“Be open minded, realistic and think ‘I mustn’t put what I want to do above what the horse should be doing’”
2019 Burghley winner and all-round horse woman Pippa Funnell joins World Horse Welfare’s Roly Owers and Adam Cummins to discuss "Maintaining your horse's fitness over summer 2020"
Pippa talks about how the Billy Stud, which is split between two properties run by Pippa and her husband, British show jumper William, has been managing during the lock down and how they plan to bring their horses back in competition as and when it starts again
Pippa is very keen on rider fitness as well as horse fitness (‘the rider is 95% part of any horse problem”) and provides some valuable general advice that applies to anyone bringing a horse back into work post Covid-19. There is no ‘one size fits all’ as all horses and riders are individuals with differing goals and facilities
“Don’t go out there, hammer and tongs thinking ‘Gosh I want to go eventing in three weeks’ time but I haven’t done much work’. Don’t go out and suddenly start galloping; take your time, be sensible about it and gradually increase the workload, all the time assessing how your horse is responding to that workload”
“The horses will tell you and that’s what I try to teach our staff; being a good rider is about being a good horseman, trying to read and assess your horses and you should be able to tell how they are reacting”
“Be patient before you go out there competing”
