bank eventing championships at Locko Park in 1984 and was doing grand prix dressage by the following year. Jennie once warmed him up for his dressage in Aachen by popping fences in the showjumping warm-up.

The pair became real specialists – honed on the indoor world cup circuit – at dressage to music. The pair were 14th at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Carl Hester on Jennie…

“I came third in a talent-spotting final when I was 17 and part of my prize was £20.

“I was based in the New Forest then and Jennie was not far away in Brockenhurst. Realising I was desperately keen, Jennie very kindly said she would give me three lessons for £20 – obviously not her going rate!

“I’d hack about 12 miles to Brockenhurst for my lessons and hack back. It took me all day. But she’s just so normal and generous. She’s willing to help anybody who asks.”

Career milestones

1972: Jennie rides in her first Olympics in Munich, on Kadett. They finish 19th individually.

1976: a second Olympic appearance in Montreal (along with team-mates Diana Mason and Special Edition and Sarah Whitmore on Junker), but Kadett is largely unsettled.

1977: European Championships in St Galen on Dutch Courage, aged just eight. He and Jennie finish ninth individually.

1978: World Championships at Goodwood. Despite being first to go, Jennie and Dutch Courage win individual bronze in the Special, a milestone for British dressage.

1980: Alternative Olympics for dressage are held at Goodwood. Dutch Courage is sixth individually.

1984: Jennie is devastated when Dutch Courage develops a virus shortly before the Los Angeles Games. Diana Mason (team chef d’équipe) offers her the ride on her own Prince Consort instead. Christopher Bartle finishes sixth on Wily Trout and Jennie still believes they might have claimed team bronze had Dutch Courage been able to go.

1985: The European Championships in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Jennie competes on the British team with Dutch Gold, although he was only nine at the time.

1988: Jennie’s final Olympic appearance in Seoul on Dutch Gold, finishing 14th individually.

Between 1988 and 1990: The combination also won six World Cup qualifiers and took two fourth and two fifth places in the World Cup finals.

Ref Horse & Hound; 11 June 2020

The dressage trainer shares her exercise using loops to improve the canter

Aim

As a dressage judge, I often see horses and riders at the lower levels that simply can’t canter properly. The horses aren’t straight and are unbalanced. Using loops, especially if combined with circles, the horse can be taught to find its balance and sit more on its hindlegs. The result is a much better canter. It is a useful suppling exercise at every stage of the horse’s training.

The exercise also makes the rider think about their own position, how they are positioning their horse and they learn to ride more correctly to the outside rein through changes of direction.

The exercise

1. Put your horse into a working canter. On the short side of the arena, canter a 20-metre circle. Go large and at the first marker, ask the horse to come in off the track for two to three metres before going straight and then changing the direction in a shallow counter-canter back to the track. Ride a neat corner and then repeat. Do the exercise on both reins. (See diagram 1).

2. As the horse gains its confidence and balance, increase the depth of the loop and decrease the size of the circle beforehand. If the horse starts to fall onto its shoulder or the quarters swing, go back to a shallow loop until the balance is established.

3. Ride a 10-metre canter circle at M or H, then ride straight towards the centre line. Straighten for a few steps on the centre line over X and then turn back towards the track. Ride another 10m circle at the corner marker. Repeat on both reins. (See diagram 2).

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Tips and pitfalls

● The rider must keep their weight evenly distributed in the centre of the saddle, particularly in the counter-canter section. Keep the legs in the correct position: outside leg back and inside leg on the girth creating the impulsion.

● In both exercises, ask for very little bend over the leading leg — eventually you should be able to do it with the horse’s neck completely straight.

● Adjust where you start the relevant loops depending on the size of your arena — in a 20x60m arena, make the loop deeper.

● Note in point three, make sure you ride straight towards the centre line and straight back to the track as this way the horse learns to stay into the outside rein.

● These exercises are the first steps of teaching a horse the three-loop canter serpentine. Eventually you can miss out the circles and ride three loops to each side of the arena.

For more extensive dressage features, don’t miss this week’s issue of Horse & Hound, out on Thursday 7 February 2019, where you will find our dressage special

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

One of Britain’s most renowned riders, breeders and trainers, Jennie Loriston-Clarke was honoured with the prestigious Meritoire Lifetime Achievement award at the 2019 British Breeders awards dinner on Saturday 12 January. We take a look at some of the many highlights of Jennie’s career, and some things you may not have known about her.

