Horse Hound – 19 February 2026

Summary

Volume CXLII Issue 7 of Horse & Hound (19 February 2026) leads with Matt Sampson and Kara Chad's first major interview from their new West Sussex base Maplepark Farms, alongside 24 pages of 2026 season planning and the full Aachen FEI World Championships guide (11-23 August).

The 19 February 2026 Horse & Hound declares itself the '2026 Essential Guide to the Season' with 24 pages of show listings covering Petplan Area Festivals, BE Grassroots, RoR qualifiers, Badminton 7-10 May and Aachen FEI Worlds 11-23 August, plus a 'Level Up' progression guide, sports-psychology tools, and a parent's-eye view of competing children. Editor Sarah Jenkins's opener notes wet February gateways and early qualification rounds.

Matt Sampson and Kara Chad's 'Access all areas' at Maplepark Farms reveals the rebuilding phase behind a 2028 LA push: nine-year-old Chicago by USA Today, 11-year-old Un Secreto Z, plus stable star Ebolensky now aged 17. Two more sit-downs follow, including Ben Randall on training David Beckham and Gordon Ramsay's cocker spaniels together, and four-star eventer Lucas Stone, bought by Samantha Lissington from Finland as her World Championships back-up to Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ.

Vet Ed Busuttil MRCVS breaks down feeding by workload from 16.7MJ light work to 28.9MJ intense, and nine riding hats are tested from 56.50 pounds Rhinegold Dial-to-Fit to 384.95 pounds Pikeur Airluxe Supreme Glam. Reports cover Jonbon's 12th Grade One in the Betfair Ascot Chase, Grand Geste's Haydock Grand National trial win, plus Paul Murphy's hunting day with the Tipperary and obituaries for Edward Hammond and Gordon Layton Edwards.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story

p.16 · Access all areas: Matt Sampson and Kara Chad

Inside their new West Sussex base Maplepark Farms, Matt Sampson, 35, and Kara Chad show Martha Terry how they school six-to-eight horses a day using poles-on-ground jump exercises, with nothing bigger than 1.30m at home. The pair name nine-year-old Chicago by USA Today, 11-year-old Un Secreto Z, Ebolensky (LIHS 2022 grand prix winner), and catch-ride Daniel as the path to the 2028 LA Olympics. A four-page '4 horses to watch for LA' sidebar profiles Chicago, Un Secreto Z, Udo (Johnny) and Clayton Z, with Kara's eight-year-old Piagona PS in reserve.

▸ People & Horses

p.20 · All in a day's work: Champion dog trainer – Ben Randall

Ben Randall, gundog trainer and behaviourist at Ledbury Lodge Kennels, tells Martha Terry how he schooled David Beckham and Gordon Ramsay's cocker spaniels together using 50 wild ducks to keep them bomb-proof family dogs. Randall, who evented and hunted before turning pro to dog training, sells Labradors as 'Aga dogs' starting at 10,000 pounds, and runs the world's first gundog training app. He explains why he prefers bitches over males in the field, and why his late British Cocker Championship winner Fatty put him on the global gundog scene.

p.22 · In the spotlight: Lucas Stone – Samantha Lissington's four-star

Samantha Lissington tells Pippa Roome how she bought Lucas Stone, a 10-year-old Finnish warmblood by Concrete out of Zinnia bred by Kaisa Kiviniitty, for the 2028 LA Olympics push. Owned in four shares between Lissington, Neil Robertson, Fiona Edwards and David Taylor, the horse finished one second over the time at Strzegom CCI4*-L and is now Lissington's back-up to Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ for the World Championships. Groom Kelli Frewin and Blenheim judge Les Smith round out the profile.

▸ Show Guide 2026

p.34 · Level up! Are you ready to move up a level?

Sport psychologist Leonie Lightfoot of British Equestrian's World Class Programme and BHS Fellow Danny Anholt explain how riders should plan progression on facts rather than feelings: plus-65% dressage scores and consistent double clears are the gate to the next level. Catherine Welton uses 18-year-old eventer Rupert Hyde stepping up to three-star, plus amateur Gemma Atkin's five-season path from 60cm to Scone Palace CCI4*-L, to illustrate the 'toe-dipping' method. The takeaway: arena-hire the new test before the real outing.

p.38 · Best-laid plans: coping when the warm-up goes wrong

Becky Moody recalls her London International grand prix when Jagerbomb pulled a shoe minutes before the test – she still scored plus-75% for third place. Ellie Hughes gathers Trevor Breen on a fall before a 1.55m in Gijon, Yogi Breisner on Tina Cook's 2012 Olympic Greenwich Park monsoon moment, and Austin O'Connor's gamble of hopping off Burghley runner-up Colorado Blue 15 minutes before dressage. Takeaways: control the controllables, locate the steward and the farrier before you ride, and remember to peak in the ring, not the warm-up.

