Horse Hound – 13 November 2025

Summary

Laura Collett, 36, delivers an hour-by-hour account of her September Blenheim European individual gold aboard London 52, beating Michael Jung's FischerChipmunk FRH after 15 years of trying, in the Horse & Hound 13 November 2025 issue.

Horse & Hound 13 November 2025 leads with Laura Collett's first-person reconstruction of her Blenheim European Championship title — five cross-country course walks, a 20.6 dressage, the moment the scoreboard told her she was leading during Michael Jung's washdown, and the Sunday showjumping plank that flashed her back to Paris. Carl Hester's column argues it's time to bolt give-and-retake of the reins onto the grand prix test, citing self-carriage proof and Denmark's national adoption.

News weighs in on Britain's vote against the FEI's 1 January blood-rule change, the rollout of Equipass digital horse passports from 26 January, £96 Forestry England horsebox parking passes that TROT calls price-matched to its membership, and the Save Greenwich Equestrian group's community asset transfer talks with Sport England over the £1.6m legacy centre.

Vet clinic flags the 2025 oak mast year and atypical myopathy from sycamore seeds, with concrete pasture steps and a 48-hour trough rule, while a Lyon dressage World Cup, Kelsall Hill Winter Classic showjumping and Colonel Harry's Grand Sefton return round out the sport pages.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story

p.16 · 'I'll relive this moment forever': Laura Collett on securing European gold

Collett narrates Blenheim phase by phase: a wobble-ridden Tuesday lesson with Ian Woodhead ("order 20 flying changes on Amazon"), a 20.6 dressage to sit second behind Michael Jung, an aerial blunder at fence 16 that switched her brain from pulling to trusting, and the Sunday white plank that dragged her straight back to Paris. Tom McEwen took bronze; Jung's 10 time-faults handed her the title. Takeaway: book five course walks not two if you're chasing a championship medal, and pre-ride fence one like it owes you nothing.

p.34 · A happy day: pictures of the Heythrop's opening meet

Caroline Brooks, 94, hosted at Fairgreen near Chipping Norton alongside a freshly erected ball marquee, with Iona Hoare MFH believed the first woman to field-master a Heythrop opener, riding 2022 Grand National fourth Santini for owners Richard and Lizzie Kelvin-Hughes. New joint-master and huntsman Oliver Dale is supported in kennel by Josh Tierney. Takeaway: arrive 30 minutes early to an opening meet if you want a clear sightline past the barouche for the master's speech.

p.46 · Showjumping: Kelsall Hill EC Winter Classic

Emily Ward steered her home-bred nine-year-old Big Star gelding Wild Star HF to the 1.40m winter grand prix from first draw, completing a HOYS-to-Kelsall double. Christina Kenyon took the Blue Chip performance championship qualifier on FVS Action Man Million, Red Morgan booked his LIHS final ticket on Golia and Emma Sargeant's Joe Malone earned his Hickstead debut. Takeaway: keep one ranking class in the diary before December — drawn-first winners still cash if they ride the pace.

▸ News

p.4 · Britain opposes blood rules

The FEI passed the new blood rule 56-20 with two abstentions; Britain was among the opposing federations and British Showjumping will not adopt the change nationally. Two recorded warnings trigger a £945 fine and one-month ban, with automatic elimination retained for excessive spur use. Takeaway: print the BEF/BS joint statement and pin it to the warm-up noticeboard so judges and nervous owners can quote chapter and verse before January.

p.5 · New digital passports for sport horses

Equipass — the FEI's mobile app launching 26 January — centralises ID, medical history, vaccinations, location and travel for FEI-registered horses, with national rollout to interested federations by late 2027 or 2028. World Horse Welfare CEO Roly Owers says it gives welfare laws a single source of truth. Takeaway: scan your horse's microchip into the app on day one and back up vaccination records to the cloud before the January launch window opens.

p.10 · Fresh hopes for London Olympics legacy equestrian centre

Save Greenwich Equestrian Community Group has begun talks with Sport England and the Royal Borough of Greenwich over a community asset transfer and charitable trust for the £1.6m Greenwich Equestrian Centre, while Woodlands Farm Trust eyes a stage-one Esmée Fairbairn Foundation bid. Takeaway: write a one-page brief linking your local riding centre to council wellbeing targets — that is the language grant officers actually score on.