1. Jennie has represented Britain at four Olympic Games. She competed at Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976 with Kadett, Los Angeles 1984 with Prince Consort and Seoul 1988 riding Dutch Gold. She also rode at the alternative Olympics in 1980, as well as two world championships in 1978 and 1986 — winning individual bronze with Dutch Courage in 1978 — and the first ever World Equestrian Games, in Stockholm in 1990.

2. Jennie and her older siblings learnt to ride cross-country on a 12.2hh Exmoor pony called Skipper, who was bought off the moor.

3. Before focusing her career on dressage, Jennie was successful in point-to-pointing and eventing, and proved her versatility: in 1983, she won the Midland Bank Championships (eventing) aboard Dutch Gold, before taking him to an international dressage show at Rotterdam the following day.

4. Jennie’s mother, Anne Bullen, who founded the Catherston Stud in 1949, was also a prolific equestrian artist, illustrating books by Monica Dickena and the Pullein-Thompson sisters.

5. In 1979, Jennie was awarded an MBE for her contribution to equestrianism, and in 2006 she became the first person to receive the British Horse Society’s Queen’s Award for Equestrianism, which her sister Jane Holderness-Roddam also received, three years later.

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Jennie Loriston-Clarke: expert advice to solve your lungeing problems

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6. Jennie was the first Brit to be invited to judge at the World Breeding Championships in Verden, and in 2011 she broke her foot while acting as president of the ground jury at the show. She collided with a step just before the trot-up, but despite being warned she would be unable to judge, Jennie returned to the ring with her foot strapped up.

7. She took on the role of chairman of British Dressage from 2007 until 2013, when she was asked to become President of British Dressage, a position she still holds today.

8. Both Jennie’s daughters, Lizzie Murray and Anne Dicker, have competed internationally for Britain riding home-bred Catherston horses.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

This week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine (11 January 2017) is dedicated to nostalgia: those great idols of yesteryear — both human and equine — as well as those shows that no longer exist, but hold a special place in our memories.

Here Pippa Cuckson looks back at the appeal of dressage at the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex…

When the 10th Duke and Duchess of Richmond handed the Goodwood Estate to their motorsport-orientated son in 1993, he soon dug up the equestrian surfaces in front of the historic Goodwood house — a seminal moment for UK dressage.

Goodwood had staged the 1978 World Championships — where Jennie Loriston-Clarke and Dutch Courage won individual bronze — and the 1980 “alternative Olympics”, following the political boycott of Moscow.

“It was our shop window — nothing has attracted the very top Europeans here in quite the same numbers since,” says Jennie. “The foreigners loved Goodwood’s ‘oldie-worldy’ Britishness. There was the backdrop, the generous hospitality, and everyone loved the stables, a beautiful stone courtyard where you could see everyone — we certainly used to talk to each other more.”

Security was minimal. “We were allowed to ride off-piste” says Jennie. “‘Bill’ was a bit wild on the first day of the worlds, so I took him up to the racecourse gallops to let off steam. Next day, he was eighth in the grand prix, then third in the special!”

Continued below…

The amazing moment 14.2hh Stroller won the Hickstead Derby

We rewind the clock 52 years to 1967 when the pint-sized Stroller clinched the Hickstead Derby title...

The South Downs are notorious for sudden weather fronts. Granat, Christine Stückelberger’s world and Olympic champion, once bolted back to Goodwood stables after a battering from giant hailstones.

“I didn’t see it as I was sheltering under a tree with my daughter Anne,” says Jennie. “But we could all hear Christine’s screams!”

For more memories from the shows of yesteryear — including eventing at Wylye and showjumping at Arena North — don’t miss this week’s “nostalgia special” of Horse & Hound magazine (11 January 2017), where we also take a look back at the celebrity status of the likes of Lucinda Green, and remember why Stroller was such a hero

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

Top riders William Funnell and Jennie Loriston-Clarke are to take up “important roles” at the first London Spring International Horse Show.

Event director Daniel Watson confirmed four-time Olympian Jennie (pictured, below) as the show’s honorary president, and European team gold medallist William (above) as a jumping ambassador.

“I am absolutely thrilled that two such eminent people in the equestrian world as Will and Jennie will play a key part in the first London Spring International,” said Daniel.

“To have their support and witness their enthusiasm for this new event has been a delight, and I know they will both bring a huge amount, both during the build-up, and then at the show itself.”

