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‘I love my horses to go out and have time to themselves – it’s natural and they’re happier’: showjumper Joe Stockdale on the importance of daily turnout
Plus his thoughts on stable manners and a herd mentality in this exclusive article for H&H subscribers
A showjumper’s life is a busy one on the circuit, but when it comes to his horses’ home routine, Joe Stockdale is a stickler for turnout and plenty of downtime outside their boxes.
“We’ve got paddocks and stallion pens, so we can turn 11 out at once,” says Joe. “The paddocks are designed so they can enjoy the grass, but not get too much speed up.
There are plenty of paddocks at Joe Stockdale’s yard so that all his horses can enjoy daily turnout.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“I love them going out – it’s natural, they really enjoy it, getting their heads down and having some time to themselves. They’re happier and easier for me to ride.”
“I like his sharpness because it gives him his power, but you need to keep his mind busy and whether at home or a show, he needs to be out of his box a lot,” Joe explains.
“I’ll often turn him out for an hour first thing while I ride the others – he’ll have a buck, a chill in the sunshine and then he’s much better to ride. In the summer, they’re out as much as possible but even if it’s drizzly we turn out, with waterproof rugs. But my top horse Cacharel will stand with her head out of the stable in the pouring rain, so no one can argue it’s cruel being out in the wet!”
The walker and water treadmill are in action in the afternoons.
“It’s another tool to get their blood and bodies moving, especially if there’s any lactic acid build-up,” Joe says.
“In winter, we also turn them out in the indoor school, so they can have a run-around, a squeal and a buck and not have us bothering them for a bit. They’ll roll in the sand and get themselves filthy – I’m not sure the grooms love it quite as much!”
‘My horses are so friendly, they’ll lick you to death!’
Joe with the stallion Ebanking.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
From Joe’s perspective, the more time he spends with his horses, the better he knows and understands them. He is very hands-on, in the stables, giving treats and ensuring his horses have plenty of variety during the day.
“It’s important to me they have their heads out of their stables and they’re friendly, I don’t like them standing at the back,” says Joe. “It’s a quiet yard and they’re all a bit spoilt, they’ll lick you to death.
“They have a lot of interaction with us – I might only be on them for 40 minutes to an hour, but they’re always doing something: turnout, being groomed, having massage rugs on, leg icing, going on the water treadmill – they’re not in their boxes a lot.
“Earning a horse’s trust comes down to how much time you spend with them. Not just riding them, but just being around them – some might need bribing with carrots to start with!”
Keeping the herd mentality without separation anxiety
On the yard, Joe is careful not to pair horses up directly. He rotates which horses are in paddocks next door to each other to avoid inseparable bonds, which can cause problems for them down the line.
“It feels like a nice idea, but we try not to pair them one on one as it can be problematic as they can get too attached to each other and then when one needs to leave for a show, it’s difficult for them,” he explains.
“We try to have variation so they’re not always turned out next to the same horse, so they don’t have a strong attachment. However, we do have a herd mentality in the stables as they look out on to each other and they all have mirrors.”
“I like my horses to be friendly, with their heads out of the stables,” says Joe.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
Mares and stallions co-exist on the same yard, with the likes of Cacharel and his upcoming star Do It Rollebeek – two mares – residing in the same three-sided stable courtyard-style stable block as the stallions and geldings.
“We’ll make sure they’re not next door to each other in direct contact, but we’re lucky all our stallions are quite level-headed,” he says.
Enjoy the full article following Joe Stockdale and his horses behind the scenes in this week’s magazine (on sale from Thursday 20 November).
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.
