|
|
| |
| |
| |
Would you like to pay a tribute to Avril?
Send
us your stories and memories.
And photographs, if you have any.
|
|
Horseytalk.net Special Interview
|
|
| |
I just wanted to say thank you for letting me view your
horses yesterday. I was very impressed with the staff,
the horses and the relaxed atmosphere in which I was
able to try the horses. I found it very refreshing. I
will definitely keep my eye on your web page for other
horses you have coming up and I would definitely like
to come over again, it was well wroth the 70 mile trip!
|
|
"Thank you Avril, for selling my mare for me. You
were straightforward, efficient and honest. I had every
confidence that you would not only look after her well
whilst she was with you, but that you would find her
the right new owner and home.
I came to you through recommendation and would happily
recommend you to others".
|
|
"Just to update you on the progress of Ellis. Well,
he has been with me for 6 months now and he has proved
to be a really super horse. We gave him an easy life
while he settled down, but more recently we have given
him a chance to try everything. Attached pic was taken
at Arundel riding-club dressage (can you believe he was
placed..) He is also jumping well, and well-behaved when
hacking. We will keep up the school work through the
winter, and get him back into the riding-club activities
next year, Many Thanks "
|
 |
|
"Just a short update on Bo (aka
Sol) what a gent, has not puta foot wrong, we have hacked,
schooled and Im in love. Off over the forest on sunday
with Amy and Grause.
Only one small problem, saddle fitter could not flock
saddle enough to get it to fit, so just had to but a
nice comfy new one - opps!!!
Thanks for all the help
|
|
|
| |
|
She kept her first pony at the back of
the garage behind the family Daimler.
Today she helps hundreds of people all over the South-East
make the most important decision of their life. Far more
important than all the other so-called important decisions
of their life.
For Avril Roberts, 39, mother of two, helps people find the
horse of their dreams.
“I’m not a horse dealer,” she says. “I’m
a horse trader. I don’t just sell horses. I find the
right horse for the right rider. If they’re not satisfied
for whatever reason, no problem. I’ll exchange it for
another one.”
How many times has she had to exchange a horse for another
one since she first became a horse trader six-years ago?
“Only five times,” she says. And that’s
out of hundreds of horses she has handled ranging from 14.2
hh hacks for £600 up to 16 hh event horses costing
over £12,000.
|
|
|
| |
Given her knowledge of horses and her undoubted skills at matching
the right horse with the right rider the amazing thing is Avril
comes from a definite non-horsey background.
Her family own and run East Grinstead Tyre Services.
“My father started the company in 1936,” says Avril. “It’s
now run by my mother. It’s the biggest female-run tyre
service in the country. But it doesn’t only do tyres. It
does services, MOT, body repairs, everything. It’s one
of the biggest in the South-East.
“It was because of the garage that I got into horses.
One day a man drove into the garage with a trailer on the back
of his car. Inside the trailer was a pony, a little 12.2 grey
mare. My mother said to him, What are you doing with that pony?
He said, I’m taking it to the knacker’s yard. My
mother said, You can’t do that. I’ll buy it off you.
The pony was called Lass. 12.2. A grey mare. She must have been
five or six.
"I remember I was only nine-years-old at the time. I’d
never even seen or stroked a pony before. It used to run loose
in the garden. I was terrified of it. It bit me and kicked me.
That’s all it ever did. It was a real killer. My mother
sent me to a riding school in Ashdown Forest to learn about tack
and things like that. That was all."
|
| |
|
“Then one day my mother said to me, There’s
a bloke coming to take it to the knackers yard unless you
get on it and ride it. I was terrified of it. But I didn’t
want it to go to the knackers yard.
“Then when my mother was out, I decided what to do.
Our house was in the middle of the garden. So I went to the
front door and shook a bucket of nuts at the pony and let
her eat some. I then closed the front door and ran to the
back door. I called the pony, shook the bucket of nuts and
let her eat some. Then I ran back to the front door. I did
it time and time again until she was exhausted.
“I then got on her – and she was as good as
gold. No problem. We put some straw down on the floor at
the back of the garage. She used to live there behind the
Daimler.