The show, which is to run at the Ex-Cel exhibition centre in London from 12-17 April next year, has been described by organisers as a “celebration of the horse”.

“Some of equestrian sport’s greatest spectacles will be on show at the London Spring International — from the serenity of dressage to dramatic showjumping action including a grand prix finale and the puissance,” said a spokesman.

“British Olympian Richard Davison will also conduct his highly-acclaimed masterclass, offering a fascinating insight into the sport of dressage, one that has never been more popular in Great Britain.”

Dressage is to take top billing on the first two days, with classes including grand prix special and freestyle, while the showjumping will start on Good Friday (15 April) and run throughout the Easter weekend.

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• How to qualify for the London Spring International Horse Show
• Global Champions Tour returns to London
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British Showjumping amateur classes will also run at the event, along with displays and music.

Daniel has previously told H&H his aim is to attract and engage the wider public, as well as fans of equestrian sport, with the show.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

In her latest book 'Lungeing and Long Reining', Jennie Loriston-Clarke takes the reader through a step-by-step guide to training, exercising and suppling horses from the ground. Here she looks at tackling some of the problems lungeing can throw up

Lungeing may appear a very straightforward activity but horses can react in many ways and they don’t all walk and trot quietly in a perfect circle as we would like. Many cut in on the circle and then pull out on the opposite side.

In this case you should move towards the horse in a more attacking manner and not retreat to collect up the rein which has become slack as he has moved in on the circle.

You must point the whip at his shoulder and move forwards towards him — almost placing yourself a little in front of him. You should look him firmly in the eye so he knows you are confronting him.

Then stand firm when he tries to pull out on the opposite side of the circle and gently give him a few sharp jerks on the cavesson to make him listen to your voice. After a few rounds like this he will settle down and continue on the circle correctly.

Continued below…

10 training tips that top riders swear by

Turning in

This is when a horse turns in to face the handler.

When inexperienced lungers try to insist on a horse walking when he is first put on the lunge, they often come across this problem. They send him out on the lunge, he trots, they pull on the lunge rein to steady him and he turns in to look at them, wondering what he is to do.

If you find yourself in this situation you have to decide whether the horse is being cheeky or is genuinely confused.

If the latter, keep a fairly firm feel on the lunge rein, walk up to him, turn him into the correct direction and start him off again.

If he continues to turn in, ask an assistant to correct him with a sharp flick with the whip on his upper hind leg while you keep the contact on the lunge rein. Be prepared to move slightly to the inside of the horse as he is driven forward.

If you are lungeing singlehandedly you must ‘attack’ him with an aggressive stance, looking him firmly in the eye and chasing him back out onto the circle again. He must understand that the turning-in behaviour is not acceptable; and if you use a soothing voice when he is good and are careful to keep yourself in a driving position, he will learn to please you.

Turning away

There are a few horses who try to turn away from you when on the lunge.

This can be very dangerous and usually only happens when the horse has been started incorrectly and has got away with this kind of behaviour before, either on the lunge or when being led. A horse never forgets and will try to repeat any ruse that has been successful — and, of course, these horses are always more difficult to change.

If a horse has got into the bad habit of turning away from you, you will have to resort to lungeing with a restrainer bridle or off the bit, via a check rein, to give you more control. In this case, the lunge rein should be threaded through the ring of the snaffle, passed over the head and attached to the bit ring on the other side. This works like a one-sided gag and does not pull across the jaw, which often makes horses lean out on the rein and is not to be recommended.

When lungeing a horse off the bit you must be more careful how you handle the lunge rein and be sure to have a light feel on the rein. If the horse suddenly tries to pull away from you, you must be quick and firm to stop him and turn him back, and then continue lungeing him. Remember that he will try to repeat the performance several times, so don’t get caught out.

A horse usually does the same thing at the same place on the circle, so anticipate his moves and make sure that you are one step ahead of his thinking. After all, it is our superior intelligence which helps us train and ride horses. Horses are simple, biddable creatures by nature; most love to please you and to be your friend.

This extract is taken from ‘Lungeing and Long-Reining’ by Jennie Loriston-Clarke, published by Kenilworth Press and available from the 24 June for £18.95. Visit www.quillerpublishing.com

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Jennie Loriston-Clarke has stepped down as chairman of British Dressage (BD), a role she took on in 2007. She will remain with the society as president.