p.46 · Mind games: sports psychology for grassroots riders

Chartered sports psychologist Jo Davies breaks down why 'worrying is a universal human experience' and how amateur dressage rider Kate Moisson beat her paralysing fear of tests after three sessions, using a pre-ride playlist and a written spreadsheet of warm-up reminders. International eventer Sophie van der Merwe credits Charlie Unwin's book Inside Out with visualisation techniques. Fees from 55 to 140 pounds per session, with three case studies (elite, amateur, junior) showing the same 'find joy in personal wins' framework working across levels.

p.50 · A rollercoaster ride: how parents suffer for their offspring's sport

Eleanor Jones catalogues how horsey parents cope when their child rides. Helen Field hid in the HOYS jump store while her son Will jumped the pony showjumper of the year; Natalya Brodie-Greer watched her son Max take up mounted archery on a horse that 'picked up the technique and ran with it – literally.' Surviving tips include the partner-who-films defence, Rescue Remedy, and 'watching the phone rather than the real thing'. One mother's prescription, when asked for advice, was delivered firmly: 'Port.'

▸ Vet, Kit & Training

p.24 · Feeding for performance: fuelling your horse

Vet Ed Busuttil MRCVS maps feed to workload using National Research Council figures: 16.7MJ DE per day for light work, 22.3MJ for heavy, 28.9MJ for intense. He breaks out each discipline's energy profile: dressage wants oil-based calm calories, showjumpers need anaerobic carbs, eventers need a fibre-oil-starch blend, endurance horses need high-fat. The article tackles the forage-to-concentrate ratio myth and warns that overfeeding light-work horses with concentrates risks excitability or digestive upset, while underfeeding an athlete causes weight loss and shortened stride.

p.28 · Premium protection: riding hats

Nine riding hats go under review from Rhinegold's 56.50 pound Dial-to-Fit to the Abus Pikeur Airluxe Supreme Glam at 384.95 pounds, with Charles Owen Phoenix at 75 pounds offering optional MIPS, Champion Insight Peaked from 160 pounds, Gatehouse Oxer from 165.83 pounds and Uvex Exxeed Starshine from 313.95 pounds in the middle band. Evoke is positioned as the brand to watch, with a model for every head shape. Cheapest is the Evoke Orion Jockey from 69.99 pounds, and the most expensive is the Abus Pikeur Airluxe with ponytail recess.

p.54 · Are you sitting comfortably? Rider biomechanics

Catherine Welton interviews three chartered physiotherapists – Jennifer Symms of Pegasus Physio, Sarah Claridge of Meadow Physio and Clare Howard of The Balanced Rider – on how horses load the rider at twice body weight in trot and 2.5x in canter on every stride. They recommend motorised riding simulators for objective feedback, plank-on-gym-ball exercises for dynamic core work, and alternating the side you carry a mucking-out bucket. Professor Jane Williams of Hartpury argues rider biomechanics should sit alongside rider weight when assessing horse-rider welfare.

▸ Hunting & Racing Reports

p.88 · Report Tipperary: Paul Murphy out with the Tipperary

Paul Murphy rides out with the Tipperary hounds, founded in 1821 by William Barton of Grove and made famous by the 3rd Marquess of Waterford. Whipper-in Gavin Shorten, 11 seasons in after an apprenticeship under former huntsman Derrie Donegan, leads the field through 'savage country' on the famous Carlow ST bloodline and modern English foundations laid down by Evan Williams. Field master Aiden Fogarty sums up the day: 'There's no place like Tipperary, is there?' A vivid hunting report.

p.110 · Racing at Ascot, Haydock and Wincanton

Nico de Boinville and Nicky Henderson land Jonbon's 12th Grade One win in the Betfair Ascot Chase, beating two-time winner Pic D'Orhy by a neck in a sprint to the line just four weeks after the Clarence House win. At Haydock, Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith's Grand Geste takes the 100,000-pound William Hill Half A Mill Grand National Trial over 3m 4.5f, with connections already plotting a National Hunt Chase bid at Cheltenham. Ben Pauling opens Ascot's card with a treble.

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Editor's Take

This issue earns its place on the strength of one interview: Matt Sampson and Kara Chad at Maplepark Farms, where four horses in the '4 to watch' sidebar tell you where British showjumping's rebuild is actually heading for LA. The 24-page show guide is the second strong point, packing Petplan Area Festivals, RoR qualifiers, Badminton 7-10 May and the FEI Aachen Worlds 11-23 August into one magazine. Sports psychologist Jo Davies turns the 'Mind games' feature into usable tools rather than platitudes. The weakest material is the nine-hat round-up on p28, which reads as a catalogue with minimal editorial, and the rider biomechanics piece on p54, which says 'plank on a gym ball' without quantifying effort. A Recommended buy for grassroots eventers, showjumpers and hunting readers who will savour Paul Murphy's Tipperary field day.

Strengths
• Matt Sampson and Kara Chad cover interview shows real training philosophy
• Show guide compresses 2026 Aachen Worlds to Badminton into one issue
• Jo Davies sports-psychology piece gives practical tools not platitudes

Weaknesses
• Riding hats round-up reads as a catalogue with little editorial perspective
• Ad density in pages 26-32 blunts the show guide momentum

Verdict: Recommended — Cover interview and 2026 show guide carry the issue; hats round-up drags.