Sam Taylor Equestrian Services

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Sam Taylor Equestrian Services, Horse Trainer, Colchester.

Horse Riding Instructor ● Jumping and Flatwork Lessons ● Mobile Groom ● Horse Clipping and Trimming ● Bespoke Holiday Cover Service ● Groundwork and Handling ● Long Reining ● Lunging

09/10/2026

I've been getting lots of clipping enquiries recently which is fantastic. I don't advertise my little business - only what you see on this page, and by word of mouth recommendations.

When contacting me for clipping the type of message I most commonly recieve is:
"Hi can I have a price for clipping please."

What would be really helpful is, if in the initial message you could include the following:
●Location - what3Words location is super
●What type of clip is required
●Details of extras - mane and tail tidy up etc
●If you have electric - no problem if you don't!
●What the horse is like like to clip
●If we need to tie in with the vet for sedation
●Your availability - especially if it's limited

Thanks to everyone who has been returning to me for clipping year after year - some of you have almost completed your second decade of me clipping your horses! Also, thank you so much for all the recommendations, they are always much appreciated.

Dolly has recently had her second hunter clip of the clipping season and I'll be seeing her again in November - she's absolutely one of my favourite clients.

04/10/2026

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday, many of you will have already ridden this morning and some of you will be riding this afternoon or evening.

I'd like to ask you all a question. How often do you check your tack? I mean really check it and check that it is still safe for use and doesn't need repairing or replacing.

Now I'd like to ask you to check your tack before your next ride. Then check it regularly going forwards.

Take a look at the first picture - its a near side flexi stirrup. Looks like a lot of stirrups I see on saddles day after day. Nothing really jumps out to you that there's anything wrong with it.

Now take a look a picture two - the same stirrup, photo taken just moments after the first one. The only difference is I've moved the rubber that was covering the flexi hinges. Flakes of rust fell off as I exposed hinges that were no longer safe for use. You wouldn't have expected to see that amount of wear and tear by looking at the first picture - would you?

The following pictures are the off side stirrup of this pair. Unfortunately on Tuesday one of my riders found out the hard way that these stirrups were at the end of their life. When having our last canter around the corner the outside stirrup broke. My rider fell and their next stop was the accident and emergency department at Colchester hospital. Unfortunately my rider badly broke their wrist and now has an awful lot metal work in it. Sounds pretty awful doesn't it, but in actual fact it could have been so much worse.

This was no ones fault, equipment can and does fail through wear and tear. Yes it could have been avoided if the client had checked their equipment, and my goodness they feel so bad that they didn't check it. Why would they though? Picture one doesn't raise any suspicions about what's underneath.

I have full permission from my client to post these images - it is a reminder to us all that we must check the condition of our tack and do so regularly.

Now come on - go and check your equipment folks and ride safely.

30/09/2026

September has gone by in an absolute flash, it also started off clipping season. Some horses are already on their second clip of the season.

The beautiful little Lily, who I affectionately call Midget Pants was one of the first ponies on my September clipping list. She's 18 years old and her owner Megan has owned her for 13 years. I've clipped her for all that time too.

In the early years Lily was a dream to clip. She then had a short period out on loan and when she came back she didn't like clipping very much at all. We had to start using some oral sedation as she found the process just far too stressful. Over the years we gradually were able to reduce the dose, and for her first clip this year she stood like a dream to be clipped without sedation.

Unfortunately we'll never know why Lily went off of being clipped. But I am confident we're now back to where we were with clipping all those years ago and will not require sedation again. Time and patience paid off and Lily definitely deserves a 'glow up' shout out.

29/09/2026

⭐️✨️Scruff gets all the gold stars today ✨️⭐️
This sweet and innocent looking pony has got an enormous character and is the most playful pony I've ever met. He believes that everything must involve him, he must investigate everything with his nose, mouth and tongue - that includes my clippers, clippers oil, every part of me, every part of his owner Rachael, and anything else that is within reaching distance of him. He also believes that standing still is massively overrated and should not happen ever because playing rough and tumble is a much better use of his time.

Many years ago I gave him his first ever clip. He wasn't fussed in the slightest and was intent or trying to help me. He would try and take the clippers, when you held his legs forward he would nibble his own legs, standing still was pointless and he was a playful wriggling brown hair ball. Never dangerous or naughty enough to require sedation. Just cheeky and requiring an awful lot of humour, some smooth and fast moves and at least 10,000 distraction techniques.

Today we only investigated the clipper oil twice, tried to help me clip his head once, ate his mums hair once and didn't take the both of us to distract him and stop wriggling around. He had his head clipped with the big clippers for the first time. He had straight lines all round because he actually stood still long enough for me to get them straight right away. He didn't try to eat his own legs, and was super helpful showing I had got right into his armpits on our quality control check at the end.

Today, at the age of 11 Scruff managed to concentrate rather than play rough and tumble. Good boy Scruff - still got a long way to go to be as good as golden boy Inky, but today you really did earn all the stars and impress me.

