Double Trouble Jack Whitaker & Joe Stockdale | Talk Horse LiveShow with Pippa Funnell&Tristan Phipps

They’ve been on our dream guest list from day one, so Pippa and Tristan were over the moon to welcome showjumping sensations Jack Whitaker and Joe Stockdale to the Talk Horse Live Tent at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Rising stars of British Showjumping, Jack Whitaker and Joe Stockdale compete at 5* level earning podium finishes and acclaim. They reflect on their shared equestrian heritage, the friendly yet fiercely competitive rivalry and the realities of life on the international showjumping circuit. They also let us in on some more unexpected sides of themselves, from romantic getaways and Joe’s domestic prowess to Jack’s unexpected turn as a Tatler model.

It’s the last show in a brilliant Series One of Talk Horse. Thanks for watching and we’ll be back in a few weeks Talking Horse with more incredible guests. See you soon!

Also – a massive thank you to Harry Hall our fabulous sponsors. They have given us an exclusive discount code. TH-HARRYHALL-10 – for 10% Off at HarryHall.com (when you spend £20+)

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That chimp in your brain when you’re overthinking, it’s goingit like a scene made in Chelsea. Yeah, exactly like that. Hip is becoming a hip is becoming an influence. Know as much as you can about your horses and get into their heads and how they’re thinking, but you never truly know. I usually at the start of the year write down a full plan and then about 3 weeks later I scrub it all out, but it’s all gone. All gone hair shaped. We missed the tea time for this today actually as well. We’ve got our talk course entertainment hub uh a live podcast going out from HitFunnel and Tristan Fipps. It’s my absolute pleasure to invite them up to the stage. [Applause] Hello. Hello. Hi. Thank you so much for joining us today. We had a really lovely morning this morning with the legend that is Alan Titchmar. We have got some very exciting guests this afternoon. But first, I think we should talk a little bit about this amazing show. So, we’ve had a busy day um walking around. I’ve been showing you around and been We’ve been everywhere. We’ve watched Well, we have been up to the Rob Box, which was a real treat. We watched the jumping class. We did. We saw your husband jumping and unfortunately, well, he he it wasn’t too bad. It was very impressive. He he had a had a fence, but um I was explaining to actually I wasn’t explaining to to Tristan. I was actually explaining to Jules cuz Tristan has his my better half better half here and I was explaining to the non horsey the horse curious about distances and how we walk the lines of the show jumping. So you you’ve watched the show jumping you’ve been you had a nice I didn’t actually have lunch with you. No, you rejected I left you jewels your pod wife my work wife and my girlfriend got to be got to tread the line carefully. Um, and then we’ve we’ve actually just been shopping. We we have we’ve been visiting all these exciting I mean the I have to say the trade stands here are unbelievable. You know, the equestrian side is fantastic, but you could spend a lot of money here. We’re going to have to go shopping afterwards. And um yeah, it’s great. It’s great for me because obviously a lot of the time I’m busy riding at these shows and over the last couple of weeks um having been at badminton and then here it’s really great opportunity to get chance to see some of the trade stands. I hoped I might have gone in and they might have recognized me and I could have got a good deal on a cons. Pip is becoming a Pip is becoming an influencer. So, if we can support the whole thing, I think we should uh we should lean into that. But that that kind of leads me on to something. Obviously, you know, at Babmonton last week we were there together. You know, that was the first year in a long time you haven’t actually, you know, ridden. And I think I’m sure, you know, a lot of our guests would be interested in hearing, you know, how does it feel to be on on this side, you know, for the time being. We’re not saying forever, we’re saying for the time being. Uh it’s tough. Yeah. Um obviously my whole life has been about um competing and and for sure at Babmonton it was it was difficult and I found cuz Tristan came up on the Thursday and you walked the course and I did feel um there was a huge part of me that was sad not to be competing there. And I think one underestimates and we mentioned it this morning when you talk about the sort of emotions that are involved with horses. Um, and that’s what’s special when you go back to Babon. I did feel emotional cuz I’ve had so many amazing memories there and with so many wonderful wonderful horses. And I just say Pipp’s had 33 starts at Bminton which is that is a serious achievement. 33 starts at badminton. Wow. Yeah. But I haven’t had 33 finishes. That wasn’t That doesn’t matter. That’s just mantic. Do you want to introduce them or shall I? I reckon you take this one, Pipper. So, two very goodlooking young men. Very handsome chaps. So, I’m going to introduce Jack Whitaker. I was going to say Jack Stock. Jack Whitaker and Joe Stockdale. Great charms. Here they are. Pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us, chaps. No problem. No problem at all. Busy, busy morning for you, lads. I won’t give you a kiss. Not yet. We did that earlier. That was behind the scenes. Firstly, thank you so much, lads, for making some time for us today. I know you had to speak to them out. Yeah, that they start shouting at the back, you’ll know. But, um, busy mornings for you guys. Busy, busy few days. Um, very special show here at the Royal Windsor. How are you feeling being here? And and how’s the last few days been for you, firstly? Yeah. Well, I’m very happy to be here at the moment. I’ve had I’ve had a couple I’ve had a couple good days jumping and uh we’re on good form. So, it’s always great to great to be here and it’s great weather. Everything’s going good so far, I think. Happy to be here. Touch word on that one. Yeah, it’s a great show, you know. It’s fantastic to be here. It’s also one in the calendar you always look forward