The Economics of a Livery Yard
Why DIY is not as cheap as it looks, why full livery is not as extravagant, and how to work out which one you can actually sustain.
02
Hacking Alone
Riding out on your own is one of the real pleasures of keeping a horse. A short, unsentimental list of what to do first.
03
A Morning at the Yard
What the first two hours of a livery yard actually look like, for anyone deciding whether they want a horse of their own.
04
Learning to Ride at Forty
Adult beginners progress differently to children, and the honest account of how is more encouraging than most schools admit.
05
Mud, and What To Do About It
Mud fever, poached gateways and the small interventions that actually work on heavy ground.
06
The Horse That Taught a Hundred Beginners
Every riding school has one. They are usually unfashionable, frequently ugly, and worth more than anything else in the yard.
07
What a Riding School Actually Teaches
Beginners expect to be taught to ride. What a good school teaches first is something less obvious and considerably more useful.
08
Riding the Droves
The Fens are laced with old droves and bridleways. What they are like to ride, and why the flat country is better hacking than it looks.
09
Hats Get Replaced More Often Than People Think
A hat is a consumable, not an heirloom. What actually ends its life, and why the second-hand ones are the worst buy on the yard.
10
The First Winter With a Horse
Nobody warns you about the second week of January - the dark, the mud, and the discovery that a horse needs you every single day.
