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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Jane Kendal
 
"Jane Kendal is the sort of person without which no riding club could survive. She has been an absolute rock to Ardingly, doing every job from scorer to secretary. As Area 10 secretary for more years that most of us can remember Jane was a stalwart supporter of both the club and Area 10 at the championships, always equipped with a bag of rule books and sound advice. Never one to blow her own trumpet Jane's unassuming manner conceals a razor sharp mind.
Anyone looking for sympathy for harsh dressage marks should probably look elsewhere because Jane still takes her riding seriously, making no concessions to an amateur attitude. The same principle extends to everything else she does and as the person who inherited the club dressage competitions I can vouch for her organisational skills. She never flaps or panics and some her decidedly pithy comments are delivered with a deadpan expression that conceals a very kind and generous lady."
Allison Ingram
 

 
 

She’s worked so long and so hard to help so many people in the horsey world that many people say that everyone’s favourite town in the Lake District, Kendal, is named after her or if it isn’t, it should be.

“Oh no,” says Jane Kendall with a laugh. Anyway Kendal has only one letter l. I’ve got two.”

All the same, if anyone deserves some recognition for all her work with horses and horsey people, it’s Jane Kendall.

Jane Kendal
  • Worked for six-years at Crabbet Park Equitation Centre in the seventies, once the home of the world-famous Crabbet Arabian Stud
  • Member of Ardingly Riding Club (formerly East Grinstead) for over 30 years including 18 years on the Committee
  • Retired last year after a staggering 32-years as secretary of British Riding Clubs Area 10, one of the largest areas in the UK with over 30 Clubs in Kent, East Sussex and part of Surrey
  • A List 1 Riding Club Riding Test and Style Jumping Judge
  •  An examiner for Riding Club Equitation and Horse Welfare Exams
  • A British Dressage List 3 judge
  • A computer operator for International Dressage Judges at Hickstead and Olympia
  • British Dressage Supporters Club Membership Secretary
FEI Dressage World Cup Qualifier at Olympia

“Living near Hickstead” she says, “has meant lots of opportunities to write and do the computer operating for the International Judges, which is a great learning experience. The highlight was probably working with Stephen Clarke at the Europeans in 2003. I have also been lucky enough to operate the computer for Stephen at Olympia for the World Cup Dressage qualifier, which is also a great privilege.”

What people don’t know, however, is how she first started riding and how today, and over half a century later she is still riding.

For such a riding enthusiast for so many years, amazingly Jane didn’t come from a riding family.

“My interest in horses began on a holiday with cousins at Seasalter in Kent age about 11.

 

My cousin Jenny and I discovered a little bay pony called Bambi giving pony rides and we both became hooked.

“As my family were not interested in horses, after much pleading my grandmother paid for my first lessons whilst I was at boarding school. This involved going once a week to a Riding Stables at Banstead where we were taught to walk, trot and canter and hacked out very sedately over Epsom Downs

“School holidays were spent with Jenny and I “helping” at a local Riding Stable/farm (now a housing estate) called Ballards Farm near Shirley Hills, South Croydon.

Odin  at Firle
 
Jane Kendal

“We next moved on to another Riding Stable, Kingswood Lodge, at Warlingham where we joined Warlingham Pony Club, which at that time was part of the Old Surrey & Burstow. We were able to hire ponies for rallies and progressed to D and C test. Much time was spent helping with mucking out, bringing in ponies from the field, grooming etc. in return for a free ride. Although the Riding Stable closed early in the sixties a number of us “kids” (now pensioners!) are still in touch and still meet for lunch monthly.”

After leaving school as a rebellious teenager the last thing Jane wanted to do was work in an office. Instead of attending a secretarial course at Pitmans College, she spent much of her time back at Ballards Farm mucking out the ponies and taking out rides on Shirley Hills.

“There were not the same training opportunities in the late fifties.” In 1959 I went to work at a Riding School and guest-house near the New Forest for two years run by a strict elderly lady called Miss Wynne.

