In this issue
Mary Hanna has represented Australia at six Olympic Games, six FEI World Equestrian Games/World Championships, and five World Cup finals – soon to be six. Renowned for her dogged determination and persistence, the words “quit” and “give up” are not part of Mary’s vocabulary.
New year, new challenges on the home front. While my wonderful partnership with Bobby Dazzler has come to an end, I look forward to bringing on the new kids on the block.
Keen eventing competitor Luke Jones never planned to be an equine architect, until a call from the McNaught family inadvertently changed his career trajectory. Twenty years on, he’s worked on countless equestrian properties around Australia and abroad – and when it comes to eventing, he feels he’s riding well enough to continue enjoying the sport.
Vicki Roycroft is winding down and selling up. And has married a man named Neil. All of this she is determined to do before she dies – again. The first time was at the Sydney Royal Show last year.
After a number of years of lobbying and accumulation of research around the damaging effects of tight nosebands, and in the setting of a lot of talk about social licence to operate and the importance of welfare, the FEI has finally acted to introduce a measuring tool to ensure that competition horses are not competing with overly tight nosebands. This is an objective standardised measurement of noseband tightness.
Even from her very early days on the saddle, Grace Kay has always shown talent. Based in Europe for the past three years, she’s successfully training and competing across the three Olympic disciplines and strategically working towards two major goals: the 2026 FEI World Championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The prestigious young dressage horse championships at Dressage & Jumping with the Stars are almost exclusively the domain of purpose-bred Warmbloods – however, in 2025 a four-year-old Thoroughbred is set to break the mould. With a 71% qualifying score to his name, Amy Slayter’s EHR Marchbank is an exciting horse for the future.
While the word “side saddle” conjures up images of genteel riders of days gone by, Same Side Equestrian founder Stacey Rusic is proving that the sport is alive and flourishing in Australia.
The hot weather brings the threat of bushfires, and with it the risk of horses being burnt, or worse, killed. Having seen the devastation fires cause on humans and livestock, I would never want to deal with them again. Here’s what we can do.
The word “colic” sends shivers down the spine of horse owners the world over. Mild cases that resolve medically are met with enormous relief, while more complex cases – where owners must decide whether to operate or euthanise – are heart-wrenching.
A boy-and-horse movie with a difference. Nothing is conventional about Lean on Pete, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin.
Whatever the discipline – from campdrafting to dressage to polo or pleasure riding – having your horse obedient to moving away from your leg is of the utmost importance in improving control. Here is my approach to riding lateral work and where to begin (Part 1).
Jocelyn West has always combined her love of horses, riding and the pursuit of knowledge with the aim of striving for her best. Now she has channelled all her energies into her ultimate vocation, a specialised horse bit-fitting practice.
The iconic Mustang is the USA’s pin-up horse and the first image that comes to mind when you think of wild horses in North America – however, there is another population of wild horses that have a long and colourful history.