Joanna and Roger are enthusiastic supporters of RDA worldwide. They are also the proud breeders of famous eventer Primmore’s Pride, ridden by Pippa Funnell to win a silver medal at 2004 Olympics Athens.
Roger was British Eventing regional director and an FEI chief steward for many years. Joanna developed the effective training strategies shown in their training book The Fearless Horse, a copy of which they have donated to each of the Groups for future reference.
Both are much respected teachers and horse trainers with a huge breadth and depth of knowledge. They came to offer some of that knowledge to just over forty volunteers who came along, representing all four RDA Groups in our North Somerset and Bristol County.
Gill Edwards and Kim Langbridge from Avon and Anne Allen from Wellow supported them in the practical demonstrations. These involved correct handling in the stable to establish control of your horse, managing the approach to the mounting block and mounting riders whilst the horse stands calm and still. Keeping a good distance from your horse’s head whilst leading and always keeping your concentration and focus on your horse to be aware of how he is reacting at all times.
There was a lot of very positive feedback from everyone at the end of the morning and Joanna has promised that they will return in future to help us again.
