Forget high-speed car chases, all you need is two police horses and their riders. Gloucestershire Constabulary’s mounted branch recruits Kingsholme and Prestbury, with PCs HAstings and Walker, were on the case when a member of the public reported a driver who was drinking from what looked like a can of cider, behind the wheel. They surrounded the car, and the driver was stopped and breathalysed.
A pregnant rider who qualified her pregnant homebred mare for the Petplan Equine Summer Area Festival Championships joked “I don’t know if you’re allowed to have four of you in the arena at once!”
Full-time equine vet Sam Cutts and her own Piccola Diavola came second in the inter I freestyle and inter I, at Field House and Onley equestrian centres.
Sam is 27 weeks’ pregnant and “Holly” 15, so neither will compete at the finals in October, but Sam told H&H the area festival was “something to aim for”, for both of them.
CHALLENGING the “status quo” and rider education are fundamental to the future of horse sport, experts believe. The involvement of horses in sport was discussed at the International Society for Equitation Science conference at Hartpury University (9–12 August).
Researcher and FEI official Victoria Lewis said she is “very anxious and concerned” that equestrian sport could be dropped from the Olympics in future, adding: “I think we’re at the stage where we have the opportunity to make some really serious changes with the way we deal with our horses in a competitive environment,” said Ms Lewis.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
