3B9PM6R Harry Meade of Great Britain on Cavalier Crystal on day four of the MARS Badminton Horse Trials 2025 at The Badminton Estate, Gloucestershire. Picture date: Saturday May 10, 2025.
Harry Meade’s attention to detail doesn’t apply just to his riding skills. His horse management routine, right down to how he’s selected their bedding, is intricately planned and detailed. In this article exclusive to H&H subscribers, Harry describes his feeding philosophies and how he makes choices on other aspects of management.
When a rider reaches the status of world number one, while most of us only see the glory days, it’s always the result a monumental amount of work over years and years. Behind the glamorous scenes is a jigsaw puzzle of training, physio, farriery, feed and management, and a team of countless people playing an integral part. The new eventing world number one Harry Meade’s feeding routine is meticulously managed, according to factors such as the horse’s weight, history, workload, condition, time of year and targets.
Nor does he leaves any stone unturned when it comes to other management details, such as bedding and worming. Here are the 1% margins that help give Harry the edge.
Harry Meade’s feeding routine
Nutrition-wise, Harry Meade simplifies feeding into three requirements, “energy levels, condition, and ensuring all nutrients are delivered at the appropriate thresholds”.
To ensure the nutrient levels are correct and nothing is over-delivered or lacking, D&H, with whom Harry has a long-term relationship, profiles each horse’s complete diet – including forage, grazing, supplements as well as hard feeds – at different times of the year.
For energy levels, he can feel how much spark they have, and alter accordingly.
The horses’ condition is monitored closely, each horse is weighed regularly and their weekly average added to a graph on their lifelong spreadsheet, recorded alongside their total feed intake. By tracking this information, Harry can spot trends before they develop and make adjustments to ensure each horse is at its peak weight for performance.
CCI5* campaigner Et Hop Du Matz at his regular weigh-in at Harry Meade’s yard.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“I’ll assess each by eye and note down if any are starting to look slightly light or big,” he explains.
“Weighing only gives you a number, which means nothing by itself, but it does allow you to track how each horse fluctuates. If any horse begins to deviate away from their ideal trend, the weight gives a head start before it is evident to the eye.”
It also flags up repeat yearly patterns.
“I’ve had most of my horses since they were young, so I can analyse their historical data,” he adds.
“I’ll know that a certain horse is prone to run up light or put weight on at a particular time of year, so I can feed in advance of an anticipated drop or gain and have a smooth taper, rather than reacting retrospectively, which leads to homeostatic fluctuations.”
One of Harry’s CCI5* mares, Cavalier Crystal, tucks into her feed, which is bespoke according to several factors – including her own history and predicted fluctuations in condition.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
Best bedding
Harry’s chosen bedding is thanks both to circumstance and scrupulous research.
“Fifteen years ago, the bedding company I was using had supply issues so I had to change,” he says. “I contacted racehorse trainers in Britain, Ireland, the US, France and Australia, to find out the pros and cons of various types of bedding used around the world.
“We ordered eight pallets of different bedding and put sections of the yard on different types for a few months each. We assessed each from the point of view of dust, mould spores and how easy it was to muck out.”
The winner was a chopped rape straw, Caviera, recommended by a French trainer.
Harry Meade uses chopped rape straw bedding, which he chose for its dust-free qualities and ease of use.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“I also had it analysed as a feed, to check it has no downsides in case they eat any,” he adds.
Catching the worm
Worming, too, isn’t left to chance.
“We send off the horses’ faecal egg counts to Intelligent Worming, who determine whether treatment is necessary and if so with what product, to target that specific type of worm burden,” Harry explains.
“This avoids unnecessary or ineffective treatment. Prevention is better for the horse, and more economical too.”
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