to and you kind of set yourself on that is going to be a big one for us and like I say, it’s nice the weather’s come out and yeah, it’s it’s a lovely show here. The UK has turned up today as well. That’s that’s a good point. Before we get into kind of the background and how you guys kind of got into the equestrian world, you know, how do you how do you prepare for these sorts of shows? You know, you know, you got so many big events in the calendar. There’s so much to train for. You got to be on your game all the time. You know, do you work one show to the next? Are you kind of looking at key points in the calendar and kind of work towards that? And how does that from a from an athletes mindset? How how do you manage that? No. Yeah, definitely. You kind of pick out the shows that that you know you’re going to get into through year and which ones you think like the big like here is is a very big one for us. So we kind of have to try and think 6 months before what the plan is, how can keep the horses so fresh and jumping well to peak at the right time, you know. So it’s it’s like a it’d be like a yearly plan and then and then you just go from day to day really go show to show plans change. Horses are own got their own minds as well and their own animals. So it’s it’s hard to uh it’s hard to plan everything down to the last tea, but you try your very hardest and hopefully when you get here you’re uh you’re on winning form. Now, Joe’s um sorry, Jack. Joe, I know them so well, too. Jack’s being very humble because you did actually win the class, big class yesterday. Is that right? Yep. Yep. Yep. And then you’ve just been fourth in this big class that we’ve just had. So, you’re being pretty humble because you’ve had a really people are humble. You guys are sure it’s it’s hard to say like when you come to shows you come you try and come to win, you know, and when you’re uh when you’re there, it’s more I don’t know how you feel obviously. It’s like you feel very very happy when you’ve won something. But I don’t know it’s nearly more like relief like you’ve been doing this for however many years and the whole everything’s leading up to when you get to these big shows and when you get there obviously you’re so very happy that it’s gone well but it’s also more like thank god it’s gone well otherwise what the bloody hell am I doing here? Sorry this is life. Bloody alive. Yeah. You know like Jack said actually poor fellow Joe’s Joe’s not had a great show so I know I’m I’m battling away here. Jack just seems to touch everything and turns to gold. But uh I’m battling away. Yeah, I mean in terms of preparation for the show, we’d sort of pick out, for me certainly, I’d look at my yearly planner and I’d pick out the biggest shows of the year. You know, those are the ones we want to be peing for. Um, and then you have the other shows, which are obviously still important, but they kind of fill in between them. Um, and obviously in the runup, you would look to see which horses are in form, make sure they’re fit, ready, they’re jumping well, and then you get them lined up to come to a show like this. So from a a layman’s perspective, you know, obviously you guys athletes at the top of your game, but now as well as being individual athletes, you have the horse to kind of, you know, to factor into that as well. How does that work kind of managing your mindset and the horse performance and and kind of pairing that together and making sure that you both peak at the same time? Yeah, that’s probably the hardest part of the sport, I think, make because you you try to know as much as you can about your horses and get into their heads and how they’re thinking, but you never truly know what they’re thinking at any one time. So you have to try and get that’s what I think when the horsemanship kind of side comes into it and getting to know your horse and everything and all that stuff. But I think it’s it’s probably the hardest part of getting there on the day being in the right place at the right time with the horse in the right place at the right time and in the right way and everything. It’s so many there’s so many moving factors in show jumping. It’s so hard to be so correct every single time. But it’s the margins when I think any top sport you have to get everything down to to the to the to the last finer details. And I think that’s where the best riders that’s who the best riders are and how they do it. Yeah. I mean, like Jack said, actually, the longer you’ve had a horse, the better you know them. You know how they’re going to react to certain situations, certain classes, different atmospheres. Um, and so, you know, when when you come into a show like this, I know which horses are going to suit the bill, which ones maybe they might not quite take to the atmosphere as well as another one. Um, and yeah, like like you say, it’s it’s about actually knowing your horse inside and out and spending time with them as well to do that. And it and it and it and it does help to have someone that knows the horse very well that you can ask their advice to, doesn’t it? Yes. Joe, one of Joe’s up and cominging young horses is is a lovely horse that you met. I have met Billy Santorini. Santorini and Yeah. London International and um who is a lovely young horse that I produced. So that’s why I’m winding Joe up. Yeah. You had two down today. But I think uh that was my fault. The previous rider just trying to change a few bits and you know sort a few things out. That that’s probably what it was. Let let’s let’s start let’s start at the beginning of this journey. I think we should cuz Joe you were you both came through the pony club, didn’t you? Did you come through the pony club? I know Joe did. Yeah, I I dabbled in the Pony Club. Yeah. But you but you you’ve both got you know a leg a family legacy in the equestrian world. You know you’ve got Whisker Stockdale name is is is famous all over the world. You know how did you find this world? Was it something that you were kind of born into? Is it something that you knew instantly? It was something you wanted to You could definitely say they were both born into because I’ve seen seen a few whiskers jumping today. Yeah. No, I am. So, I’m obviously