New western training centre opens in Scotland

A new western-style training and livery centre has opened in south west Scotland.

Charlotte Allen, 27, has opened CFA Performance Horses, near Newton Stuart in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

As well as traditional training, CFA will offer the western disciplines that Charlotte learnt working with horses in Colorado, USA.

Peter Lane, chairman of British Reining says: “Although there are a few in England, this is the first Western discipline training centre I’ve heard of in Scotland.”

Charlotte’s family moved from Scotland to Colorado when she was 11. She broke her first horse in her teens, studied equine science at Colorado State University, then became an associate trainer on the American Quarter Horse Association show circuit.

She returned to the UK in 2007 and worked as a trainer before setting up on her own. CFA Performance Horses’ western ‘all-around events,’ include showmanship, horsemanship, western pleasure, western riding and trail.

Western riding is growing rapidly in Europe. Olympic gold medal winning dressage rider Anky Van Grunsven and Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna are both fans.

The core of the discipline is a light, responsive, well-disciplined horse — one on which a cowboy could rely while riding across the range, lassoing cattle or on posse duty.

Charlotte hopes that her mixture of breaking, training and livery will appeal to owners who lack the time to prepare their horse for upcoming events.

For more information visit: www.cfaperformancehorses.co.uk

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