Horse Trainer Hit By Farming Crisis
Bordon Herald, Friday 8 June 2001

An Oakhanger business is counting the cost of the foot and mouth crisis which has resulted in widespread cancellation of agricultural shows and events.

Kuchina Johnson is a registered horse and dog trainer who demonstrates dressage skills at shows. She is currently taking part in a study by the National Agricultural College in Warwickshire into how the foot and mouth crisis has hit the rural community. In the last month, she has had to sell animals to make the books balance. Mrs Johnson said: "I had six horses and three dogs. I am now down to two horses and three dogs." Attending shows up and down the country has in the past provided a steady income for the trainer.

Before the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, she had 27 show dates booked in her diary, but all but eight were cancelled. She said: "I don't think people realise how much it has affected the rural community. From December until two weeks ago, the horses never left the yard. "Even though I have only got eight displays to do, I have still got to have a year's worth of public liability insurance, "And it's like that with the horse box. I have still got to have a year's worth of insurance on that." Mrs Johnson said her horses had become restless because they were not able to perform and could only be exercised in the field next to her house. She stressed that her business is only a small part of the jigsaw puzzle being pieced together by the National Agricultural College and pointed out that businesses like blacksmiths and saddlers had also been hit hard by the crisis.

Although happy to take part in the study by the college, she felt the research would be "too little, too late" for rural businesses, which are already struggling to survive.