Horse Hound – 26 February 2026

Summary

Horse & Hound's 26 February 2026 issue (Vol CXLII, No 8) visits Barry Connell's 17-horse Co Kildare yard before Marine Nationale defends his Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham, mourns Michael Jung's great La Biosthetique-Sam FBW at 26, and asks Rosie Williams, Sam Watson and Alec Lochore how to fix eventing.

The eventing focus anchors the issue. Martha Terry tours Boherbaun Stables, where former hedge fund manager Barry Connell has won two of five Cheltenham Festival runners by keeping just 17 horses, housing them in open woodchip pens, quiet barns or traditional boxes, and removing the muck heap entirely from the 45-acre site. Pippa Roome then hands a magic wand to British Eventing CEO Rosie Williams, Badminton commercial director Andrew Tucker, FEI eventing director Molly Day and EquiRatings co-founder Sam Watson, whose steeplechase-style final three minutes is the boldest idea on the page.

News runs strong and sad: La Biosthetique-Sam FBW, the only event horse to hold European, world and Olympic titles simultaneously, dies at 26 with Chris Bartle's tribute; Czech research in Animals finds dressage stress behaviours rising with level while judges' marks ignore them. Features cover soil health (test your fields, says ADAS, because most owners never do) and Tessa Waugh's Hunting diary meets Jane Pope, still second over every Heythrop fence at nearly 84.

Reports deliver quantity: Loretta Joinson lands a grade V one-two at the Equissage Para Winter Championships at Arena UK after four years out following a 2018 rotational fall, Sophie Wells previews her World Championship string, Neil King's Lookaway wins the £150,000 Ladbrokes Trophy at Kempton, Constitution Hill romps at Southwell, and Will Biddick saddles five winners from eight runners at Badbury Rings. A Secretariat nostalgia piece and an eight-boot cooling kit guide complete the back half.

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Content Guide

▸ News

p.4 · Farewell to a horse who rewrote eventing history

Michael Jung's La Biosthetique-Sam FBW dies at 26 after wins at Luhmühlen 2009, Kentucky 2010, London 2012 and Rio 2016 — back-to-back Olympic individual golds and the Rolex Grand Slam via Burghley 2015 and Badminton 2016. EquiRatings confirm him as the highest-rated event horse since 2008 by a long way. Former German team coach Chris Bartle recalls the partnership: "Sam and Michi were the essence of what partnership means." Use the stat block — no horse since has held European, world and Olympic titles at once.

p.5 · Stress behaviours up with dressage levels

Czech researchers tested over 200 combinations across six national levels and found noseband compliance with FEI rules was almost universal — but stress behaviours climbed with test difficulty, exceeding 70% of grand prix tests in some measures, while judges' scores stayed unaffected. Lead author Simona Fialová of Brno University notes Swedish crank nosebands produced fewer mouth issues than plain cavesson-and-flash at lower levels. Her proposal of a dedicated harmony or welfare mark is the concrete talking point to raise with your judge or trainer.

▸ Cover Story

p.16 · Access all areas: Barry Connell

Martha Terry spends a morning at Boherbaun Stables, Co Kildare, where the owner-trainer runs 17 horses with two wins and two placings from five Cheltenham Festival runners. Practical detail worth copying: no muck heap on site (waste goes straight to portable trailers), antibacterial paint and dual-aspect stables, horses never worked at home — fast work happens 15 minutes away on the Curragh — and the same jockeys ride the same horses daily so deviations get flagged instantly. His two Festival runners, Marine Nationale and 33/1 Eachtotheirown, are profiled with figures.

p.32 · Abracadabra!

Pippa Roome asks eventing's power brokers what they would change. BE CEO Rosie Williams wants coaching investment, 3D-printed cross-country fences and advertising on roundabouts; Alec Lochore insists cross-country stays 10-11 minutes; Sam Watson argues five-star faces "extinction" without cross-breeding and proposes a steeplechase final three minutes. Badminton's Andrew Tucker explains why attendance figures mislead on prize money. Read the "And also" sidebar for quick wins — a collecting-ring steward, as trialled after Covid, tops grassroots rider Amy Dixon's list.

▸ Features

p.38 · Down to earth

Emily Bevan gathers ADAS, Soil Association, NAF and Keyflow experts on pasture. Core test: healthy soil looks like chocolate cake, unhealthy like a brownie; dig a hole and count earthworms. Common UK deficiencies are selenium, copper, zinc and magnesium, so grazing alone rarely balances a diet. Actionable tips include poo-picking to reclaim grazed-out "elimination areas", spraying weeds in March-April or September before flowering with 14-21 days of horse exclusion, and putting hay out earlier so grass protects the soil longer.

p.44 · Lusitanos and lemon trees

Liam Clancy rides with the Equipagem de Santo Huberto on the Alentejo plain, tracing the hunt to the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular War pack — huntsman Tom Crane was captured by the French in 1811 chasing a fox behind enemy lines. Today's hunt, revived by Baron von Beck in 1951 and led by Bernardo Vasconcelos e Sousa, meets at dawn at Herdade de Camões before the sun kills the scent. Practical note for visitors: this is one of the wettest seasons on record, so ground conditions vary.