very very lucky to be in the position I was in. I was born into the family and obviously the farm and everything that was there at home and it was probably inevitable that I was going to sit on a horse at some point. It was just whether if I was going to uh take it up as a profession or not. And uh for better or worse, I’ve taken it up. Sure. I think it’s one thing having a surname, but it’s another thing, you know, realizing you got the the skill and the passion to kind of follow through. So, was that something that you knew instantly that’s you both wanted to pursue. How did you find the love of horses and and know that this is what you wanted to kind of I mean, for me it was a little bit different to be honest with you. I always loved being around the horses. Um, you know, like same as Jack, I was born straight onto the yard. Um, so I was with them dayto-day watching dad ride, riding a little bit myself. Um, but I’ll be honest, it was never something that I thought was going to be a career for me. Um, I’d never planned for it. I always, like I say, enjoyed it. Um, but it wasn’t something I ever actually considered as a career. Um, I was big into my cricket. You had a few options, didn’t you? Is it Northamptonshire? Yeah, Northampton cricket. Um, and that was my main sort of love, I’d say, first. That was what took me. And if there was ever a choice between a show and a and a cricket match, I’d always end up going playing the cricket match. Um and so you know a few we have a few turn of events and a few things happened and basically I ended up pushed a bit more towards the riding side and and and spending more time on the yard and we just sort of took off from there and that’s that’s how I ended up and that was probably what six seven years ago now that’s 2019 you kind of made the leap into Yeah. Yeah. that so how did so as you’re kind of pursuing these two careers you know your second 11 Northampton sheer cricket is that correct? And then obviously the show world. What was the what was the thing that kind of pushing that direction? Was it kind of you know backing yourself knowing that this is the career you want to pursue long term or Yeah. So uh what happened was essentially um I was sort of starting to make a little bit of a break in in in the side in the north side. Um I’d been through the academy there and and worked a long way up through sort of through the age groups and then I was about to go off to Australia and play for a team. I’d just been signed for a team up there. So, I was going to do a winter there, come back and uh come in, you know, come back hopefully for the English summer and play more cricket. Um, and then just before I went, I actually got injured, so I had to cancel my contract out in Australia. Um, so I stayed at home and I couldn’t uh I couldn’t play. I couldn’t bowl. So, then I started to do a little bit more riding. Um, and then that was the same time it coincided with time my dad got very ill. Um, so then obviously he was unable to ride. I was able to ride. I was riding more on the yard. I was riding on the horses then. Um and then he sadly passed away just a few weeks later and we were kind of left in that situation where it was either we sell all the horses, sell the yard, completely pack up and I try and go down the cricket route or I try and take over the yard and continue doing what I’ve been doing for those few weeks which was kind of a mad decision in hindsight looking back at it now because I was a terrible rider. U no idea what I was doing. I went I think I actually went to Pip and Wills there and they put me on a few um I think they were six or seven year olds or something and it was just I can’t imagine what they were thinking at the time after I just said that I was going to try and ride because it must have been shocking to watch but yeah that’s the decision I take and uh and it seems to be bar this week it seems to be going all right so far seems to be working out pretty well for you mate I mean what I would just say I mean Tim Tim was incredible in what he achieved in his career And I remember the the conversation your father’s last chat with with William cuz William was great friend of Tinson. I remember William very clearly saying don’t worry you know we’ll look after Joe. And one of the first times Joe came down and stayed I thought what a lovely lad. Um so polite so well brought up loaded the dishwasher did everything in the house. Funny house. you are. The more he’s come down, it’s like I say, the worm has turned. And I think he’s been he’s I’m not sure how much my husband has influenced him, but he was really charming, lovely lad when he first came down. Things are changing. But he does he’s actually I will just say this because he’s really nice because he does buy the odd present, the odd bottle of gin, the odd really nice bottle of red wine. And there was one instant when he came back from the pub, got his bottle of red red wine out, really nice bottle of red wine, puts it down on my island so so hard, having had too much at the pub. And the the wine the the bottle shattered and there was red wine all over my kitchen. You have some very very nice pink grout now along your kitchen there along the tile. So thought that counts though, right? It was. Yeah, it was a lot of thought, you know. So, Jack, um, just in case people don’t know, because I had to explain to Tristan, the W. Yeah. Everything literally, but obviously it’s such a big dynasty and just, uh, for listeners um, out there and these guys. Um, Jack is actually the son of Michael Whitaker cuz it does get I mean I know a lot of you but it still gets confusing because I was out there for 10 minutes and there were there were three Whiskers jumping within 10 minutes. It’s still growing. They’re popping out left right and center at the moment. Uh yeah, there’s a lot of views. No, no, no. Definitely not. Uh no, it’s still growing. Yeah, there’s a lot of There’s like 15 of us that jump internationally. Wow. And then however many that keep riding at home. It’s a lot. It’s big. Well, Christmases must be. Yeah, we don’t really do Christmas. We do Boxing Day. Boxing Day is a big party. So, that’s good fun. Always amazing. Also, like, thank