Danielle Heath

The show horse producer on striding out for the judges, the origins of her waistcoat and why her horses are always treated to a varied work programme

- Alex Robinson

THE walk is the first and last thing the judge sees, but it’s the pace that often gets overlooked by riders. It dictates your first and last pull in the ring so when training, I work the horses a lot in walk. I got Oathill Take The Biscuit (Hovis) when he was a four-year-old and he didn’t have the best walk. I would ride him long and low so he loosened at the neck and stretched down.

I also move my horses from side-to-side in all paces, as showjumpers often do during the warm-up. Then once at a show, they’ll lift a little and come up to sit nicely in the bridle. A horse can often have a walk that you didn’t even know about.