Prophet Hill Farm

09/04/2026

💯👍

I read somewhere recently that the average horse will have seven different homes in its lifetime.

SEVEN.

And that’s the average...

In my job, I meet horses who are four or five years old and have already had an extraordinary number of homes. And more often than not, somewhere in their history, you’ll find the word ‘naughty’.

Naughty to catch. Naughty to hack. Naughty to mount. Naughty to ride. A ‘naughty’ horse.

But are they naughty?

Or have they simply never had long enough to feel safe?

Horses thrive on familiarity and predictability. Familiar horses, people, surroundings and routines.

And when we sell a horse, we know why.

The horse doesn’t.

One minute he’s in his field with Dave, who he’s spent every waking moment attached to for the last two years. Who’s perfected the art of stealing his fly mask.

The next, some woman he’s never met has put him in a box, driven him three counties away and introduced him to Kevin.

Dave has vanished.

Dinner tastes different.

Kevin is a k**b.

And on Tuesday someone gets on him and seems disappointed that he isn’t immediately living up to the glowing description in his advert.

So perhaps he struggles.

Maybe he’s harder to catch. Anxious when left alone. Tense to ride. Doesn’t want to leave the yard.

‘Naughty.’

So he moves again.

New field. New human. New food. New Kevin.

Of course sometimes horses genuinely aren’t right for their homes, and selling can absolutely be the kindest decision. Obvs.

But sometimes perhaps what a horse needs isn’t another home, rider, bit, saddle or training method.

Perhaps he just needs time.

Time to learn that breakfast happens every morning.

That these horses aren’t disappearing.

That this human keeps coming back.

That the rules aren’t going to change tomorrow.

That he’s allowed to unpack his metaphorical little suitcase.

And maybe, before we ask:

‘What’s wrong with this horse?’

we should occasionally ask:

‘How many times has this horse had to start again?’

Thoughts?

08/31/2026

Absolutely!! 💞💞💞

08/31/2026

🤣

08/31/2026

the GOAT 🩷

🐎✨ Lucinda Green: Six of the Best — A Golden Era of Eventing

Few names are woven quite so firmly into the history of eventing as Lucinda Green (née Prior-Palmer).

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Lucinda became one of the sport’s most recognisable figures — admired for her courage across country, her instinctive understanding of horses and an extraordinary ability to bring out the best in very different partners.

And between 1973 and 1984, she achieved a record that remains remarkable more than four decades later:

🏆 Six Badminton Horse Trials victories
🐎 Six different horses

Her winning partnerships were:

1973 — Be Fair
1976 — Wide Awake
1977 — George
1979 — Killaire
1983 — Regal Realm
1984 — Beagle Bay

It remains the record for the most Badminton victories by a rider — made all the more extraordinary because every win came aboard a different horse.

Perhaps no victory illustrates Lucinda’s horsemanship better than Badminton 1977 with George.

George arrived with a decidedly daunting record: he had fallen in each of his previous five events. Lucinda herself was initially reluctant to take him on, but she held to a philosophy that would become synonymous with her approach to horses — the belief that every horse had something to teach her.

The timing was deeply personal, too. Lucinda’s father was dying of cancer, and taking on George gave her something on which to focus during an enormously difficult period. Remarkably, her father was well enough to be at Badminton and help with George in the 10-minute box.

Conditions that year were atrocious. After a difficult steeplechase, Lucinda doubted whether George could possibly cope with the cross-country course and feared that their round might end in a fall.

Instead, George rose magnificently to the occasion.

In the mud and rain, over a course that included a formidable new bounce into the Lake, horse and rider found a partnership neither could perhaps have predicted. George fought his way around the course and carried Lucinda to an unforgettable victory — fittingly, on St George’s Day.

And 1977 became an extraordinary season. Lucinda and George went on to win Burghley and the European Championship, completing a remarkable trio of major victories.

But Badminton was only part of Lucinda Green’s story.

She became World Champion in 1982, won individual European titles in 1975 and 1977, and helped Britain secure Olympic team silver at Los Angeles in 1984. Her contribution to equestrian sport was recognised with an MBE in 1978.

Yet statistics alone do not explain why Lucinda Green remains such an important figure in eventing.

Her legacy lies just as much in the way she rode: brave without being reckless, instinctive yet thoughtful, and always fascinated by what the horse beneath her could teach her.

Six Badmintons.
Six different horses.
One extraordinary horsewoman.

Lucinda Green didn’t simply dominate an era of eventing — she helped define it. 🐎✨

08/31/2026

08/23/2026

Horses have a way of revealing the things we'd rather not see. They notice when we're rushing or holding tension. They definitely notice when our body says one thing while our aids ask for another. And because they notice, they give us an opportunity to improve.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much growth in riding actually starts with honesty and the willingness to look at yourself and ask, "What is this horse trying to teach me today?"

Sometimes the answer is about breathing or core strength. Sometimes it's about patience or small victories. Often enough it has very little to do with riding at all.

08/14/2026

One of the best traits of a good horse trainer is to have a low “POQ.”

And what, pray tell, is a POQ?

It stands for “Pissed Off-ed-ness Quotient,” the ability of a human to get pi**ed off by the reactions and responses of a horse.

You see them everywhere in the horse world, the people with high POQs.

SLAP—WHOA—CRANK—STOP—DON’T DO THAT—KICK—YANK—JERK—GRIND—

High intensity, easily frustrated, annoyed in a heart beat, these people are the ones with nervous, tense horses who are just waiting for the next punishment.

Some humans have high POQs out of fear, some out of anger issues, some out of general life frustration, some because they’ve been taught to do so, but whatever the reason, a high POQ will need to be transformed into a low POQ if the human truly wants to become an effective horse trainer.

And this may be a hard thing to accomplish if the underlying reasons are based on deeply held character traits.

But WATCH the best trainers. They do NOT get angry at horses.

08/10/2026

Remember why you first fell in love with them 💕