 

The hours were long. But it was a good experience. Many of the school horses came from a local dealer, Ralph Coakes, whose daughter, Marion later had international and Olympic show jumping success with Stroller.

“One potential school horse which was sent along for trial was a very thin 4 year old, with cracked hooves, sores under his stomach and a poor coat. He was branded OK and had probably spent the winter on the Forest. As I only had five horses to do at the time and the other girls had six, I was allotted this horse, who was named Simon. He soon put on weight and once his summer coat came through he looked quite different and became my favourite. As I was still determined to have a horse of my own, my grandmother purchased him for my 18th birthday for the very expensive sum of £75!”

Simon moved with Jane to other jobs. The first was to a very smart thoroughbred stud in Essex. Then to a racing yard at Stockbridge, where she was the first girl to be employed.

 

“I believe the trainer thought Simon would be useful to teach the young apprentices to ride. However, whilst he was a very kind easy ride and would look after any child, any apprentice who thought he knew it all was bucked off straight away!” says Jane.

After spending a winter at an Arab stud in Sussex she decided it was time to return home, compete and do more with Simon which wasn’t always easy when grooming for other people.

“We moved back to Kingswood Lodge. I had to catch up on lost secretarial time by going to evening classes. The first office job I was offered was typing addresses on a manual typewriter as they didn’t believe an ex-groom was capable of much else!

“On my return home I joined the Warlingham Horse Club. Simon turned into a useful Riding Club Horse who particularly enjoyed jumping.

Simon
 

At that time Helen Webber was on the Committee and as few people had their own transport we shared a box to various Riding Club Horse Trials and other team events. It was a tremendous help to walk courses with Helen as I knew little about Eventing or cross country in those days. Helen also gave us a lot of help with the flat work so we were able to perform a passable dressage though we still needed to jump a clear round in the combined training in order to get placed! I also acquired a young Anglo Arab mare called Castella, initially on loan but I later purchased her and had much fun at Riding Club events with her.”

 
Jane on Simon

Now began Jane’s career in horsey administration.

“After about three years the Riding Club needed a secretary and I was volunteered for it, a job I did for about six years. Helen also took me along to the Area 10 Liaison Committee meetings at Tonbridge and after several years they too needed a new secretary. I took over at the end of 1975.

“In 1976 I decided to look for a job which combined secretarial and horses. Helen suggested Crabbet Park as she knew Brian Young was looking for a secretary. I spent six years working for him which was great experience as at that time the centre trained students from all over the world.

“Unfortunately Simon had to be put down at the age of 21 just before I started as he pulled a tendon badly in the field. Castella went on loan as a brood mare. Whilst at Crabbet I acquired a five year old black New Forest/Thoroughbred gelding called Odin who was rather a nappy character.

   

Although we spent the first year hating each other we eventually came to an agreement. He also enjoyed his show jumping although only at a fairly novice level. I have never managed to sell a horse so I kept Odin for 28 years. He was eventually put down age 32 after injuring himself in the field.

“When I moved to Crabbet I joined East Grinstead Riding Club (now Ardingly) and eventually also became a committee member for 18 years. I continued as Area 10 secretary until the end of 2007. I thought 32 years was enough. It was time for new ideas. Area 10 is one of the largest areas in the UK and now has about 30 clubs, though several have formed and gone over the years.

“I was responsible for minuting meetings and circulating details of Area competitions, training etc. to all the Clubs in the area. I also organised various events such as the Horse Trials qualifier on several occasions, the London & South East Novice Championships about five times (each of the five areas involved take it in turn to organise it). I have written numerous quiz questions over the years. 

Jane on Simon
 

“The Clubs in Area 10 have always been good in coming forward and taking their turn to organise the many championship qualifiers. When I first joined Warlingham the only Championship qualifiers were Open Horse Trials, the Prix Caprilli (now Riding Test) and an individual Dressage competition at novice level. When we attended conferences and requested more events for the genuine Riding Club riders we were told that “championships were for champions”. However, much has changed over the years and there are now qualifiers for every level of rider.”

