When you watch your favourite riders achieving great success in their chosen discipline, alongside the excitement you feel there’s probably also a sense of wonderment. How do they reach such amazing heights with their horses? Surely there is some magical fairy dust that’s sprinkled over them? Or perhaps their horses are supernatural winning machines. Right? Of course talent and hard work play a huge part, but careful management is a hugely important element. And while there is definitely progress to be made in the way some elite horses are managed, more and more top-level riders are keen to share their ‘back to basics’, fairy-dust free management styles. Carl Hester has long advocated the benefits of maximum turnout time for his horses, including household names such as Valegro, and London 2012 dressage gold medallist Laura Tomlinson recently shared the benefits she’s finding of removing part of the partitions between her horses’ stables. Or, rather, that her horses are finding – happy ponies enjoying mutual
