BBC2 Landward Program

BBC Landward

The ScotNorth feature will be on BBC2 3rd October and the program starts at 7pm

You can watch the Landward Programme from the following link:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/player/?item=44534851&size=v200

We were contacted by the producer of the Landward Program as they wanted to film a feature about the Club and ex racehorses.

We were contacted following the various Club articles, talks and events that have been covered over the past few months.

The series starts late September 2008 and we will post the date of the episode featuring ScotNorth.

The crew for the day were just brilliant. 

Mike the cameraman was superb and very brave when, at one point, he lay down almost under a spread in order to film Stan jumping up and over him.  He got some wonderful shots of the landscape as well as the horses themselves and said he had a really good day.

Fiona the producer was great and, being a rider herself, was very impressed with how well the horses were doing and how 'unlike' the general perception of racehorses they were.

Sarah the host was so friendly and put Karon and I at ease for our interviews.  Her questions were well researched and she was genuinely interested in what happens to race horses one they finish racing.

I do hope it all turns out OK - certainly they felt that they had every bit of material they needed to make a good feature.

Filming took place at Fyrish Equestrian by the kind permission of Scottish event rider and trainer Karon Carson, the proprietor.

Karon has the 4 main ingredients for this to be a success - a lovely schooling arena, super XC training fences, a great showjumping area and most of all an ex racehorse  !!

The producer wanted a wide variety of shots and information so we used the following horses for the shoot

Just Classic (Denzel) / Lisa Hamer - Denzel  is just out of training (8 weeks) and we showed the kind of groundwork needed to start off the retraining programme.  Mostly flat work on a loose rein and a canter up the XC field for the camera - where he duly pulled a front shoe just before his debut outing at Thirlestane horse trials for the ScotNorth masterclass (saturday) and parade (Sunday).

He just lives to please and is finding the transition to riding horse quite easy, which is good given he is 17.3h of muscle !  He 'eats like a horse' and  we need to watch the waistline or he will be doing the heavy hunters!

 Off To Work We Go (Stan) /Karon Carson

Here is a great example of ex racehorses making very successful eventers and, in Stan's case, also top dressage horses.  Stan was 11th at Burgie 2008, 2nd at Oatridge 2008, won the Tower Farm dressage points series 2007 and has never been unplaced at any of his dressage outings.

Karon has put so much work, patience and love into this lad and he is paying her back tenfold with his desire to please.  He even jumped a huge spread with the cameraman (brave Mike) lying half in between the spread so he could get an ''unerneath'' shot as the horse jumped !  And who says they are all spooky? !

 Commanche Creek (commanche) / Caroline Pennycook

Commanche is one of many 'veterans' that dispel the myth that ex racehorse do not stay sound into their teens.  Commanche is 19, still going strong, and showed on the day that jumping 3ft poles and large brush fences are still fun and easy for him.  Commanche is on the Edinburgh & District RC dressage, jumping and XC teams and is having a superb 2008 showing season on top of all that.  Commanche is a true gentleman and elsewhere on the website you will see a photo of him at Musselburgh racecourse parade with a young child sat on him - he recently 'nannied' a child at her first hunt and was a star.

Merlin's Mischief (Wizz) / Linda Hardy - This horse is a fabulous example of the ex racehorse bravery and jumping ability.  There were some great shots of Wizz giving fences about a 2 foot stand off and 10ft clearance !

Wizz is also not long out of training but further along the retraining path than Denzel and is a great example of how quickly it can all come together where there is trust between the horse and rider.   

This wee horse os going far in the eventing world, the bravery, determination and willingness to please are so evident - so watch this space as she will be catching up with Stan soon.