▸ Hunting

p.48 · Old and (seriously) bold

Tessa Waugh profiles riders who refuse to stop: Jane Pope, nearly 84 and invariably second behind the Heythrop field master; Richard Tyacke, 82, whose viral Pytchley five-bar-gate jump came 25 years after a 2001 fall cost him part of his sight; Struan Wilson, 60 seasons with the Tynedale. Each credits the right horse — Tyacke rides the Friar, a 19-year-old ex-chaser once trained by Lucinda Russell. The takeaway for creakier riders: forward-going mounts and honesty at gates beat cautious pottering.

▸ Vet Clinic

p.24 · Telltales

Farrier Simon Moore FWCF decodes horseshoe wear in seven illustrated figures. Uneven branch wear signals medial-lateral imbalance; squared-off hind toes mean the horse drags its feet and needs a set-toed shoe; heel wear on upright feet justifies rockering. He also flags what is normal — toe wear on front shoes is routine, not pathology. Photograph your horse's pulled shoes next cycle and compare sides; it is the cheapest lameness early-warning system available.

▸ Sport Reports

p.52 · From comeback to champion

Oscar Williams reports from the Equissage Para Winter Dressage Championships at Arena UK, 19-22 February. Loretta Joinson, four years out after a 2018 rotational fall left her with a brachial plexus injury, takes grade V bronze (71.15%) and silver one-twos with Ojengel CVH, only started in para dressage last October. Sophie Wells wins with LJT Egebjerggards Samoa (74.34%) and MSJ Gold Standard (75.51%) ahead of the World Championships. Useful benchmark scores for anyone tracking para pathways.

p.60 · I just adore this horse

Jennifer Donald covers Kempton's big day: Neil King's Lookaway, off nearly a year with an upper respiratory condition, lands the £150,000 Ladbrokes Trophy under Jack Quinlan; Jane Williams' €5,000 buy La Luna Artista wins the Grade Two Adonis by 13 lengths; Lucy Wadham's Jax Junior takes the Pendil for Arkle consideration. The Image of the Week captures Constitution Hill's Flat rout at Southwell, leaving Nicky Henderson a Champion Hurdle-versus-Flat dilemma you can track via the Skeltons' Precious Man tragedy note.

p.62 · Biddick's bumper run

Alex Robinson reports from Badbury Rings, where recently retired rider Will Biddick — 623 point-to-point winners in his career — saddles five winners from eight runners, including both opens and the 4&5yo maiden. Josh Newman doubles aboard flagbearer Macklin and Docket Man. Details to use: Three Two Six, a Passing Glance four-year-old winning on debut, is one to note for sales-watchers, and division of a three-mile maiden into three shows how strong current entries are.

▸ Regulars & Nostalgia

p.30 · Chill out

The kit guide prices eight cooling boot options from £49.95 (LeMieux Cold Water, with water-reactive crystals) to £250 (Equ Streamz CoolBoots). Mid-range picks include Ice Masta Therapy at £89.95 with 40-minute gel packs and Cryochaps K2F from £96.50, designed to mimic ice-bath therapy. Horseware's Ice-Vibe wraps add massage from £233.95. Match the buy to your use: post-workout cooling needs less spec than rehab from injury.

p.64 · Secretariat

Jamie Haase revisits America's first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, whose 1973 records — 1:59 2/5 in the Derby, 2:24 for the mile and a half at Belmont by 31 lengths — still stand. The fact file (foaled 30 March 1970, died 4 October 1989 of laminitis, buried whole at Claiborne) and the note that runner-up Sham's estimated Derby time would have set a track record make this a keeper for racing-history shelves.

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Editor's Take

The Connell yard visit is the best thing here — Martha Terry gets genuine operational detail (no muck heap, Curragh for fast work, antibacterial paint) rather than PR gloss, and it lands exactly as Cheltenham betting heats up. The eventing wish list earns its cover billing too: putting Rosie Williams, Sam Watson and Molly Day on record together is real agenda-setting journalism, even if Watson's steeplechase idea deserved more than a paragraph. The Sam obituary is dignified and stat-heavy without sentimentality. Weaker spots: the reports section reads like a results service with quotes bolted on, and the back half sags under feed-advertorial weight — the TopSpec, Allen & Page and D&H spreads dominate more pages than any single editorial feature. Racing fans pre-Cheltenham get the most value; dressage and showjumping readers get thin rations.

Strengths
• Connell yard feature packed with copyable management specifics
• Eventing wish list puts named power brokers on record
• Strong news judgment: Sam obituary plus welfare research lead

Weaknesses
• Heavy feed and supplement advertorial eats the back half
• Sport reports are results-dense but analytically thin

Verdict: Recommended — Eventing and Cheltenham-bound racing fans get two genuinely useful features; casual readers can skim the rest.