During Jane’s period as Area 10 Secretary she worked with several different Chairmen, firstly Dr. Geoffrey Yonge, Penny Winstanley, Jean McClachlan Clark (Penny and Jean have sadly now died), June Burgess and lastly Diane Baker. Janet Mason has also been Treasurer for many years. Peter Felgate was the Area Representative until ill health caused him to retire and Lucy Cunliffe took over.

“I also got involved with the various Riding Club panels, mainly through training days with Marie Stokes and became a List 1 Prix Caprilli (now Riding Test) and Equitation Jumping Judge (now Style Jumping) and examiner for the Grade Tests and Stable Management phases, which have now been renamed Equitation and Horse Welfare Exams.

 
Danielle Hay - riding an ostrich in SA

“During the 1970s I first started going along to affiliated dressage competitions as one of Helen Webber’s helpers. It was all very different in those days – most of the tests were on grass arenas. Helen trained several ex racehorses from novice to advanced, including one horse to Grand Prix so I learned a lot from watching. Later when Riding Clubs were short of judges I was persuaded to start judging and joined the panel. After many years of watching and training I have now made it to List 3 and as dressage has become more popular, I seem to spend a lot of time watching horses these days and not enough time sitting on them.

“I no longer have a horse of my own so I try and have a lesson at Oldencraig once a week just to keep my riding going, and hopefully this makes me a little bit more sympathetic to the competitors I judge as I often have the same problems!”

Jane now starts travelling the world.

 

“Whilst at the Goodwood International in 1991 I was innocently passing the British Dressage Supporters ClubTent during the lunch break when Desi Dillingham was on a recruitment campaign so I joined.

Joining the Supporters has enabled me to join many excellent trips abroad, including Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy for European and World Championships. They are great fun as well as being an excellent opportunity to see the best horses in the world and support our teams.

During the nineties several trips were arranged for judges with Master Judges including Nick Williams, Stephen Clark, Andrew Gardiner and David Trott which was a great learning opportunity. When they were looking for a membership secretary in 2003 as I had then retired I volunteered and am still doing it.

British Dressage Supporters Club
 
Jane with the BDSC committee at their annual Ball

“I have been lucky enough to travel quite a lot and have had 2 “trips of a lifetime”, the first to the Equestrian Olympics in Sydney, which was a fantastic experience and a great atmosphere. I was able to break the journey on the way out stopping in Singapore and then meeting up with cousins who had emigrated to Melbourne in the sixties. After the Olympics I stopped off at as many places as possible on the way home including Hamilton Island, New Zealand, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tahiti and Moorea.

“My second trip of a lifetime was a three months cruise last winter called the South American Odyssey on the Artemis, one of the smaller P&O liners. This started and finished at Southampton and took in 34 ports in 22 countries including several Caribbean Islands, the Amazon, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, the Falkland Islands, the Antarctic, Chile, Peru and the Panama Canal.”

Travelling over, Jane is now settled down again at Balcombe, East Sussex as lively and sparky as ever.

 

And full of opinions.

Riding
“If children must want to ride and learn that’s great. If forced by ambitious parents they will probably give up.”

Health and Safety
“Usually it’s very good. But there are extremes. Children today are not allowed to do many things that we took for granted when I was a child.”

Competitiveness
“People are far more competitive today . “

Standards
“Standards are much higher. There are more training opportunities.”

Her favourite dressage riders
“The best in the world, probably Isabel Werth and Anky van Grunsven,  although we have some good riders including Laura Bechtolsheimer, Emma Hindle and Carl Hester.”

If they didn’t name Kendal after her, they should at least have named the cake after her.
“Oh, you mean the Kendal Mint Cake,” she giggles. “I wouldn’t have minded that. It’s pretty good.