Ronnie Lee Jones reflects on different ways of producing horses – and young riders
These days, there is a lot of money in showjumping as a sport, but it doesn’t necessarily buy you experience or education.
When I was younger, I went to Pony Club, which is fantastic for children. There is so much focus on learning about management and anatomy, and I collected a jumper full of badges. I worry now that these routes into equestrian sport are dying a death.
I live in Essex, in Area 40, and when I was growing up, we also had the great fortune of British Showjumping academy training.
It was a National Lottery-funded initiative where you were invited to spend an entire day at a show centre with an accredited coach – such as Di Lampard or Alan Fazakerley. You’d have two lessons, one jumping and one flatwork, and a talk from a successful rider and a sports psychologist.
It was a step up from Pony Club, but this kind of education is no longer an option for today’s juniors – I believe the academy training petered out because of costs, although some still continues at a grassroots level.
I wonder how many trainers offer children insights into shoeing or therapy or management practices, not just a 45-minute lesson in a school?
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I am in my 30s and still learning every day. We were recently on tour in Spain and had some fascinating conversations with the farriers over there that led
to some useful changes.
Everything these days is about management, as it’s a 24/7 job keeping horses on the road.
We’ve spent more time exploring therapies and have been impressed by the deep-tissue massage pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) machines. We’ve also used the cryotherapy unit at Kelsall, run by Richard Maxwell, and had fantastic results.
In some ways, we are quite old-fashioned and there’s no need to knock what’s always worked, but you do need to be open to new ideas to move with the times.
Britain vs Europe
People talk about how Europe is ahead of us, but I think Britain holds its own competitively and in terms of production, which we do very well if not better. We have the advantages of a variety of shows on grass, the county circuit and venues such as Hickstead.
But when it comes to breeding, Europe has the upper hand, with more knowledgeable breeders and stronger studbook standards.
It’s not in the interests of the sport when you see unsuitable stallion choices being recommended for amateur breeders on social media platforms, motivated by owners’ financial gain rather than an investment in the bigger picture.
Some of these “approved” stallions shouldn’t have been granted this status, given their lack of performance or approved offspring. Are we putting our best foot forward for British breeding by hopping onto Facebook and listening to random people’s opinions?
It’s another area where the UK would benefit from better education and we should be sticking to studbooks’ guidelines and taking advice from the experts.
One thing I do find is that horses imported from the Continent can have led a very military life from a young age and can take a long time to mature and develop. They might ride well and be very talented, but mentally they are behind.
Over Easter half term, we had some children for training and we took them out in the forest. I was getting off a young stallion, dragging branches along to jump.
Horses need to see the world and have a bit of fun. There are opportunities to take the old-fashioned way of doing things and use it to our advantage.
● What changes do you think would help produce young riders and horses in Britain? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
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