Sad losses and hopes that jobs can be retained – what the horse world is talking about

1. Farewell to much-loved riding school founder

Claire Robinson, the riding school proprietor, charity trustee, and long-standing British Horse Society (BHS) volunteer died on 17 August, aged 56, from cancer. Miss Robinson grew up in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees. She started riding as a child, and her equestrian career began when she started helping out at Tunstall Riding School as a teenager.

Miss Robinson was self-employed throughout most of her life, and was known to be a “wholly hands-on career woman”. In 2008 she founded the BHS-approved riding school Robinson’s Equi Teach, where hundreds of people made their first connection with horses under her tutelage.

Obituary: Claire Robinson

2. Loss of a successful supporter of the showing world

The horseworld is also mourning the loss of Richard Binks, a kind and generous stalwart of the showing community who died on 15 September, aged 80. Richard and his wife Pauline (née Appleyard) became members of the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) in 1979, when they began showing ponies with their daughters Helen, Harriet and Hannah.

Over the next 30 years the family had great success at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), Royal International Horse Show (RIHS), Royal Windsor Horse Show (RWHS), BSPS championships, and Richard’s beloved Great Yorkshire Show. They competed with legendary ponies including Vean Ringlet, Harmony Bubbling Champagne, Sarnau Stowaway, Trewolla Denzil and Montanna.

Richard Binks – a life remembered

3. Hopes that equestrian jobs can be retained

The managing director of equestrian manufacturer Vale Brothers hopes a “significant” number of the 80 jobs in the company will be protected, despite the fact the company has filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators.

The firm, whose brands include Thermatex, Harry Dabbs and Jeffries Saddlery, filed the notice on 27 September. Managing director Peter Wilkes told H&H there is hope that a buyer will be found, and that the big difference between filing the notice of intent and appointing administrators from the off is that the former “enables a smoother, more controlled process, as opposed to a bunfight”.

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