Owned and run by Patsy Day, Ludlow Farm nestles in a sheltered valley just outside Warminster, with direct access into Longleat Forest offering miles of off-road hacking. It is less than a mile from the A36 Warminster bypass (Bath to Salisbury road) and just over ½ mile from Warminster town centre. Since moving there over 7 years ago, Patsy has now completed the total refurbishment of the farm. This includes construction of the 65m x 25m light and airy indoor and 60m x 30m outdoor floodlit arenas. Patsy has been involved with the equestrian world since her pony club days in the late 1960’s and went onto gain BHS qualifications (and her Pony Club 'A' Test) in the late 70's. She initially trained with Stephen Clarke and had the opportunity to be taught on two of his Grand Prix horses. In her 20’s her first love was eventing (when affiliated eventing was run by the British Horse Society and the lowest level was Novice). She was often offered rides on ‘sticky’ horses as seemed able to persuade them around a XC course. She has successfully trained, produced, ridden and competed a very wide variety of horses. Gradually she became more involved with producing younger horses in all disciplines and selling them on. Throughout, her ethos has been to work with each individual equine mind, maintaining consistency and clarity. Patsy trains them to balance and carry themselves; nothing is manufactured, fiddled or forced – the simple adage of ‘ride your horse forward and keep him straight’ is a golden rule. Response, rideability, softness and harmony are all key goals. For over 20 years, before moving back to Wiltshire, Patsy owned a large yard in Derbyshire which she built up from scratch. Along with running both affiliated and unaffiliated dressage and show-jumping competitions, breaking, schooling, sorting horse and rider problems, Patsy frequently travelled to Ireland (in their heyday of breeding) and over 20 years, successfully sourced over a thousand young horses to bring back to her Derbyshire yard where they were broken and brought on to sell into various disciplines. Many of you have owned/still own a ‘Stubley’ horse which started its ridden life at Stubley Hollow in Derbyshire. Many of these horses have turned into your best friend and many went onto be champions in their specialist field. Patsy’s horses have been her greatest teachers and the main source of her depth of knowledge. She has ridden literally many hundreds of different types and most have taught her something – especially the difficult ones! Since down-sizing to Ludlow, Patsy now offers training to riders on their own horses being able to use her wealth of experience to help riders learn the importance of establishing correct basic training. Remember the tortoise beat the hare…and when the foundations are correct, a horse develops the correct physique and what follows is so much easier and successful for both horse and rider. Patsy is BHS qualified, fully insured, has judged unaffiliated dressage to medium level, is an experienced course builder (trained by Maureen Summers – Hickstead course designer) and judged hunters and youngstock at county level. She was also a Pony Club instructress and examiner for over 30 years. If you would like more info about anything that happens at Ludlow Farm, please give Patsy a call or message her on 07802 586537.
