28/09/2026
The Horsemanship Hub - Horsemanship Showcase 2026 - probably the best (certainly the busiest) yet!
Before anything else, I have to say a huge thank you to my wonderful team! These guys come to support me at shows, clinics, demos and of course the showcase. They rarely watch anyone else, and are always cheering the loudest! You’re all amazing!
This year I had the honour of being asked to follow in the footsteps of Sean Coleman, Ben Atkinson and David Zeund and step in to the Roundpen to compete for Horseman of the year against Joanna Lowes Horse Training and Miri Hackett Equine. The competition was to develop ground skills in young horses over three days, judged both by the audience, and anyone watching at home via the live stream.
I drew April, a lovely Warmblood/Appaloosa from PNK Appaloosa stud. We had three fantastic sessions together. I did my best to emphasise my drive to teach horses functional skills that will help them and their owners out in the real world, while also becoming a place of peace to the horse.
It was a privilege to compete alongside Joanna and Miri, especially in front of a crowd of horsemanship enthusiasts. Thank you to everyone that voted for me. The highlight for me was when I asked April to come and pick me up from the mounting block with now physical cue… the audience forgot the no clapping rule. My mum cried ❤️
I’m pleased to let you all know that I won the trainer challenge - Horseman of the year 2026 🤠
The competition prompted some interesting conversations around training philosophy, created friendships that hopefully last a long time and showed how three very different approaches can all still work for the benefit of the horse. It was a pleasure to be a part of it, and thank you again to anyone that voted for me… I guess now I have to come good on all those ‘vote for me and get 25% off my clinic’ offers eh? 😉 really great to spend some time chatting to Joanna Lowes and Joey Price outside of the round pen. What a truly lovely couple! We can’t wait to have you up in Lincoln!
Picnic attended the showcase for her third year. Picnic, Pumps, pumpershnitzel, grumpy pumpy, captain headbutt - as she is affectionately known by her friends. She did a demo on separation anxiety, rode in the WES - converting English to western demo and absolutely smashed it out of the park in the obstacle course during something fun! Thank you to Kirsty for letting me bring pumps for another year, and for your ongoing confidence in my programme with her. She did you proud!
Magnus Rex at Dawn - Remy was as dependable as ever! He did a demonstration on maintaining ethics during high performance in which we discussed how making the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy is very difficult when the right thing is a physically very difficult manoeuvre. We talked about connection and feel during harder movements, and how we set them up to be a horses idea. He rode in the WES ranch disciplines demo, and did two loading demos on how to start training the perfect loader. He performed in the gala at the end of the show and gave a somewhat spicy performance to ‘a whole new world’ - he’s just the best!
I judged the handy horsemanship competition. Great to meet Equus with Millie - Accredited Equine Behaviourist, did a talk on the effect of the bit in the mouth, and chatted to everyone that I could - although the days went by so fast!
So good to spend time with friends old and new! It was Rowans first time at the showcase, and it was so lovely to have her, Gavin, Alisha and Kirsty in particular helping me get horses ready, chat to people about clinics and events, remind me to eat and drink and just generally keep me on track. It takes a village to get through these things and my village absolutely rocks 🩷
Jolie Cooper and I were in charge of the WES demos. Jolie was great in her first demonstration as a WES pro, and represented WES, and all our female pro’s with professionalism, skill and an awesome ranch riding pattern! Not to mention all our Wes members that attended the WES challenge. I may be biased, but I’m extra proud of Alisha Steele and Quinn Arkle… both my horse show kids couldn’t make me any prouder every time I see them ride. Quinn, for your age, you hold your own against professionals and people double and triple your age alike! Alisha, your professionalism and love of what you do is never in doubt as the smile never leaves your face. And it’s infectious! I’m so proud of you both for being there this weekend.
A huge thanks to Larisa, for the invitation to the Horsemanship showcase. It is still surreal to me that I get to brush shoulders with legends every time I attend. Coming out of a demo and having Frédéric Pignon help me take off my microphone is a surreal experience. As is having a chat with Ben Atkinson, competing against Rebecca Harris and Freddy Steele alongside Oliver Phillips. Being judged by Holly Barber and spectated by Kelly Marks. That’s not even 10% of the lineup at the showcase, but just a few off the top of my head!
Thank you to everyone that voted for me, came and said hello, asked questions in the demo and supported the show! What a weekend!
You’d think today would have been a day of rest, but I headed down to the NEC to talk about the new range of bits and spurs from Neue Schule - another great day!
Photo of my amazing team is in the barrage of pics below. Not everyone could be there of course, but you all know who you are. Thank you all… so so much!
A huge thanks to my amazing sponsors:
Ariat Europe Western
Total Horsemanship Natural Equipment
Neue Schule Ltd
The Round Pen Company
Equinen
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