God this is half going okay. Otherwise, I would have been screwed. I had I was doing nothing else. I was no good in school. Can’t do anything else. So, thank God. So, was it was this something that you you knew you were going to kind of pursue wholeheartedly and kind of lean into from day one? I mean, like when I was young, you like any probably a little lad like I was mad for the football, but probably no good. I was mad for all the sports, but it’s just you you still play a bit of football now, don’t you? Yeah. Yeah, I still play six aside every Monday, so that still goes off, but uh no not any not any good like so. It’s just uh thank god this is thank god this is going half okay. These horsey people are so humble. I have to say it’s hard amazing you know careers already and you guys it’s a very humbling spot. Well, I believe so. And and is that that kind of humbling nature? Is that because of the partnership you have with the horse? And you know, from your perspective, you know, how do you you know, keep moving forward week on week? Is it is it like doing it for the horse? What is it that inspires you to keep pushing on? And yeah, I think also it’s doing it for the horse, but I think as riders, we all know what everyone else is going through as well in in their heads. Even if they’re not explaining it, like we know exactly what they’re feeling when it’s not going well. We know what they’re feeling when it is going well. We can appreciate the the highs and the lows. So, I think that’s why we can all have we can put each other in each other’s shoes, a bit, you know, and understand the the pain or the the uh the happiness when it comes around, but and it does swing around in circles cuz this really is an amazing community, isn’t it? And I think, you know, Pips mentioned you got so many friends from from from the world and you guys obviously got a bit of a dynamic duo here and a bit of a a pair of likely lads. How did you guys come across each other? Yeah. When did you two become a couple? A couple. We just got lugged breaking all the women’s hearts in the room. That happened. I’ve been trying to get away from him for years now. Um I’m not actually sure. Do you know? I don’t know. I just remember I remember once I remember like cuz I’ve known you for a while, but then we did How long ago was we did them shows in France? Uh yeah. So that would have been probably at least 5 years ago. We ended up doing like four or five shows in a row in France. And I think I had more dinner with Joe than he did with his girlfriend at that time. So then it kind of and how’s it how you know from a competitive element how is it you know competing you know with and against a friend you know how do you manage that kind of relationship? I think it’s one of the weird if people out people from outside looked at it they think it’s the weirdest thing because we’ll both walk a course we’re both half talk to each other and other riders and everyone’s trying to give the right advice. There’s nobody there that’s saying that’s six strides and actually it’s five or whatever. you know, everyone’s trying to help each other, but then we go in the ring and also there’s nothing that will stop me trying to beat him or vice versa, but equally he’ll come out of the ring from a jump off and probably tell me, “Oh, you can go a bit wider there or you can come a bit tighter here.” So, it’s so counterintuitive a lot of the time, I think. And it goes back to what you said is everyone knows how tough it is. So, actually, if you ride the best round you can on that horse and where it’s at in its career and vice versa, you know, then then we’re quite happy with how it’s gone. So if we come out and help someone else Yeah. Um then that’s all we can do. And like I say, we we some you have good shows, you have bad shows, and everybody knows around you. They just he’s just having one of those shows. And at the time you think this is going terribly. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. But everybody kind of just says, “Well, just one of those things.” We we talked quite a bit about this at Babmonton last week that about the equestrian family, the Aventing family. And and I think that’s what is so special. Like as you said, you you’re at the moment having a really great show. Joe, you’re not having such a good show. And what you do in the equestrian world, you seem to really share other people’s successes. You enjoy their successes and they support you when you’re having the the low moments or when things aren’t going so right because you so easily know that it’s going to it can turn around very quickly. But I think it to me it does make it special that you can be so enthu genuinely enthusiastic about other people’s wins and what it means to them. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, I think you feel as much of a win for uh for me as I would for him or you know so actually this is the nice thing about it. You sort of hopefully you’re always winning if your mates are winning. Like I did I had I was having Joe show here last year. So, it just it’s funny how it always uh always swings back back around. Like I was very very very low here last year. Probably lowest I’ve been and uh like we’re all just there. We went out for dinner the night after and it’s all back fine again, you know. Now tell me a little bit about I believe did did you have your honeymoon in South Africa recently? Cuz this is someone who is a big safari man and I hear you went on safari the two of you. Yeah, it was very romantic. room for one or Well, that’s basically what it was. Yeah. The whole sharing beds a lot of time. Top and tail. Yeah. Like it was an amazing trip, but I think when we got back, it was more like they were asking if I’d go again. I said, “Yeah, but I think next time I think I’d take my girlfriend and Smart move. Smart move.” Yeah. Jack spooning in the middle of the night is never a nice feeling. I beg to differ. I think it’s so nice how you got such a yeah you can balance a friendship like this but then also kind of you know inspire and encourage each other to to to strive forward in your in your career and you guys are you know I don’t want to say only just starting out but you’ve