A unique approach to young horse development
We very much believe in nurture being as important as nature when it comes to producing thoroughbred talent. Statistics such as these illustrate the benefits of early education especially with national hunt youngstock:
In the 2022/23 and 2023/24 season the French Breds made up 63% of the horses rated 170+ RPR in the UK/Ire, 91% of which have jumped in a race by the age of four.
9/10 of the highest RPR’s in the 23/24 NH season ran over an obstacle before the end of their spring 4yo season.
The last 7 Gold Cup Winners ran over an obstacle before the end of their spring 4yo season.
With this in mind, we offer a young horse development programme for horses bred on farm or purchased as young-stock, introducing yearlings to light education before carefully breaking them in, where appropriate, before they turn two. As 2-year-olds, they are loose-schooled and introduced to jumping under saddle before moving to Chris Barber's purpose-built pre-training yard, where they benefit from outstanding facilities, including gallops, an all-weather strip, grass, and schooling fences.
Our aim is to have each horse pre-trained and ready for an educational racecourse visit in the spring of its 3-year-old year, before enjoying a summer at grass to mature. They then head to their trainers in late summer as well-educated, physically developed horses. Every horse progresses at its own pace, and the programme is tailored to the individual.
We believe this approach produces stronger, more robust horses that are better prepared for training than many of their contemporaries, who may only just be entering the sales ring as unbroken stores.