This year’s Equitop Bolesworth Young Horse Championship will see some of the finest young stars of the show jumping world in action.
The Six-Year-Old series is supported by the team at Windmill Farm Estate and the Wright family – here we talk to Dan Wright about this exciting business.
Windmill Farm Estate in Staffordshire is far-reaching with farming, property development, and equestrian sport horses, all of which play their part in making the company successful and diverse.
The business is the home of an Elite Showjumping Team – headed by Dan, his sister Gemma and stable jockey Ben Raistrick.
Director of Windmill Farm Estate, and a qualified Town and Country Planner, Dan oversees the strategic direction of the different divisions of the Estate, in particular, dealing the planning application and design of the Estates building and property development.
Having a keen interest in the equestrian sport horses, he is passionate about the expansion of the Windmill Farm Estate breeding programme and the move to producing quality young sport horses by the team.
Sister Gemma is responsible for the marketing of the business and also rides and competes on the showjumping circuit.
Gemma first trained with Tony Newbery where she quickly progressed to jumping 3* international classes.
She now competes a string of five to six horses, jumping up to 1.40m international level, while managing the Estates Instagram and Facebook marketing tools.
Full time rider Ben is originally from Yorkshire, but moved to Staffordshire and joined the team in 2015 and started training under Tony Newbery. During this time he has stepped up to jumping international classes and made his debut at the Horse of the Year show.
He has now gone on and achieved many placing and wins on the European circuit. Last year he won the prestigious Six-Year-Old class at the Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard.
The team is supported in their efforts by resident trainer Kim Belton, who has more than 30 years’ experience in producing sport horses.
Family orientated and run, the Windmill Farm Estate Showjumping team specialise in the sourcing, breeding, training and competition of top level show jumping horses.
With a resident trainer, three riders and a unique specialist support network of grooms, physiotherapists and world leading farriery and veterinary specialists Windmill Farm Estate horses have all the facilities, professionals and care needed to succeed and achieve excellence. A busy environment, there can be more than 20 horses in competition work at any one time ranging from four-year-olds to more experienced horses.
Without doubt Windmill Farm Estate has a wide selection of quality sport horses to compete and choose from. Alongside the quality competition ridden horses, Windmill Farm Estate has a unique breeding programme.
Only using proven jumping mares, the facility breed foals and youngstock from some of the world’s best show jumping stallions. With approximately 10 elite foals born a year, world-class potential show jumpers for the future are the aim for this experienced and knowledgeable team.
The Wright family purchased Windmill Farm and the surrounding land in 2010 and set about with plans to restore the Windmill to its former glory and reinvent Windmill Farm fit for the modern era.
This involved radical and innovative design and building techniques. The restoration of the Windmill took approximately five years, and in 2015 the Windmill stood once again restored with working sails, and alongside it a house fit for the modern age and to act as a base to oversee the newly created Estates interests.
As a landholding Windmill Farm Estates operates over 300 acres of Staffordshire farm land. The Estate has very good links with local contractors and all of the Estates landholding is involved in commercial arable and cattle farming.
Windmill Farm Estate also has a keen interest in property refurbishment and development, the Estate is regularly involved in the developing of inner town brownfield sites, as well as building affordable homes for the private rental market.
All of the land on the estate is closely managed and maintained, regular ground care is important and helps create an environment where crops can grow well and quality goods produced.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.