got a lot of a lot of um you know jumping ahead of you and it’s yeah there’s a long way still to go and hopefully we’re going to be on the road for a long lot long lot long a lot lot more years so and and just out of interest what to date would be each of your best moments in jumping minus sharing a bed in South Africa. Yeah. Uh other than South Africa, uh I was fifth at the World Cup final like two or three years ago. So that’s probably the the best that’s probably my highlight so far. Uh yeah, for me I mean jumping uh being able to jump at the World Championships and we won team bronze there. That for me was a great great experience. And again, even in that week, you know, we’re talking about the highs and lows of your career. In that week, I think I had the highest high and the lowest low I’ve had, you know, in all time. I had a good first day, a terrible second day, and a good last day. Um, but luckily, you know, the last day the score could count and it helped us helped us to uh to get the medal. So, that felt great for me. But yeah, that’s probably my uh my sort of best moment. As athletes, how do you kind of manage that emotional journey? You know, Pip talks a lot about um you know, the sport psychology and that sort of thing. Is that something that you guys are diving into now? And because it is a massive roller coaster, you know, there’s there’s every week it could change, you know, it how do you manage that as I had a lot of sport psychology when I was playing cricket actually and this fellow kept talking to me about this chimp in my head and I know Pip actually Pip does use this so I’m not I’m not going to slag it off too much but for me it did not relate at all. Um so that’s where you’re going wrong. You need to listen to that chimp. I think I’m going to listen to the chimp tomorrow. Who might help? I’d say I’d say don’t listen to the chimp. The chimp in your head now is going mental. He’s he’s always up. He didn’t know what’s happening. Um uh I don’t use a sport psychologist at the moment. I have spoken to them a few times. It’s quite interesting to sort of pick their brains, but it’s not something I use regularly. Like I say, it might be something I need um for the rest of this week. But yeah, it’s sure it’s just just hard and it’s some I think most of the time you just bury it down and hopefully it goes well one day and you totally forget about it. That’s kind of the process at the moment. I think you see I’m going to say cuz my husband when I first cuz when sport psychology first came into the sport I was one of the guinea pigs right going back to the ‘ 90s when the lottery funding came in and the sports we were we were given a talk by a sports psychologist and I sort of thought oh here we go this is the sort of thing I think I need help with and so I offered my service you know well I I said I’ll be the guinea pig and I found it enormously helpful. I did because I I it’s a known fact I suffer from nerves. And William always said, “Well, I I always knew you needed to see a shrink.” But actually, joking apart, in this day and age now, a lot of people use it in sport. And sorry guys, but there, you know, I’m not saying you’re wrong not using it, but I think you you’ve also got to be open-minded. You’ve obviously tried it, but nerves are a funny thing. And I think nerves, I think we all have nerves. Um, and nerves is a good thing, but it’s obviously learning how to cope with them. And and and one of the biggest things, I’m sure people listening that suff suffer from nerves and things. One of the biggest things is that we overthink things. And that’s when you talk about the chimp. It’s the that chimp in your brain when you’re overthinking that’s goingit like a scene made in Chelsea. Yeah. Exactly. Like that. And it’s just and and I think for me it was very useful when you understand the different areas of your brain and how it works and you can put one side and start thinking logically and and the other Okay, I won’t Okay, I’ll shut up. You’re giving me the the Jack’s all right. He can only think of one thing at a time. So he’s he’s very simple. He’s maybe that’s place to be. I think too much. I’m not sure if it’s uh but it’s like the the nervous thing though. I think nerves are good though. I think especially it means it means that you want it and you want to win. And I think if I wasn’t nervous, I’d be I’d be nervous that I wasn’t nervous if you if that makes sense. It’s like it’s I think my dad always said it’s like if you’re not like if you’re not nervous, you don’t want it enough. So I think you kind of have to some somehow uh bring them nerves into a positive somehow. It’s like turning them into a good thing, isn’t it? Yeah. I also think Pip’s one of the biggest anomalies of a successful sportsman because in the nice in the nicest way when you uh when you hear you talking before a big event you’re sort of thinking this this could be an absolute disaster and then you go there and you’re fantastic but I don’t really know how you’d managed to do it cuz I think if anybody else thought that way beforehand it would be very difficult to turn it around in the time would you not say I nearly killed you didn’t I oh you did yeah you can tell that accidentally well no Because I I do get nervous and I don’t and and I was doing was it the was I doing the Queens? Yes, I was doing the Queens at Hickd and Joe was staying over Hicksid and I said, “Oh god, it’s just going to be so big and and talking myself out of it like I normally do and Joe was interviewed at Hickdid and they said um they well you tell the story.” Well, I was just finished walking the course and they caught me as I was coming out and they sort of took me over for an interview and they said, “Who do you think is going to win?” So, I thought I’ll give Pip a bit of confidence and I’ll tell her that I think it’s going to be her. So, I said, “Pip’s looking really good. She’s very confident. I’m sure she’s going to win it.” And uh it didn’t go down as well as I was expecting. You didn’t particularly The way you said to them that she thinks she’s going to win and it’s I’m like thinking I’m not going to even make it over the first two fences. You did all right. How did it go? I