A real team effort

Moving from a 12-box yard to a 26-box yard was a welcome and necessary next step for David Britnell Eventing when an opportunity arose.

“We were bursting at the seams!” explains the 5* eventer’s girlfriend, business partner and dressage competitor, Fleur Manyweathers.

More than doubling their yard size meant an increase in their team, and David and Fleur feel very lucky to have found three passionate grooms in Sophie Collins, Claire Davison and Steph Jordan.

All came highly recommended. Steph was recommended by a fellow event rider Andrew James after completing her apprenticeship with him. Sophie moved with Team Britnell from their previous base and Claire was recommended by their new landlord.

“Having the right network is what really gets you into a yard,” Steph comments. “That’s how I got my jobs before I got my education. Everyone knows everyone else in this industry. If you make a good impression at the beginning, you are going to go far.”

David has a group of nice young horses coming up the ranks and the trio are getting into their groove as the competition season gets underway. Each brings something special to the collective effort of keeping the horses happy, healthy and performing at their peak.

“I treat every horse as my own,” reflects Claire. “That actually may be a downfall because I become very attached to them.” 

Sophie homes in on getting to know each horse as an individual. “I want to know what is normal for them, so I can recognise straight away if something is not right," she explains. "I’d say attention to detail is one of my strengths.”

Steph adds a game attitude toward developing new skills. “I’m always up for learning new things,” she says. Most recently that included learning to drive a 3.5-ton lorry, then a 7.5-ton lorry while completing her apprenticeship with Andrew James.

Another uniting force at Britnell Eventing is affection for the late Continuity, aka "Brad." He was David’s horse of a lifetime and they progressed together from Pony Club to 5*. Brad is also the reason David learned about Haygain, stemming from the bold eventer's susceptibility to sinusitis.

Viscous discharge from only one nostril was a clear indicator of the sinusitis after a morning conditioning gallop in 2018. While they could not be sure the cause – usually a bacterial infection – prevention of future incidences was greatly helped by Haygain Steamed Hay and the Flexineb Portable Equine Nebuliser.

Brad recovered and David went on to successfully contend the 2019 Badminton CCI5* and the Haygain products have been in use ever since.

“We steam a lot,” reports Claire of their full-bale model’s at least twice-daily run. “The horses are all a little spoiled here and the Haygain really has a lot of benefits, whether horses get hay or haylage.”

“We have a great local source of good, already clean hay,” Claire continues. “And we still steam it. It gets the dust and allergens out of hay and it’s great for us too, so we are not struggling with all those things normally in hay.”

Haygain and Flexineb are important horse health tools in the Britnell program. They’re complemented by the brilliant staff who uses them to keep the horses happy and in peak form.