▸ People & Horses

p.14 · 'What are we waiting for?' Carl Hester on adding give and retake of the reins to the grand prix test

Hester backs Kyra Kyrklund's prix st georges idea on the grounds it tests self-carriage, not just outline, and notes Denmark has already implemented it under national rules. The FEI's dressage technical committee is forming a working group, with Diana Al Shaer newly elected committee chair ahead of favoured candidate Klaus Roeser. Takeaway: start schooling give-and-retake today at home; the new movement will be the 2027 yardstick.

p.22 · All in a day's work: the physiotherapist — Rachel Greetham

Rachel Greetham, who runs Equine and Canine Solutions, walks from Pony Club mounted-running at Bramham through treating Big Star, Valegro, Chilli Morning and Jagerbomb, to three Olympic Games with Team GB (London 2012 as a volunteer, Rio, Tokyo, Paris). Takeaway: book a six-monthly physio check rather than waiting for asymmetry to show under saddle — Greetham's Tokyo prep routine caught two niggles Becky Moody's jockeys missed at home.

p.58 · 'My bike cred was brown' — Tessa Waugh's hunting diary

Waugh gets her quad bike irretrievably stuck in two-wheel drive on a hunting day, rescued only when 11-year-old Jack finds the four-wheel-drive button. She is philosophical about losing her driver credibility to the bike-following cohort. Takeaway: check your quad-bike's drive mode before parking on any incline — and call Niall before reversing into a hill you have not measured.

▸ Vet & Welfare

p.24 · Autumn alerts: acorn toxicity and atypical myopathy

Vets Angela Jones and Karen Coumbe detail the 2025 oak mast year and sycamore seed risk, listing signs — lethargy, abdominal pain, dark urine — and the Royal Veterinary College finding that hypoglycin A survives in trough water for 48 hours. Report cases at atypicalmyopathy.uliege.be. Takeaway: fence off oaks today, restrict turnout to under six hours during peak seed-fall, and dump any trough water downstream of a sycamore within 24 hours.

▸ Sport Reports

p.38 · Clare and Cesar rule the Melton

Clare King, partnered by her 17hh Cesar Et Rosalie, won the 69th Fox Grant Melton Hunt Club Ride after a bridlepath pile-up three from home forced her to jump from a trot. Abbie Upton took the highest-placed under-25 prize on Stay Smart and Sophie Pedlar won the Foxhunter on her first hunt ride with Newmarket Titan. Takeaway: rehearse the two-trot-stride emergency stop two weeks before any course that runs parallel to a public right of way.

p.50 · Racing: Aintree, Exeter, Wincanton and more

Colonel Harry returned from a year off with a nây infection to take the £85,000 William Hill Grand Sefton for Gavin Sheehan and Jamie Snowden; Impose Toi won the Pertemps qualifier at Aintree for Nicky Henderson and JP McManus, while Gustavian front-ran the Wincanton Badger Beers in Desert Orchid style. Takeaway: school over Grand National-style fences at home before stepping up — Snowden's 'electric' Lambourn session was the difference between a pulled muscle and a trophy.

p.42 · Dressage: Solihull EC, Bury Farm and more

Gareth Hughes beat 17-year-old daughter Ruby by 2% in a 75% PSG on Morricone III at Solihull, while Becky Moody pushed Justin Verboomen to 85.18% in the Lyon World Cup freestyle on Jagerbomb. Mia Kirby's 15.2hh WFD Wild Thyme topped her medium debut at Bury Farm. Takeaway: if your horse is horse-shy, ride the canter work twice in warm-up — George Blackburn's 'clearly underpowered' test still hit 75% on Faust V.

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Editor's Take

This issue earns its cover on Collett's voice — the replayed-round-in-bed detail and the fence-16 brain-switch moment turn a press conference recap into coaching theatre. Strength: the British-eventing thread (Collett, Hester, Greetham) reads as a single argument about correct training from Pony Club to grand prix, and the vet column is the rare autumn alert that lists a phone number, a 48-hour trough rule and a reporting URL. Weakness: hunting and racing coverage are thinner than the dressage section despite the Heythrop opener's news (first female field master), and the classified pages now eat twelve per cent of editorial inside a magazine cover-priced at £169 a year. For the British eventer or amateur eventing parent who wants technical depth plus autumn horse management, this is required reading; for the racing-only reader, browse — Colonel Harry alone justifies a flip-through.

Strengths
• Collett's first-person cross-country walk-through is the most quotable piece in months
• Equipass and mast-year vet notes include phone numbers and time-stamped action steps
• Carl Hester column links 2027 rule direction to today's schooling plan, not just opinion

Weaknesses
• Racing section runs three meetings in 700 words; Aintree deserves its own page
• Heythrop opener photo essay buries the 'first female field master' fact in caption 18

Verdict: Recommended — Strong eventing and welfare stories outweigh a thin racing section