‘I often learn from the riders'

Leading course-designer Graham Barclay on how the game has changed

- Alex Robinson

I’M admittedly a person of a certain age and have been involved with horses for many years, starting out in my local riding club in Fife.

I was given the chance to build British Showjumping (BS – then BSJA) classes by the Low-Mitchell family who were based at Balcormo Farm and ran a number of shows during the season.

With the help of two British Show Pony Society (BSPS) course-builders, I moved on to building working hunter tracks, and this is where my heart has been ever since.

In the early years, my tracks were usually confined to horse and agricultural shows in Scotland. Six years ago, I was given the opportunity to design and build at the BSPS summer championships.

I’m known for being a little adventurous with my courses, often opting to bring trees into the jumps, setting up pens and building offset combinations, so I think I frightened the life out of some of the competitors who hadn’t seen my tracks before.