Mike's Profile

Mike Jackson is 27 and lives on the Oxfordshire/ Gloucestershire border with his wife Ellie. He has ridden from an early age – excelling at Pony Club and now events to advanced level. He has 9 very promising young horses all being aimed for the top!

My Horses

I am extremely lucky to have a very promising string of young horses for 2008.  Some I ride for owners and others we have bred from my retired advanced event mare Ladies First and Ellie's old event mare Kangaru.

Billy Bird

Billy is an eight year old bay gelding owned by Sarah and Tommy Gallagher.  He was brought to race but never really took to it and so ended up with me to bring on as a four year old.  He is extremely talented and is now competing at intermediate level and is aimed at Houghton 2 star in the spring.

Up With The Lark

Max as he is known is an eight year old bay stallion by Welton Apollo and was bred by Sarah Taylor.  As a four year old he won the Pavo British Eventing Breeding Championships and has been very successful in Burghley Young Event Horse Classes and the British Breeding Young Horse Evaluation series.  He now competes at intermediate and will also be aimed at a 2 star this year.

Jagganath

Jack is a six year old bay gelding by Jumbo.  He is owned by Carole Mortimer and has been with me for two years now.  He was well placed in Burghley Young Event Horse classes as a four and five year old, and now competes at novice level.  He is a very handsome horse with a big jump and I have high hopes for him.

Kangasong

Or Joey as he is known on the yard, was bred by Ellie's father Chris and is a real family pet.  He is by Donnersong out of Ellie's talented by slightly crazy event mare Kangaru.  He has fantastic loose paces and is very scopey.  He competes at intermediate level and currently has 23 points.  Joey is aimed at the seven year old World Championships at Lyon in the autumn.  He's also been selected for the Equine pathway training programme for London 2012.

The Honeymonster

I was lucky enough to inherit Cornflake (his stable name) when I moved to the yard.  He is a 16.2hh palomino and was originally brought as a hunter.  He is owned by Clare Neate-James and has been well placed at novice and intermediate level.

Wish upon a Star

Whiz is a five year old chestnut stallion by Gribaldi.  He's owned by Carolyn Bates who owns the famous event stallion Jumbo.  He competed in the Burghley Young Event Horse Final last year and is a super prospect for the future - I am thrilled to have the ride on him.

Funny Hill

Ava is a new ride for 2008 and is owned by Caroline Muhlenkamp.  She's a lovely six year old grey mare with amazing paces and a huge jump.  She oozes presence and will compete at novice level this year.

Singing Halando

Hal is another talented young horse owned by Caroline Muhlenkamp.  He's a five year old trakehner with lovely paces - he'll be aimed at Burghley Young Event Horse and Pavo young horse classes this year.

Bluewood Ithos

Fritz is another of Caroline's trakehners - he's been with me for two years now.  Last year he was well placed in Burghley Young Event Horse classes and Pavo classes.  He also has a scopey jump and is another exciting prospect for the future.

Uluru

Skippy was bred by Ellie's family and is half brother to Kangasong (Joey).  He's by the grey thoroughbred Accondy and is five this year.  He was lightly competed as a four year old and will be aimed at Burghley Young Event classes and Pavo young horse classes.

Daisy Duke

Daisy is owned by Julia Reed who owns our yard.  She's a skewbald seven year old mare, who was lightly competed by Julia last year and was placed with me in a couple of events towards the end of the season.  She's got a huge jump and is very careful, and I'll be looking to build her confidence at novice level this season.

Apart from the main squad, we also have horses in for schooling, breaking and selling - so always busy!

Feeding Regime!

Keeping a string of event horses happy and healthy can be a tricky business.

Most of mine are thoroughbred types who are generally not good at maintaining condition (apart from Cornflake who is what I would call a good do-er!).  So in the summer they get turned out as much as possible.  Not only does this help to maintain their condition it also makes them much more relaxed to ride.

Their diets all vary slightly but all of them get lots of fibre.  We feed haylage and then they get two hard feeds a day consisting mostly of Alfa-A Original or Hi-Fi Original along with sugar beet.  Those that need a bit more help have Alfa-A Oil or a conditioning mix like Fibremix Extra.  They also have cod liver oil and electrolytes if they have been competing.

Fitness

Throughout the season most of my horses compete a couple of times a month so it is important they are fit.  A typical week's exercise would be;

Monday	Day Off
Tuesday	Hack of flat work
Wednesday	Galloping work
Thursday	Hack or flat work
Friday	Jump or flat work
Saturday	Jump
Sunday	Gallop or Event

We are lucky enough to be able to use the gallops at David Bridgewater's racing yard five minutes from our place.  It is very handy to have the gallops especially when the ground is hard in the summer, although nearby we have some great hacking and grass gallops which we use in the spring and autumn.

The length of time that they are galloped for varies depending on how old they are and what level they are competing at.  We try to hack our horses as much as possible to let them stretch and relax and it also helps to keep them interested in the job.

Training

I have been taught by a number of different people over the years.  However, I would say Katie Meacham and Owen Moore were the greatest influences with my riding in the early years.

I am now taught by dressage rider Spencer Wilton, who is also a great friend, and show jumper Simon Nicholson.

On a day to day basis, I work most of my horses on my own but I think it is important to have regular lessons with someone you respect to make sure bad habits don't creep into your riding.  Fine tuning can make the difference between winning and losing.

My moto is; "if you fail to prepare - prepare to fail".

My Team

My head girl, Jen has been with us for two years - she's fantastic and we couldn't possibly manage without her!  She has two horses, which she competes at pre-novice level.  Julia Reed owns our yard and is a great laugh and is hugely generous with her time and belongings!

Spring Events 2008:

Tweseldown	6 - 9 March
Aldon	14 - 16 March
Gatcombe	20 - 22 March
Somerley Park	25 - 26 March
Goring Heath	29 - 30 March
Larkhill	5 - 6 April
Belton	11 - 13 April
Withington Manor	26 - 27 April