Chief executive Amanda Bond said: “Jennie has done an incredible job. Her vision, direction and wonderful sense of humour have made her an honour and privilege to work with.”

Penny Pollard, a BD non-executive director for the past four years, was elected new chairman at the AGM on 19 September.

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (10 October 2013)

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Hundreds of paintings and drawings by Anne Bullen – illustrator of best-selling pony books and founder of Catherston Stud – are to go on display, after being rediscovered by one of her daughters.

Olympic dressage rider Jennie Loriston-Clarke found the cache, of more than 400 pictures, in an old desk she had inherited from her parents.

“They are so lifelike,” Jennie told H&H. “She seems to get the movements so beautifully, and she knew the anatomy so well.”

Mrs Bullen was a prolific equestrian artist, illustrating books by Monica Dickens and the Pullein-Thompson sisters. Her output was all the more remarkable, given that, alongside her breeding and showing work, she was also the mother of six children.

Jane (now Holderness-Roddam) and Michael Bullen also represented Britain at the Olympics.

“She would go out and draw somebody’s horse, then overnight, it would become an oil painting,” said Jennie.

“I don’t think she slept much.”

Some of the pictures will be for sale, but some particularly precious works will be reproduced as photographs for the exhibition.

“There is the front cover of [her book] Ponycraft, which is actually a picture of me on Royal Show, a very good pony of his day, who won at the Royal International,” said Jennie.

“It was sold to an American who bought a lot of our ponies, but eventually her great-niece offered it to me,” said Jennie.”It’s one that I’ll never sell.”

Anne Bullen’s pictures will be at the Osborne Studio Gallery, 2 Motcomb Street, London SW1, from 18 September-4 October.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (10 May 2012)

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Jennie Loriston-Clarke broke her foot at the World Breeding Championships in Verden (3-7 August).

Jennie, who was president of the ground jury at the show, collided with a step just before the trot-up and a subsequent trip to hospital revealed a broken a bone in her foot.

Despite being warned she would be unable to judge, Jennie returned to the rings with her foot strapped up.

“Everyone was very kind,” said Jennie, who is now home and awaiting further treatment for the break.

This news was first published in the current issue of Horse & Hound (11 August, 2011)

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Catherston Stud is to remain “in the family” after Jennie and Anthony Loriston-Clarke’s daughter Anne stepped in to take it over.

“We have taken Croft Farm [the Hampshire home of Catherston] off the market following the availability of Anne [Dicker] and her husband Brian, who have agreed to take on the running,” said Jennie.

Anne and Brian, who have since 2001 run Hurstbourne EC at Catherston’s former home, are to join Croft Farm with a number of their own staff.

“There are so many things going on, but I’m pleased,” said Jennie.

Catherston was started in 1949 by Jennie’s parents, the late Colonel and Mrs Jack Bullen.

Earlier this summer, the Loriston-Clarkes announced their plans to sell up and downsize and have since sold 14 horses.

“We have another 10 to sell — we’re just keeping Catherston Springsteen and Littledale Bright Star, one foal and two yearlings,” said Jennie.

• A student and staff reunion is planned for later this month. To attend email:catherston@btconnect.com

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (2 September, ’10)

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Catherston Stud and the majority of its youngstock and broodmares are to be sold next month as its owners Jennie and Anthony Loriston-Clarke are to retire.

Croft Farm, in Stockbridge, Hampshire, is the current home for Catherston, a renowned trademark in horses and ponies that has been in existence for over 60 years. It was inaugurated by Jennie’s parents, the late Colonel and Mrs Jack Bullen, in Dorset in 1949.

“We are not selling the name as I am sure family members will still be breeding, albeit on a much smaller scale, and perhaps one day either the children or grandchildren may continue the stud,” said former international dressage rider Jennie.

She took over the running of Catherston in 1966 and it also became a leading centre for students training for BHS and NVQ exams.

Jennie is the present chairman of British Dressage, as well as an international dressage judge and trainer.

“I will still be available for judging and teaching and [Anthony and I] will still be part of the equestrian scene, but we now intend to have more time to enjoy it,” said Jennie.

“I hope I will be able to give more time to people, which in the past has been difficult due to the pressures of running a busy stud and business. We are both looking forward to being able to spend more time with the grandchildren.”

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (20 May 2010)

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Jennie Loriston-Clarke (pictured) has been elected as the new chairman of British Dressage (BD).

