After more than 20 years of remedial work with horses and ponies of all sorts, Autumn 2008 saw Gary announce his decision to close his yard to the general public. This decision had been deliberated on for the last 2 years and was obviously not taken lightly. The demand for Gary's services to the racing industry has taken the business in a new direction and over the last few years his dealings with private horse owners has become more frustrating - those owners who ask his advice but will not heed it cause him the most frustration along with others who fail to settle their debts!
Gary says "This has been a tough decision for me and one that has been brewing for a couple of years now. I feel sad that there will be many horse owners out there who will contact me for help and I won't always be able to respond, not only will that be sad for me but also my staff who all still share my passion for helping all sorts of cases"
Gary will still accept repeat bookings from long-standing customers who are familiar with his work and also referrals from professional instructors or trainers who he works with and who endorse his techniques, but new enquiries from the general public will generally be out of his remit.
"The beauty of working with professional trainers or breeders is that they let me get on with my job and once I know what a horse needs they take my advice. The anguish I sometimes have with the public is that I see horses desperately in need of certain specialist treatments or work programmes but the owners don't follow my advice for either financial or blinkered reasons. This means I see a horse that I know I can help but my hands are tied and I have to accept that sometimes I am restricted from doing my job as I would see fit"
That being said Gary stresses that he has thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the owners past and present from all over the UK and from all backgrounds. "I have made some very good friends over the years and also worked on some amazing horses which I will never forget, I have a very loyal following and I would like all my owners to know that it has been an honour for me to work all the hundreds of horses that they have sent to me"
Westcourt will continue to be as busy as ever. Gary and his son, Craig, both have hectic schedules covering race meetings all over the UK, Eire and Europe. His wife, Suze, will continue to run all aspects of the business, including the on-going investment in further facilities scheduled in 2009 and Nicky Davies, who has been with Gary for 13 years, will remain as Yard Manager and continue to work remedial cases that are referred along with assisting with the racehorses that are sent to Westcourt.
Gary's interest in Andalucian horses will continue with his stallion, Brujo, standing at stud. Gary will also continue to visit Spain to buy bloodstock for UK owners and is soon touring the studs to find another stallion to take over from Brujo when he retires in the next few years.
We will also be appearing at next year's East Anglian Game & Country Fair in April (24th -25th April, 2010) and will once again be working with horseowners who will bring their 'problem' horses to the show to be worked by Gary.
Star of the Show this year was, in fact, NOT Gary but Kate, the little girl seen here with her 'naughty' pony, Tina!
New arrivals.....
The foals for 2009 are now all weaned and wintering in the paddocks at Westcourt.
They will soon all be offered for sale so if you are interested in viewing them, please contact us!
She was the lucky winner of the organisers' competition and won the chance to bring her pony to the show for Gary to work with her. Tina was generally difficult to handle and tended to bite and demand treats in order to let Kate catch her - Gary spent time teaching Kate and her mother techniques to help with these issues.
We also successfully started a 7 year old gelding, Max. His owner, Lyndsey, had spent a year long-reining and lungeing him but had been unable to proceed any further as he was flighty and nervous of having a rider on board.
Gary and Nicky were successful on the first day and on the second day worked him again and managed to give Lyndsey the opportunity to ride him herself!
Brujo
Brujo was visited by Thoroughbred, Cleveland Bay,Warmblood and Arab mares last season and is currently standing at £400 plus VAT for the 2010 season.
Brujo's Facebook page includes his Events schedule and news in general - visit
Latest racing successes!
Updated 19.11.09
Gary is very proud to have been involved with all these horses and is looking forward to their continued future success! Congratulations to all trainers, owners and connections!
Event News
We were at the 124th Hawkesbury Show in August. The show attracted up to 3000 visitors and was held under the patronage of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort at Hawkesbury Upton.
Despite announcing his final appearance in 2008, Gary was once again at the Cotswold Show & Country Fair on 4th & 5th July. A great time was had by all and it was good to see regular visitors to the show again!
Guests at the demo included several jockeys, including James Doyle - Gary couldn't resist putting him on board Brujo and having fun and games in the pen!
We will return in 2010 (3rd - 4th July, 2010) so watch this News page for details.....
After safely flying from Cambridge in a twin engined Cessna, Gary went with Spanish Moon to Saint-Cloud where the horse won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Group 1) for Sir Michael Stoute. He was banned for 6 months in Britain before Gary was called upon by Sir Michael, now having worked the horse at Newmarket a couple of times, Gary was present to guide the French stalls team in persuading Spanish Moon to load calmly and enable Ryan Moore to ride a convincing win.
The Guineas festival in May also brought success for Ghanaati, trained by Barry Hills, who won the Stanjames.com 1,000 Guineas. Gary has carried out stalls training work for this filly and was down at the start to load her prior to the race.
Ghanaati means 'My Love' in Arabic - her fans will certainly consider that to be an apt name after she went on to win, in true style, the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. Gary was on hand to load her in the stalls to ensure a good start to the race!
Gary was also thrilled with the success of Sea The Stars, trained by John Oxx, who won the Investec Derby at Epsom.
Other archive clippings will include the work from the past 5 or 6 years with racehorses and zebras! For a variety of photographs taken of Gary and his team, please visit our Gallery.....
Webshop relaunched!
We have now re-launched our web shop which has the ever popular Double Diamond Halters available to buy on-line, together with booklets written by Gary, Aloe Vera and special offers. Go to our Merchandise page for full information or visit the external site by selecting this link or going to :
Witheford Equine Ltd
Westcourt Stables Westcourt · Burbage
Marlborough · Wiltshire
SN8 3BW
Office : 01672 811423
Gallery and Website
Despite the changes to the business we will continue to update our Website and have plans to upload a Press Cuttings page with articles from the Racing Post and Irish Field which have highlighted our racing work.
The first day of the Ebor Festival at York saw Barney McGrew win the opener with Gary on hand to load him into the stalls for the Symphony Group Stakes (Heritage Handicap Class 2) over 5½f with Philip Makin riding a great race. The six year old gelding, trained by Michael Dods, has been one of Gary's 'pupils' over the last three years and Marcus Armytage has written an article for The Telegraph featuring Barney McGrew, Sea The Stars and Gary's work in general which can be viewed on-line or by opening a pdf of the article here.
The colt was ridden by Mick Kinane and Gary was on hand to load him into the starting stalls. This follows on from the success of Sea The Stars at The stanjames.com Guineas Festival 2009 in May where he ran a brilliant race and won The stanjames.com 2000 Guineas.
This horse was one of the batch Gary worked with when he visited John Oxx's yard at The Curragh - Sea The Stars was backed by Craig and Gary completed some additional handling work with him.
Changes at Westcourt
Horses for Sale
Please visit our Horses for Sale page for news of all horses currently resident at Westcourt and which are being offered for sale, loan or re-homing.
FIELD AVAILABLE FOR RENT!!
At Westcourt, Burbage - Post and railed paddock approx 5 acres, water and good access - possibility of installing stabling / field shelters if required.
Access to excellent hacking.
For further information please contact us!!!