“Then after about a month, she became very ill. Philip
Glyne, the vet at Prior’s Farm in Forest Row diagnosed
her. He said she had chronic lung worm. Then within a week
she was cured.
|
|
| |
“I did all the Pony Club things with her. We won all
the local show jumping competitions. We were in a team for
the Prince Philip Cup. By now I’d well and truly got
the bug. I was getting up at six o’clock and mucking
out before going to school. We moved house. My mother was
at work all the time so I even managed to convert some conservatories
in the garden into stables for Lass without telling my mother.
“ Eventually I became too big for her so we sold
her to another girl for £2,500. She did loads of things
more with her. She kept her until she died. She was 25.”
With the money Avril got for Lass, she bought two young,
chestnut mares, Sandalwood, a four-year-old and Mary, who
was five or six.
|
|
|
| |
“Sandalwood was fantastic, she says. “ She did
everything. One day, however, she was amazing. The next day it
was, Maybe I wont do it. Maybe I will.”
Avril now left school. During the day she worked for her mother.
The rest of the time, she spent with horses.
“I now got a show jumper, Floyd. He was 16.1. Four years
old. A bay gelding. We did Affiliated show jumping. We did Hickstead.
I won enough money with him to more than enough pay for him.
“Then I got bored with show-jumping and decided to go
out with the blood hounds. The first time I went out, I fell
off at the third jump. A post and rail in the hedge. Floyd broke
his knee. He was given a five-per-cent chance to hack again.
But he came back. He did Grade B and Grade C. I broke my collar
bone, and my hand. My lung collapsed.
|
| |
| |
By the time she was 19, in order to pay for her eventing
Avril had her own livery yard with eight horses. She also
did her first deal. A five-year-old bay gelding. 16.1. She
bought him, trained and schooled him for six-months and sold
him for £1,000. Shortly after she did an even bigger
deal. She sold another horse to a Canadian professional rider
for £25,000.
“With the money, I bought a lorry, “ she says, “I
built a school. Business then really began to boom. I’d
buy horses, keep them for six-months, run them alongside
BB and then sell them on.”
In 2003, Avril decided to turn professional. She bought
Upper Broadreed Farm . Seventeen acres just outside Hadlow
Down, East Sussex. She started trading as Equine-Agents
Ltd. Her first horse came from Co Kildare in Ireland.
He was called Alpha. 15.2. Bay gelding. Six-years-old.
|
|
| |
Today, Avril not only runs her horse trading business ,
a livery yard and an equine laundry which she has just started
with Louise Rogers, she also manages to compete in affiliated
show jumping with her own horse, Max. 16.3. Bay gelding.
Seven-years-old.
“When he came to me he was a hat rack, a never going
to do nothing horse. Now he’s stunning. We compete
double-clears, pre-novice. He’s perfect. He’s
never put a foot wrong.
“But what I like doing most is schooling and training.
When I first see a horse, it’s just come from Ireland.
It’s scared. I love turning them round and turning
them into a lovely, nice product of a horse. It’s just
wonderful.
“What people often forget is that horses are horses.
They’re not machines.
“They’re animals. They like routine. They like
to be fed, watered and looked after. They like being in herds.
They like being kept as natural as possible. Look after them
and they’ll look after you.”
|
|
|
| |
Avril’s
Top Eight Tips about Buying a Horse
-
Dont buy privately. If you do, find out as much as possible
about the horse from it’s vet because if anything
goes wrong, you don’t have any comeback.
-
Find out about the horse’s history from
the horse’s own vet.
-
Ride the horse more than once before you decide to buy.
If possible don’t just hack it out, canter and gallop
it in a field.
-
Don’t under horse yourself. But at the same time
don’t over-horse yourself. Go for the horse you’re
comfortable with.
-
Tell the truth about the horse you are looking for.
If you want a safe hack, say you want a safe hack. Don’t
say you want something that’s going to win the
Grand National.
-
Always have the full 5-stage vetting procedure.
-
Pay when you collect the horse. Cash. Cheque. Bankers’ Draft.
-
Always ensure you have a 28-day trial period so that
if you’re not happy with the horse you can exchange
it for something else in the same price range.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