At the BD AGM on Wednesday, it was announced that Jennie beat sole rival Dane Rawlins by 822 votes to 705. All 12,300 BD members were eligible to vote, but chief executive David Holmes told H&H he was delighted with 12% turnout.

“What we are most happy about is that so many people voted,” he said. “It’s a good figure and shows that people really care about who their chairman is.”

Jennie, who represented Britain at five Olympic Games, will take up the reins with immediate effect. She succeeds outgoing chair Desi Dillingham.

Don’t miss next week’s H&H (14 June) for more on this story, including reaction from Jennie, Dane and the dressage community

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British Dressage (BD) is to put voting papers for the election of a new chairman on its website, www.britishdressage.co.uk, following concerns that some member have not received the forms by post.

Jennie Loriston-Clarke and Dane Rawlins are both standing, and members vote by 18 May.

Dane Rawlins, who has already put the voting papers on his site, www.dressageathickstead.com, told H&H: “I’ve had about 40 calls from people worried that they haven’t received their voting forms.”

BD chief executive David Holmes said the ballot papers went out to members with British Dressage magazine at the end of April.

“But we’re aware some might have thrown them away by mistake,” he said, adding that members could also call the office (tel: 02476 698843) for replacement forms.

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British Dressage members will receive ballot forms to vote for a new chairman by the end of this week.

Members can vote for either Jennie Loriston-Clarke (pictured right) or Dane Rawlins (pictured below right) and have until 18 May to submit their forms. The forms will arrive in the post along with the April/May edition of British Dressage Magazine.

“The ballot forms couldn’t be more straight forward – all you need to do is tick the name you want to be chairman,” said a spokesperson for British Dressage.

Current chairman Desi Dillingham is standing down after nine years as chairman at the 2007 AGM on 6 June. The unpaid chairman position involves overseeing every area of dressage and heading the board of 10 directors.

Jennie Loriston-Clarke has been one of the most influential dressage riders, trainers, judges and breeders in the history of British dressage. She received an MBE in 1979 and was awarded the first ever Queen’s Award for Outstanding Services to Equestrianism in 2006.

“I feel I have the knowledge to move the sport forward because I know it both nationally and internationally,” said Loriston-Clarke.

South Londoner and former amateur boxer Dane Rawlins is best known as the founder and organiser of Dressage at Hickstead, which hosted the 2003 European Championships. He is the creator of the premier league series and co-developer of the British Young Rider Dressage Scheme, known as BYRDS.

“If you have an opinion then you should stand up and be counted. I was on the BHS Dressage Group main committee for 10 years and would be returning with a fresh set of views,” he said.

Read H&H’s news story about Dane Rawlings putting his name forwards as the prospective BD chairman >>

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The race for the chairmanship of British Dressage (BD) has cranked up a notch following the announcement that Dane Rawlins is to stand.

As H&H went to press on Monday, the only other candidate for the chairmanship was Jennie Loriston-Clarke. The closing date for nominees is 28 February, with postal ballots going out to all BD members at the end of March.

Dane, the founder of Dressage at Hickstead and the co-developer of the British Young Riders’ Dressage Scheme (BYRDS), explained his reasons for standing to H&H.

“I’m sure there are better people out there who aren’t standing, but I’m loud and mouthy and I want to move things forward,” he said.

“The current board has done many good things and the financial set-up is great, but something is missing — the sports aspect,” he said. “BD should not be a business running a sport, but a sport that needs to be run in a businesslike way.”

To this end, if Dane becomes chairman, he proposes to create a sports advisory panel. “This would be an independent sounding board,” he said, “to think about ways we can open dressage to more people.”

Membership of BD, which currently stands at 12,300, is open to anyone with an interest in the sport and costs between £32 and £60 a year. A BD spokesman told H&H that the organisation welcomed Dane’s decision to stand.

“Jennie is a great candidate,” she said, “but it’s great that Dane is standing, too. It is fantastic that people with such passion for the sport want to be a part of the board.”

Riders contacted by H&H said both candidates had a lot of offer.

Emile Faurie, who strenuously denied rumours that he intended to stand for the chairmanship, said the pair had ideal credentials.

“Both have qualities that would make them suitable,” he said. “They are both experienced horsemen.”

Trainer David Hunt echoed Dane’s views on setting up a sports panel.

He reasoned: “The current board has done a fantastic job with the money, but not so much with the actual sports side.”

Emile Faurie added that it was important that the upcoming elections did not divide the sport.

• This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (15 February, ’07)

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