The horseman riding high

By the age of eight, he’d competed in his first three-day event on his pony, Circus, which he trained to pull a carriage. Horses filled his childhood and early adult life. In particular, competing on the world stage in carriage-driving and working with horse stuntman and show-jumper Peter Munt, in Ascot.

When Robert slipped a disc, in 2000, he was forced to step down from the world of horses for 11 years. During that time he married, worked in a fish and chip shop and cafe, became a lorry driver for three years and then took on the role of full-time house husband, looking after his young family.

Now, the 43-year-old has returned to the equestrian world, and his intrinsic rapport with the animals is in great demand.

One of his latest commissions has been training horses in the BBC’s North-East-shot costume drama, The Paradise, a series set in a 19th Century department store, which can be seen on BBC1, at 9pm tonight.

He was called to help for his expertise with carriage horses.

“It’s the same theory when you’re training horses for television work as it is anywhere. People think it’s a glamorous life, but there are very long, drawn-out boring days and horses have to be so good and quiet,”

says Robert.

“Last night we were filming by a river at midnight. We had to hook the horses in the pitch black, take them one mile down a wooded lane in the dark and then, when we got there, the horses were faced with spotlights, fog machines and cameras everywhere. “The horses have to be so good and not look at anything. Another day in filming they can be standing on set for five hours without moving because they want a horse in the background while the actors talk.”

As well as television work, Robert is renowned for having the gift of training difficult horses.

Calling himself a “travelling equine producer”, he travels to clients’ homes to help them with their horses. It’s a strange life because he has no facilities of his own.

He currently lives with his family on a residential street in Helmsley, North Yorkshire.

Robert says the arrangement works out well as he can immediately get a sense of the horse’s nature in its own environment. He currently has an eight-week waiting list of horse owners requiring his expertise.

THE techniques he uses he describes as “old school” and Robert eschews a lot of the modern methods as a triumph of marketing over method. His method begins by establishing the temperament and personality of a horse before deciding which path to take with it. He says all horses enjoy learning and it becomes fun to them.

Robert on the set of a Catherine Cookson TV drama

“People treat them like pets, but they’re not pets, they are working animals,” he says. “Years ago, they would plough fields from dawn to dusk – that’s what they’re capable of.

They get bored doing nothing.”

He says it’s often the most difficult horses that make the champions.

One such horse was based in Cropton, near Pickering, North Yorkshire.

“The owner bred and sold him, but he took him back because he’d put three people in hospital,” says Robert.

“The horse would just run away with everybody. So I took him in a big field. When he went to run away with me, instead of telling him “you’re not allowed to do that”, I encouraged him to run flat out. That confused him.

“His mischievous trick became fun and every now and again we would let him run. He qualified for the National Carriage Driving Championships and was later sold to America for a lot of money.

“It’s often the difficult and problem horses that turn out the best.

Once they turn that fight into work, that gives them that extra spark. You can harness that aggression into fun.”

IT still takes a fair amount of nerve to teach a seven-foot animal to do what you want.

Robert’s preferred method for training horses that don’t like traffic is to take them out in Thirsk on the town’s busy market day. There is so much traffic the horse can’t be distracted by one vehicle and learns to shut it out altogether.

One of Robert’s enduring passions is the world of carriage driving, which, in Europe, is as high profile as show-jumping and eventing.

“It’s just such a sociable sport and everyone is so friendly,” he says.

“There’s not much prize money in it, so there’s no back-stabbing. When you go out riding, it’s you and your horse. If you get a carriage, two or three of you can jump in and it becomes much more sociable.

“And most horses will do it. For competition work you want bold horses with big hearts and courage.

When you have four horses galloping flat out with you behind them, in control, that’s a real buzz.”