Horse Rider UK – March 2026

Summary

Horse & Rider UK March 2026 (Issue 681, £4.99) opens as the magazine's first issue of 2026, and editor-in-chief Louise Kittle calls it the Year of the Horse. She argues January "new year resolution" goals are unrealistic and badly timed — short days, low energy — but says you can still be productive.

The cover carries winter polework inspiration, barefoot: how to make the switch, building confidence, improving your horse's agility, simple schooling ideas that really work, clicker training, and a feeding MOT. Win UVEX hats and a free 2026 Shires catalogue are the offers.

Behaviourist Lucychester explains clicker training for hard situations such as vet visits. Fizz Marshall looks at professional yard routines you can copy to save time. Dengie Alfa-A Oil is advertised by international dressage rider and trainer Lewis Carrier, sugar-free and suitable for horses prone to gastric ulcers.

—————

Content Guide

▸ Editor's Letter — Welcome to the March 2026 issue

The Year of the Horse
Louise Kittle opens the first issue of 2026 by calling it the Year of the Horse. She thinks the January "new year resolution" habit of setting huge goals is unrealistic and mistimed, because the days are short and energy is low, but insists you can still be productive. That framing is more honest than most issue-openers. Set one small goal for the month rather than a resolution you will drop by February.

What is inside
The issue promises inspiration for enjoying the late winter, a simple guide to giving your horse's feeding an MOT starting in the feed room and stable, behaviourist Lucychester on clicker training for preparing horses for difficult situations such as vet visits, and Fizz Marshall on small adjustments to daily routine borrowed from professional yards to improve time efficiency. Read the letter before the features, since it is the only map the issue gives.

▸ Training

Clicker training
Behaviourist Lucychester explains how clicker training can help prepare horses for and cope with difficult situations, with vet visits named. Clicker work is the cheapest way to make handling safer. Teach one target behaviour with a clicker before your horse's next vet visit.

Winter polework
The cover offers winter polework inspiration. Poles are the schooling tool that works when the ground will not. Set up one pole line this week and ride it in walk and trot.

Agility and schooling
Ways to improve your horse's agility and simple schooling ideas that really work are the cover's training pair. Agility is the training aim most riders never name. Add one agility exercise to your schooling this month.

Confidence
Build your confidence and love riding is the cover's rider strand. Confidence is the riding problem nobody puts in a test. Ride one short, easy session this week and stop while it is still good.

▸ Horse Care

Feeding MOT
The cover promises a feeding MOT for your horse, starting with the feed room and stable. Feed reviews are the check-up owners skip most. Weigh one feed scoop and check what your horse actually gets.

Barefoot: how to make the switch
The barefoot conversion piece is a cover strand. Barefoot is the decision that needs a farrier, not a forum. Ask your farrier before you pull any shoe.

Tack care on test
Best in Test covers tack care products. Independent testing is the only gear coverage worth reading. Check your own tack against the test before buying anything.

▸ Management

Effective time management
The management piece borrows professional methods, noting yard routines often allow only one or two hours to care for a horse. Time is the constraint every owner misjudges. Time one full yard visit this week and see where the minutes go.

Fizz Marshall's routine
Fizz Marshall looks at how professional yards run, with small changes to daily routine improving time efficiency. Professional habits are worth copying when they are this specific. Change one routine at your yard this month.

▸ Team and Information

The March 2026 team
Louise Kittle is editor-in-chief, Sarah Burgess deputy editor, Halima Crabtree editorial writer, Nicky Moffatt contributing writer, Megan Xavier-Witherington editorial assistant, with Sarah Garland as art director, Adam Witt deputy and Lucy Claydon on design. Named teams are how a magazine shows who is accountable. Email one of them with a letter if you have a view.

Publishing detail
Horse & Rider UK is published by DJ Murphy (Publishers) Ltd at Olive Studio, The Timber Yard, Grange Road, Farnham, GU10 2DQ, phone 01428 601020, email editor@djmurphy.co.uk, website horseandrideruk.com. Subscriptions run 13 issues direct to your door with a Coldstream fleece, on 01442 820580 or horseandrider@webscribe.co.uk, with the subscribe page at p102. Check the rate before you subscribe.

Dengie advertising
Dengie Alfa-A Oil is advertised by international dressage rider and trainer Lewis Carrier, made of pure alfalfa and oil for slow-release energy, with no molasses, no cereals, no artificial preservatives and no straw, high in calories and low in starch, BETA-approved and suitable as part of a balanced diet for horses prone to gastric ulcers, with no added sugar. Dengie Crops Ltd of Essex holds a Royal appointment. Sponsored riders are not evidence of anything on their own. Ask your vet before you change any feed on an ulcer-prone horse.

—————

Editor's Take

Louise Kittle's opening is the best thing in Horse & Rider UK March 2026, because saying January resolutions are unrealistic when the days are short and energy is low is the only honest thing a January-dated issue can say, and the Year of the Horse framing gives it somewhere to go. The Dengie advertising is unusually detailed — Lewis Carrier, no molasses, no cereals, BETA-approved, suitable for ulcer-prone horses — which tells you exactly who the issue is sold to. Weakest is the structure: no contents page survives in the source, so every feature from clicker training to barefoot is announced on the cover without a page number or body text, and only p102 for subscriptions is confirmed. That means the issue cannot be judged on what it delivers, only on what it promises. Buy this if you ride in the winter and want the clicker and polework ideas; it is a promise of an issue rather than a delivered one.

Strengths
• Editor rejects unrealistic January resolutions
• Clicker training aimed at vet visits is practical
• Dengie details are specific and checkable
• Named editorial team is listed

Weaknesses
• No contents page — features lack page numbers
• No feature body text available to quote
• Cover promises more than the source confirms

Verdict: Selective read — honest opening, but the contents cannot be confirmed.