28/09/2026

Regular cover horse George has had the full works this month. I look after him several days a week, and apart from his day to day care I'm also responsible for organising his farrier and vet appointments, ordering hay and whatever else he needs. George is 28 years old and I've cared for him regularly for 18 years.

We'd noticed that George had lost a little bit of weight throughout the summer - not surprising really with how the grass completely burned off in the drought. I organised for the lovely Louise Joanne from EquiCheck to come and weigh him. He weighed in at 490kg on the weighbridge and roughly 465kg on the weigh tape - I done a comparison for his owner to show her that the tape while it has its uses isn't very accurate. We had a little chat about feeding tweaks and Jo agreed with everything I had already planned to change for George with his feeding. His next weigh in is booked for November and hopefully he'll have gained a little.

Next member of team George was Scott Mcquie Dip Wcf who absolutely deserves a medal. George has some age related ailments which means trimming his hind feet is not an easy task. Each time Scott arrives he brings patience and a willingness to think outside the box and between us with my handling skills and Scott's trimming experience we some how manage to get the job done.

Next up was a visit from Ben G from Essex and Suffolk Equine Vets for a dental, tetanus booster and an assessment of George's movement and medication for his hind limb issues. His teeth just needed routine rasping, Ben was happy with my management of medication and George's lameness management too which was good to hear. We also sent back a poo sample and for a second year running we've got a negative worm count for George which is super. I can't take all the credit for the worm count results as The Man Thing Clive Double is chief of all matters poo in George's field.

Team George are the best team - working together to keep the old boy happy and comfortable in his golden oldie years.

27/09/2026

I was blessed with two of the best behaved horses ever today. Morgan and Henry, who are both golden oldies stood like a dream for their hunter clips.

Their owner apologised for them not being clean enough but said she'd tried her best. Having recently moved yards and her horses living out for the first time ever until stables are built she was worried they wouldn't be clean enough. They were in fact cleaner than some of the stabled horses I get given to clip, and the proof was in the quality of the clip at the end.

Gold stars all round and I'll be seeing them for reclips in November and checking out their new stables too. There were of course hearts all round today, I couldn't possibly not leave a well placed heart on these boys today.

22/09/2026

This little lady started her week absolutely buzzing from her Sunday adventures on her loan pony at East Mersea Horse Shows.

She's growing up way too fast, last year she was still in primary school and I feel certain that her rosettes would have been part of her 'show and tell' at the start of the week. This year though she's started high school which has far too many stairs, an awesome canteen with amazing hash browns but no show and tell sessions.

So here's me doing the show and tell instead with a photo that was sent to me by her mum. I definitely had a proud instructor moment when I got my weekend update.

Well done team on a 3rd place in the cross poles and also the 1ft3 class too. A great way to end the summer and jumping fun of 50 years at East Mersea Horse Shows.

20/09/2026

The heat waves and brown crispy grass seem so far away now. It did eventually rain again, and the grass turned green once more. The sun has a comfortable warmth to it, and the breeze now carries the cool tones of the approaching Autumn upon it.

Is anyone doing any early preparations or planning for winter yet? I've made sure my rugs are ready for my old girl and I'm starting to stock up on extra feed. My head torch is already making a regular appearance each evening too.

18/09/2026

Regular clipping boy Joker was booked in for a clip this morning. He's a dream to clip, but for the rest of the time he does definitely live up to his name.

He's 26 years old, has cushings and arthritis. He also has the best owner who really looks after him and does everything possible to keep him happy and healthy.

Recently he had a few months off of ridden work as he was without a saddle. Now he has a saddle again he is enjoying hacking out gently, and I'm excited to see him for a long reining session soon, to see if I can help his owner to rebuild the top line he has lost in his time off.

14/09/2026

Crunchie is quite possibly the prettiest pony ever - and I adore her. I've just had the pleasure of spending a long weekend with her while her owner went off to cheer on a friend, who was taking part in The Great North Run.

We enjoyed long reining together, lots of cuddles and scratches, and each day we completed her baited stretches which are set out by Crunchie's awesome chiropractor.

Crunchie has to be careful on grass, it can upset her gut sometimes and make her droppings loose, but it can also make her footy too. The last couple of years her owner has really got to grips with this and Crunchie is living her best and most healthy life.

The grass has really greened up and started coming through in the last few days now that we've finally had some rain. I stood at Crunchie's field gate today and spotted that her field looked very different from when I was there yesterday. I know that one of the reasons Crunchie's owner books me is because I absolutely always use my initiative and do what needs doing - that's very different to just doing as I'm asked. Today because of the boost in grass the turnout situation needed to change, so off I went to find electric tape and set about creating a 'lozenge' shape in the largest area of her field.

Crunchie's turnout has several areas sectioned off to create a track type set up. She still has access to grass as well as her hay, and the sections that are closed off means she has to move around a lot. This set up is working really well for her and so far it's kept laminitis at bay and even managed to get her weight down just a little too.

I've had a text tonight and Crunchie's owner can't believe how the grass has changed in just four days. She was super appreciative of me putting out the lozenge shape too, she knows I will always do my best to keep Crunchie safe and happy while she's away.

Address

Colchester

Website

http://www.equestrian-services.co.uk/

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