Hunters Gap Equestrian

05/01/2026

This must be natures way of burning off my over eating at Christmas 🤣🤣🤣

Winter won’t last forever 🥶🥶

Diary open for summer bookings!

www.huntersgapequestrian.co.uk

04/01/2026

The reality of frozen mornings with horses ❄️🐴

Filling up water containers at home
because the taps are frozen solid again.

That first breath of cold air on your chest
that makes you feel alive....

Fingers that stop working.
Lids that won’t open.
Buckets that feel twice as heavy.

And then…

Warm noses.
Steaming breath.
Rugs fluffed.
Horses standing quietly, content, unfazed.

Happy.
Comfortable.
Entirely unaware of the logistics you’ve just performed.

Cold hands.
Full hearts.

Frozen mornings are hard
but seeing them settled and warm
makes every numb finger worth it 🤍

01/01/2026

31/12/2025

Happy new year from Hunters Gap

www.huntersgapequestrian.co.uk

30/12/2025

J Salisbury

Please contact us if you have something booked! We’ve got a deposit from you but no record of what dates you’ve booked 😬

Trying to organise next years diary as enquiries coming in thick and fast at the moment

18/12/2025

Romanticising the yard in winter so we don’t have a breakdown

We tell ourselves it’s magical before we even open the car door.
That’s step one. Commitment to the lie.

The cold hits immediately, straight into the lungs, like it’s got something personal against us. We decide it’s “crisp” rather than deeply offensive. We stand there breathing out little clouds and pretend we’re in a gritty rural drama, not people who forgot their gloves again.

The yard is quiet in that suspicious winter way. Everything is damp. The air smells like hay, mud, and mild regret. We walk carefully, partly because the ground is lethal, partly because if we move slowly enough we can call this peaceful rather than exhausting.

The hot beverage of choice is essential. Two hands round the mug. Steam on the face. This is not a drink, it’s emotional support. The gate sticks, as it always does, and we shoulder it open like it’s an old relationship we’re both tired of.

Our horse is at the far end of the field. Obviously. We romanticise the walk. We tell ourselves it’s grounding, not a trek across what feels like a failed civil engineering project from HS2.

When they finally arrive, they’re cold and unimpressed. We put a hand on their neck and wait for the warmth, because that bit is actually lovely and we will defend it with our lives. Steam rises. We nod like yes, this was worth it.

The light disappears far earlier than is reasonable. The head torch comes out and suddenly we feel powerful. Capable. Like people who have their lives together. This lasts about four minutes. Our fingers stop working. The horse sighs. We take it personally.

The tap is frozen. Again. We laugh because crying feels like effort. We make do, spill half the water, and tell ourselves this is rustic and character-building rather than deeply annoying. Our sock now soggy.

By the time we leave, we smell like hay, our hair has given up, and our bodies hurt in a way that suggests we’ve done something meaningful, even if that something was mostly not falling over or trying not to

We sit in the car for a moment with the heater on full, replaying the whole thing in kinder terms.

This is how we survive winter at the yard.
Not by loving it.
But by romanticising it just enough to come back tomorrow.

11/12/2025

Sunrise brekkies at the gap for the residents ❤️ 🐴

www.huntersgapequestrian.co.uk

06/12/2025

Here is all in one place our guide to setting out your poles for all 3 paces.

Walk.

0.7 - 1 metre.

2.5 - 3 feet.

2 to 4 heel to toe steps.

Trot.

4.3 feet for ponies.
4.5 feet for medium size horses.
4.9 - 5 feet for larger horses.

This equals 1.1 - 1.5 metres.

4 - 4.5 heel to toe steps.

Canter.

2.8 - 3.4 metres.

9 - 12 feet apart. Roughly the length of one canter stride for a horse.

9 - 12 heel to toe steps.

The average human stride is about 3 feet.

Horse or pony with a more collected stride, so 9 feet, which is roughly 3 human strides

If longer canter stride so 12 feet, which is roughly 4 human strides.

Place pole to a jump
Approach from trot 8 - 9 feet away.

2.4 - 2.7 metres.

Or roughly 3 human strides.

Approach from canter 9 - 12 feet.

2.7 - 3.7 metres.

3 or 4 human strides.

Raised poles.

Walk. 2.5 - 3 feet apart.
0.8 - 1 metre.
2 to 4 heel to toe steps.
Roughly 1 human stride.

Trot. 4.3 - 4.9 feet apart.
1.10 - 1.4 metres.
4 - 4.5 heel to toe steps.
Roughly one large human stride.

Canter. 9 - 12 feet apart.
2.8 - 3.4 metres.
9 to 12 heel to toe steps.
Roughly 3 - 4 human strides.

Please remember this is only guidance, so set them out for your own individual horse or pony.

Thank you.

05/12/2025

Well that escalated 😅
Maybe we should have a cat or two to sort the rats out on the yard… has turned into a little family of 4.
introducing… Hugo, Gypsy, Birdie, & Boss ❤️ 🐾

They are accepting any random cat donations to decorate their stable with as we have nothing cat related and starting from scratch 🤣

03/12/2025

Sneaked out to see the famous seals of Donna nook yesterday ❤️ always a wholesome experience that comes to us once a year

www.huntersgapequestrian.co.uk