We can’t do anything about Friesians on The CC without talking about your two superb horses, Joker and Jester.  Where did you get them?

How it all started for me with the Friesian breed was that I went to a clinic Boyd Exell was running and Chris Smith was driving his Arabo Friesians.  I’d just sold my competition team and was looking for something that I could use for commercial work as I had set up my own business after many years of working for other job masters.  Boyd and I were chatting, and he said that these sorts of horses would be good for me because they are bit easier in temperament to compete with than Warmbloods, plus they could be used for the funeral work that I had started do.

So originally, I went to Eric Bouwman in France who supplied Dan Naprous with his Arabo Friesians, and I nearly bought a team he had there.  But the logistics didn’t work because I was waiting to get into a new yard, and when I couldn’t get in there in time, he wanted me to have the horses and then it just didn’t happen.

At the time I thought I was going to start competing again and I could have gone straight out at national level, but these particular horses seemed to already be operating at their maximum, which didn’t really interest me because I like something I can put my stamp on and improve.  And I thought, they’re nice and I’ll be able to go straight out to work or compete with a team, but I wanted more than that – so I went to Holland.

I started looking at the pure Friesian route and I found a guy that had some.  He wasn’t a big dealer, and they were a lot cheaper.  I went to a few different places but although the horses were a bit cheaper, they were a bit feral and they weren’t right.

I ended up going to Stal Okkema in Holland with the intention of buying a team, which I did in the end.  Mr Okkema is very well known and when I saw his horses and breeding, I knew that it was what I wanted. But his horses were way over my budget, and I remember sitting in the airport in Amsterdam wondering what to do, so I called home.  I had found what I wanted but it was so much more than I wanted to spend.

I thought if it comes to it, I’ll just buy a pair and won’t have a team. But I knew if I didn’t buy the team that he had for sale, it would be harder to put one together.

And then a couple of things fell into place.  I sold some of the kit from the competition team and my lorry, so I phoned him up and said yeah, I’ll take the team!  One I had to send one back because it wasn’t quite right, so Mr Okkema replaced it with another one that hadn’t been on the yard when I first went there.

Once I got the four home and going, I worked with them and over time, they became what I wanted, and they are still going strong.  Out of the original four, I got Jester and Joker who have been such a good pair, and they will go anywhere in the team and do any job.

And you’ve kept them as stallions?

Yes, because if you cut the Friesians, their coats can turn brown. Also, Friesians are not particularly gutsy anyway and can be lazy, so keeping them as stallions gives them a little bit a bit more punch.

And a lot of the funeral directors might not notice a brown horse, but some of the big London firms are more particular and want the jet-black horses.  And when they are stallions, they’ve just got so much more presence and look the part.

From when I first got the Friesians, year on year, the funeral work has built and built. And I think the funeral directors now come to us because we’ve got such smart, black horses.  And people notice when you go out with the stallions, and say, ‘Wow, this is what a Friesian looks like!’

They’ve got a natural presence which has helped you in the show ring.

The show ring was just a happy little accident, really. I’d done little bits of showing in the past, but I was more involved in driving trials.

The carriage I’m using now belongs to Bob Alexander and he was very generous when I went to see him. Initially we used his Roof Seat Brake, and did very well, but when we started using the Shanks Mail Phaeton, then our results really improved and we qualified for the Horse of the Year Show.

Ruth Flack, who is involved with the showing, turned up in my yard one day.  She was living up in Warwickshire but had a house near Maidstone too, and she asked me to teach her to drive.  She’s a knowledgeable owner and producer in her own right and currently has three ridden show horses with Katie Jerram.

She came for the lessons when I was putting a Gelderlander team together, so she came out with a pair and team.  I then found her a pony and although it never really worked out, we always kept in touch.  I messaged her before our first show at Smith’s Lawn and asked if she’d fancy coming to sit on the carriage because she’s got all the outfits!  She had a really nice day and said she wanted to be more involved.

And the good thing with the Friesians is that you can switch them on and switch them off.  They can be standing in the collecting ring and go to sleep, then minute you get into the show ring, they’re on it.

That’s what you need, that and the trust.