NOW that the excitement of the Olympics has well and truly passed there’s a sense of familiar normality restored to our days. All eyes shift to our young horses competing in Lanaken, while our pony and young riders return back to school longing for more days, more chances, day dreaming of their own gold medal.

For those of us living the daily equestrian life, we revert back to our old frustrations of poor facilities and bad weather, slipping easily back to our routines of hard work, the monotony broken by show days and our underlying love for this equine world. Those Olympic talents we watched on our screens seem so far removed from our everyday work and weekly competitions that the translation of our routine into something that great seems impossible.