2018 | October

Hello, Welcome to the October issue of Horsemanship Journal.

In this issue, we welcome a new author to HJ, Bev Walton. Bev has over 40 years of experience with horses, specialising in horse psychology and behaviour. In her article, Bev looks at the importance of groundwork.

The summer has left many of us with fields with little grass, and as we move into the winter, we can look forward to months of muddy paddocks. Maintaining paddocks that can keep horses stimulated has year-round challenges. Ross Cooper provides some easy to do ideas to enrich paddocks and keep horses stimulated (page 12).

In our training articles, Alessia Pagani discusses training and getting the job done, and Gary Witheford helps us work with our horses to overcome fears.

In science, new research explores advancing Gene Therapy for Equine Lameness. Dr Catrin Rutland, Associate Professor of Anatomy and Developmental Genetics, provides us with an overview of this fascinating research (page 8).

Lucy Irvine keeps us up to date with her vital work helping horses in Bulgaria. In this issue, she tells about Amber’s story and how LIFE has helped her (page 22).

Welcome to the October issue of Western Horse UK.

You may have noticed a significant change in the packaging for this issue - we have switched from plastic wrapping to paper envelopes. Although the plastic wrapping we use is widely recyclable (depending on your local authority), we felt that paper was better. We’ve been thinking a lot about the single use plastics that we use at the yard too. Follow us on Instagram; westernhorseuk as we try and make plastic swaps, and we would love to see your plastic swaps #westernridersukplasticswaps.

This year seems to have flown by, which means it is time to start thinking about the Christmas holidays. See our collection of Christmas gift ideas on pages 14 and 15 - everything from saddles to books.

For those of you that like to plan ahead, we have two amazing holiday destinations in our ‘Out and About’ sections, alongside the Ranch Finder map.

As always, there’s a lot happening in our Western Community, you can find out about them in our Community pages starting on page 37. The UK PHA held their first ‘Gathering’ in September - Dani tells us all about it on page 39, and Luke Burridge fills us in on their adventures in China on page 40.

Our regular features include: Al Dunning (Traditional Equipment), Julie Goodnight (A Devoted Horse), and Nikki discusses Autumn Worming in ‘Ask the Vet’.