can’t remember. You made it over two fences. I think you had a late fence. I think you had one down late in the course. It’s funny how everyone has their own ways of kind of getting psyched up with these competitions. You know, we were chatting with William on the pod one day and you know, he’s saying, you know, sometimes the biggest doubter, but then that plays into your confidence when you get out there. Do you find that, you know, in the leadup to a competition um or a show there’s there’s all these nerves and then when you kind of get out there, does it all kind of click into place and you’re in your flow state and it all makes sense or are you still in your head there or? It’s actually it’s amazing how nervous you can be before going in the ring and then you get in the ring and it just all goes away. It’s like I don’t know what I could even tell you what I’m thinking when I’m counting around like it’s it’s I don’t know if it just turns into focus or I don’t know what it turns into but it’s like you go in you see your stride first stride to the first jump and all your nerves have gone. It’s like you don’t even you barely even most of the time notice the crowd around you or the noises or whatever’s going on. It’s like you just you’re in the zone. I think for me it’s a bit the same like you say you know going before you’re warming up or it’s saying you walk the course come out you’re about to get on probably before I get on is most nervous I’ll be that time when I’m just putting my hat on and getting organized. Um but I think when you start the course you’ve almost visualized that plan. You know how it’s going to feel. You know how every turn is going to feel and then then you just react a little bit if it’s touch different to what you expected. Um and then you don’t like you say you don’t think about what’s happening. Love your horse, but not the high costs? Say hello to the Harry Hall One Club. You’ll get public liability and personal accident insurance included in your membership from just £5724 per year, making horse ownership more affordable. And did you know they even offer horse box and travel insurance? How handy is that? Friendly, bus free, and full of shopping perks. Join the club that’s got your back in and out of the saddle. Harry Hall One Club. Making horse ownership more affordable. What does the future look like for both of you? What are the Do you sit down at the beginning of the year and you forward planning for kind of big uh shows or competitions across the year? You know, what would what would the ultimate year next year look like and what would you say would be the the peak of what you’re trying to achieve here? Well, I usually at the start of the year write down a full plan for all my shows, all the big shows I want to hit, where the championships are, and then about three weeks later, I scrub it all out because it’s all gone. All gone completely pear-shaped. And that is that is horses. Yeah, that really is horses. And that’s the highs and lows. Yeah, I think I’ve re redone my plan at least seven, eight times now already, you know, for the rest of the year. But then you you’ve got horses that need a bit of time off. They say they jump very good here, they don’t jump well there, and then you have to completely change it. So, but I think in the long term, you know, for me, I think for us both of us, you know, Olympic games is the biggest thing. Championship medals, being on championship teams, Nation’s Cup teams, and then, you know, there’s a few, well, you know, we want to win every Grand Prix we go in, but there’s certainly a select few that are particularly special. What would the special ones be? Well, here’s here’s one of them to start. The most expensive ones and and you are smart man. Did we say that you were both ambassadors for Windsor? I don’t know. Yeah, we are. Last two years, three years running. Sweet. Two. Two or three. Two or three. So then what about Jack and Joe? The sort of influences. Joe, I know you’ve been modeling for Tatler, haven’t you? No, that was Jack. No, he’s far better. See, you can say it was Joe. I’d rather you say it was Joe than me. Far better looking. I did actually know. I knew it was Jack, but I thought you could dump in it in it because you don’t like talking about it, do you? No. No, not at all. You look good in those. Uh I’ve seen the photos. I think you look exceptional. Cheers, mate. Yeah. Yeah. No, people actually met a model agent last week at Babson we can connect you up with. I’m sure you already. Yeah, I did. He wears those same. They were they were looking at me. I to I to I um took Tristan to I’m a patron for World Horse Welfare and took him to a lunch there and I just so happened to be sat next to two lovely ladies who are donators, big donators for World Horse Welfare and and one of them could not take her eyes off. I’m glad you weren’t there, mate. actually would have got the gig and I thought she’s she’s even sadder than I am. She can’t take her eyes off him. And anyway, it turns out that um I was chatting a bit 5 minutes later and I said, “What do you do?” And she said, “Well, I’m head of a big model agency.” So that’s why she was looking at him and I was like, “Right, okay. I want to be middleman here.” And I sorry I interrupted so what on the commission what pip saying is that if you no next deals we have to chat to so I could sorry Joe I don’t fair enough of course you do well it’s funny so we had Alan Titch Marsh as a as a previous guest you know you know we asked for takeaways and kind of what the future looks and what advice we give and you know one of the piece of advice was you know take the path less traveled and don’t be afraid of kind of opening side doors and that sort of thing and obviously you got amazing career and you’re steaming ahead in the equation world. Is there anything that you’d like to kind of do alongside that journey or is it kind of all eyes on the horizon at the moment and and charge for that? I’m still trying to figure this one out to be honest with you. I haven’t figured out I’m asking for advice. I think I think hopefully if like if on the path less traveled, hopefully if we get to where we want to be, it’s it’s going to it’s going to