On Display
Horse & Hound, 24 February 2005

Trainer and display rider Kuchina Johnson mixes the practical with the ornate.

Tack

We have eight horses of Spanish and Portuguese bloodlines. At home, we use Australian stock saddles — the one I use most is 24 years old, but I'm in the saddle 4hrs a day and it's very comfortable. Our display tack includes Portuguese and Spanish saddles. We send a template of the horse, and the saddles are made there and sent to us.

The stock saddles have a double girthing system, with one ordinary girth and an overgirth. We use cruppers because some of the horses are also driven and it gets them used to them.

Seats to take a pillion riderare attached to the saddle; we get them from Spain. They are a bit like padded car seats the wrong way round. The display tack is very ornate. We have bridles in black and silver, and in tan and gold, and othertack in blue and red. Horses start their training in a headcollar or hackamore, then move to a rubber or vulcanite pelham with double reins.

Grooming

There is nothing artificial about our horses' beauty. They are groomed with soft-bristled flick brushes and the stallions have naturally glossy coats because their hair has a higher oil content. We never clip them and they have manes down to their shoulders. My secret for preventing the mane from getting rubbed by rugs is to apply Doveleave-in hairconditioner on the mane at the withers.

Feed

We use Equilibria 500 from Gro-Well Feeds, which supplies all the essential nutrients and cuts our feed bills. It also means we need less room on the yard for storage. The cubes we use are made locally by Headley Mill, Hampshire, and the horses get carrots and apples to keep them interested.

Transport

Our 10-ton five-horse Man horsebox has three aluminium stalls, which pull down at the side — and a built-in kennel for the three dogs in the performances. The artwork on the side was done by Alan Rooney and shows life-size representations of the horses. When one gets to the stage of being a schoolmaster, he appears on the side of the lorry.

Facilities

We have a small indoor school, but only use it in terrible weather. Our horses have to perform outside with all sorts of distractions, so that's how they work at home. We practise in a field with things like bags blowing around and even burnt patches. Because the horses have seen and smelled them at home, they aren't worried.

H&H As told to Carolyn Henderson.