Equstar and the Karraba Arabian Stud at Honnington
We are pleased to welcome Michelle and Phil Bache of Equstar and the Karraba Arabian Stud to Honnington. They have taken over the running of the Training (Roundpen) Yard and Nightingale's Yard. Their main business includes the provision of full livery, horse training, backing, schooling and rehabilitation. The training of horses is their mainstay. They have a wide experience with youngsters, nervous horses and problem solving.
Phil and Michelle use quiet and sympathetic methods of training and will not allow aggression or force. They will not use shortcuts, nor gadgets such as draw-reins. They believe in working with and listening to their horses and building a genuine partnership; and that the whole process of backing and schooling should be interesting and fun for the horses, allowing them to be parties in the process as opposed to merely being the subject.
Husbandry is also vital to having happy, fit heathy horses. Michelle and Phil are happy to work with owners to see
how they can improve their horse's environment to alleviate many of the physical and psychological problems that modern horses manifest.
Shimirah - daughter of Syeed and Shimmah of the Karraba Arabian Stud.
Alongside their full livery service, is the provision of training livery, retirement livery and holiday livery. All livery services are flexible and will always be designed to fit in with the needs and interests of the horse and owner. Livery charges start from £95 a week.
Phil is a qualified instructor at BHSAI level and has already started taking 1 to 1 and small group lessons at Honnington. These are both flatwork/dressage and jumping lessons. Phil is particularly keen to work with riders who have horses that "won't" or "don't" jump: he's had an excellent success rate. Also, having worked with the RDA in the past, Phil is happy to continue this work in the area.
Phil has a BSc degree in agriculture from Leeds University - animal nutrition being one of the major subjects. Any horse owner in the area who wants to develop a feed programme need look no further!
And finally, locals have probably noticed some smaller (and rather colourful) beasts keeping Michelle and Phil's Arabians company - in the form of their herd of Jacobs sheep. Both the sheep and their herd of Dexter cattle are traditionally bred, traditionally reared without the use of chemicals (and are clearly free to roam outdoors).
Any article about Michelle and Phil's diverse business doesn't do them justice. The best way to get a better picture of Equstar and Karraba is to give Michelle and Phil a visit. There will be open days over the coming months.
Contact details are on the Equstar website:
Pictured above is Phil (on the left) at a Knights of Arkley Jousting Tournament.
Phil and Michelle are both accomplished exponents of "Skills at Arms," which includes sword fighting, jousting and carouselling. Phil has worked as a stunt rider for Devil's Horsemen and Knights Of Arkley at major shows, and has worked and appeared in a number of films including Excalibur, First Knight and Merlin.
Courses will soon be run for anyone wishing to experience these medieval Skills at Arms. New recruits shouldn't worry about the dangers of finding themselves on Day One hurtling towards their opponent at a full-scale jousting tournament. They will be eased into this particular skill on a rather unusual looking horse called Arnie. Arnie is made of wood, and runs on 4 wheels! The first stage will be 'quintaining' whereby the target is a wooden man with a wooden shield. But when sufficient skills have been learnt, you will be quintaining and carouselling on a real horse.
Whilst Phil and Michelle are experienced with many breeds, their passion is Arabians. They have bred, trained and ridden Arabians for over 15 years. As breeders, they have an insight into those qualities that make Arabian Horses so special - their intelligence, their stamina and their capacity to learn.
Michelle is very hands on with training the younger horses and as a breeder has a vast understanding of how important training is right from the foal stage. She also deals with the day to day running of Karraba Arabian Stud and thus has a great wealth of knowledge with regards to stud books and breeding policy/bloodlines.
With an extensive understanding of equine behaviour, Michelle is able to help owners to see that looking at the world from the horse's point of view can vastly improve the relationship with their horse.
Phil and Michelle have 2 stallions - Syeed (Donax x Duette) and Storm Dancer (White Lightning x Faery Rose). This year, the Karraba Stud is due to see 2 new foals born.
Pictured above (left) is Daryshimah (daughter of Sayeed and Shimmah) when she was 2 months old. On the right is Michelle with one of Karraba's stallions Storm Dancer.
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