hopefully lead into everything we want. Anyway, it’s it’s all kind of like Grand Prix and Nations Cups and Championships. It’s it’s so busy and there’s so much to do that we we want to do it all. So, it’s like if that’s hopefully that’s the that’s the uh road to go. Amazing. Hopefully just hopefully just happens down the way somewhere. I mean, it is quite a life that cuz I obviously being married to a show jumper. I mean, he hasn’t traveled as much as your father and and and Tim, you know, when you were growing up. I mean, it’s week in week out, isn’t it? I mean the you know yes you need the string of horses but it is pretty the worst thing is it’s hard to like complain to people when you’re going to Monaco for one weekend and then you’re in San Jupa the next weekend and you’re going to do spend four weeks in Villora and where you’re playing probably golf every other day there as well. It’s hard to complain about it. How’s the handicap? Can see the Oh, no good. Terrible. We will just say too that that Joe We missed the tea time for this today actually as well. Joe’s brother Mark is a real I mean he’s a serious golfer, isn’t he? Yeah, he makes us two look completely ridiculous actually. Speak for yourself. Competition on the horse and off as well. I like it. Yeah, he’s no good at horse riding, but he’s he’s very very good at golf. How’s your golf game, Pip? Uh, it’s a bit like my polo. My polo. How’s your polo? What would Well, like my golf. Yeah, my eyeball coordination isn’t great. Ball eye. Is that the word? Eyeball coordination. Oh, hand eye. Hand eye coordination. What is it? Yeah, eyeball coordination. That’s a new one. Hey, it’s an equestrian term I’m not familiar with. One thing we always trying to come back to on on tour courses is kind of partnership with the horse and horse welfare. Um, you know, obviously having that partnership with the horse is is a huge part of of what you do. How do you, this is probably a one thing, how do you develop that partnership with your horse and how do you kind of maintain that relationship and and try and do right by the horse? Joe, do you pat Santorini and kiss him as much as I used to? It’s very Santorini sport rotten. He is as all my horses are. Yeah. The partnership is is the most important thing. Um, you know, like we said before, knowing your horse and actually just spending time with them, whether it’s it doesn’t have to be just riding them, just in the stable, seeing what their personality is like, what their attitudes like. Um, I’ve got a fairly new horse here with me this week and actually just being around him, you know, being up and down the stables and seeing how he is with other stuff, you know, you realize what they take to, what they don’t like. And and I think it’s you got to have some sort of feel for them and some sort of six sense to understand what they’re thinking at one time, which is not something you could really teach somebody or or explain, but you just kind of get a feeling of I think they’re thinking this or I think he’s he’s he’s got this opinion on what what’s going on out there, you know. So, I think understanding that also translates into your riding quite well. Um because you know if there’s a big tractor coming down the side of the ring that they’re not going to like it or one might not be bothered or you know Santorini is very horse shy so he doesn’t like the other horses in the ring so I spend most of my time trying to navigate away from other people. Jack’s usually trying to crash into me and apologizing as he does it and laughing as I’m spinning off in the other direction. But uh yeah, I think I think knowing them while you’re on them and riding them and knowing them in the stable is just as uh just as valuable. Yeah, it’s just time is spent I think with your horses and and that boils back down to the welfare as well. Like I think the more you know your horses, the better you can look after them and know what it takes to take care of them. I think it’s very interesting. I did say to you when we walked the course at badminton and it’s very easy for us as athletes and riders, we come here to Windsor year after year. We go to London International Horse Show year after year, Babon and things and we get so used to it, but we have to remember that our horses, like I said at Babmonton, we walk the cross country four times, they go out there and they see it once. The same thing with this sort of show. A lot of horses, particularly when they come to Wii Windsor or London for the first time, we get so familiar with the King’s Troop or Shetland Pony Grand National or carriages, but actually you have to take into account that a lot of these horses haven’t seen it before. If they have, that might worry them. And and that’s where you have to be really really at one to think actually I really need to hold the horse’s hand here and say that carriage is is okay or those Shetland ponies aren’t little doggies that are going to bite you. you know, they’re um you know, I think you always have to bear that in mind with the horses and as riders sometimes you can just take that for granted, but I think that’s important like you say with Santorini. He’s not been to a show. I don’t think I brought him here as a young horse. So, I don’t think he’s done Royal Windsor before. So, you know, it’s it’s it’s all new experiences for a lot of these horses. I have to say I struggle with one brain. So, I take my hat off to you guys for dealing with two. And you’ve got chimps in the horses. Yeah. And you got chimps as well. achievers. Um I think you know everyone here and and our listeners on the pod as well would be you know really excited to hear kind of you guys have obviously got amazing career ahead of you and you’ve you’ve worked so hard to get here and we’d like to have a little takeaway for our for our listeners. You know what piece of advice would you give to to those who are you know inspired about the inquest world wanting to kind of maybe forge a career or just connect with with horses in this way. I think you got to be in 100%. That’s the bit of advice I give. You got to be fully committed. It’s not something you can dabble in and out of it. You can’t drop it, leave it, pick it up again. It