BTRC were honoured to be invited to deliver a demonstration at the International Eventing Forum on 3rd February 2020 at Hartpury College.
The International Eventing Forum is the brain child of a group of experienced equestrian professionals who are passionate about the sport of eventing. They do say that ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’ and from its inaugural date in 2004, the Forum has grown and developed into the ‘must attend’ pre-season fixture that it is today. An essential date for riders and trainers of all levels of experience and ambition in the sport of eventing, the Forum brings the highest calibre of speakers, from Olympic Gold Medallists to the trainers of Olympic Gold Medallists, together with ‘demo’ riders of varying levels of experience and horses of all shapes, sizes and abilities, to offer attendees genuine insights into how to train better, safer and smarter, for improved and long-lasting performance results.
BTRC CEO Gillian Carlisle discussed the importance of Thoroughbreds in Eventing and focused on the process of taking a horse off the track and the associated challenges that may be faced when retraining a Thoroughbred for a different discipline.
To assist with Gillian’s discussion BTRC took along horses Donald, Arnie, Dancer and riders Stephanie O’Connor, Angus Stewart and Charlotte Bewley. BTRC do not keep any horses for demonstration purposes so it was a fantastic opportunity for the horses to experience a new venue with a large audience watching their every move, they took it all in their stride and behaved wonderfully.
Following the event Horse & Hound published the article ‘Three vital stages to transforming a racehorse into the perfect riding horse‘ based on Gillian’s demonstration.
After the BTRC session our riders took part in a demonstration and discussion on how to fall in a safer way thanks to Safe Falls. Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Michael Eames from Orthoderm joined forces with Martial Arts expert Gary Spence to deliver the important demonstration. Learning to fall correctly were BTRC riders Stephanie O’Connor and Angus Stewart along with Annika, who joined BTRC for work experience from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna.
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