just doesn’t work like that. I think you got to be fully invested or not in it. Um, and and you and to do that, you got to be very passionate and you got to be able to do long hours and spend time doing things you don’t want to do. And and uh you know, the horses aren’t a set of golf clubs where you can if you had a bad day, you chuck them in the cupboard and you forget about them until tomorrow. You know, it’s not quite like that. It doesn’t matter how bad your day is. The horses out there are looked after better than I’d say most people. you know, they’re they’re looked after like you can’t believe and the grooms do a fantastic job. So, you need to be really passionate about it. Um, and you’ve also got to be fairly tough because you, like we say, lots of ups and downs. Yeah, I think it’s just patience and persistence, I think, as well. It’s it’s hard hard work and long hours and you get you take the ups with the downs, but thank god the ups are pretty good. So, we can uh it’s it’s worth it’s worth the grind hopefully. But it is worth the grind, not hopefully. Amazing. Should we open the uh open the pod up to the audience here? It’s it’s really nice we have the opportunity to connect with you guys. And firstly, thank you so much for supporting Talk Course and being part of this amazing community. Um but we’d love to give you the opportunity to ask all three of these legends some questions. So if anyone’s got any questions, actually one I’ve got one question. The old course walker, the B like the how do you remember all them the whole way around and you walk it four times. How do you get around the course on foot? On foot. We’ve got feet. Not take ages. is like you not take a bike or something or Yeah. No, it takes 2 hours. I mean, well, no, it doesn’t. It We How would you walk it four times then? Surely it take all day. It takes 2 and 1/2 hours, but you need She runs quite quickly, actually. Absolutely. Yeah. He couldn’t keep up with I couldn’t keep up with her. Um Yeah. I mean, you really do have to know all your Is it one day you walk it four times or is you walking? No. No. We We can walk it on. So, we first walk it on the Wednesday, which is um the trot up day for the horses um for the vets inspection. We walk it that day before the vets inspection. We walk we’ll walk it on Thursday, Friday, and then first thing Saturday morning. And it is it’s it’s a long walk, but you absolutely have to know your lines. But it’s I there are a few people that might go on round on bikes, but I personally don’t because I like to know every blade of grass they’re going. But actually at the most of the top events now, they don’t allow the sort of bikes on the ground because they work they do so much work to the ground. Um especially in a dry year like this. I mean the going was really good at badminton from all the work they’ done. So they keep they do keep people off the course riders competitors. You were lucky enough cuz I got an armband for you to walk on that had an athletes armband. He did. Um but it is it’s it’s a long walk. The only thing I will say is really annoying if you actually aren’t having a good time and you pull up early and you think, “Oh my god, I walked that way round four times and I’ve only got to fence five.” But normally, I mean, it is it’s it’s well worth it. And and I must admit, William, that’s probably why he opted for show jumping. He’s gone now. He was here. He was here listening to you, Joe. Um Oh, he’s on the phone. That makes a change. Um but yeah, so we do four times. Jesus. He he he he does help. It’s a lot of that around the course, I imagine. Has anybody else got any any questions for us? Absolutely. I think we’ve got a microphone for There we go. Uh what’s the one horse you’d like to have the ride on? Uh one that’s still going now. No, either. Uh, Milton would have been a good I’d like to rode Milton. I think he’d have been a cool one to ride. Can you remember Milton? Are you that? Yeah, bits, but I’ve watched a lot of videos as well. I can’t really actually No, I don’t remember them at all, but I’ve watched a lot of videos. It looks good on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’d probably ride actually um just related to me, I’d ride Kata that my dad took to the Olympics um just to compare basically um as to the horses I’ve got now. Be interesting to see. Pip. Oh, me. Um, sorry I uh well I funnily enough I was well I would actually like to ride Lord Ships Graffventing wise because he’s just unbelievable. I mean they’re amazing partnership but from an eventing point of view it would be be him. Yeah. I haven’t got an answer for that one Santorini. I I’m not gonna you know step on your toes. You’ve only met two horses. I’ve met some Yeah. twoini and you met Lord Scruffler. Yeah. Quite high. Yeah. Center it. Yeah. Both up there. Similar. Not today, but few years usually. I like it. We’ve answered them all. You don’t want to ask anything else while while Tristan’s here. Do you do you watch played in Chelsea? People called it Treasure Island for the first 20 podcast. Treasure Island. Yeah, apparently. So, why a hybrid of Love Island and I’m not sure what else was going on. Well, he said it was not I’m not I’m not sure it’s a staple in the funnel household, thankfully. Pleasure Island is a different that’s a spin-off. Pleasure Island’s the after watershed version. I don’t watch a lot of reality. I tell you what, I think this is this is a judge me my my I think so. I think so. Amazing. Yeah. Guys, guys, thank you so so much for coming on the show and good luck tomorrow. Grand Prix tomorrow. Pleasure. Joe, put it all behind you. You get rid of those monkeys. Yeah. Have a chat with a monkey tonight. Backing off the monkeys. Them monkeys are no good for you. Yeah, they’re they’re not working. Amazing. Thank you guys so much. It’s been an absolute pleasure having this kind of this live format podcast and thank you all so much for supporting Talk. It’s been a fantastic journey. We’re episode 2. Oh, has anyone got the FA Cop score? Actually, we’re doing the thank yous. Sorry. Sorry. Is that football? Yeah. Yeah. Any Yeah. and listeners out there that that you you know it’s been great to have the size of that we’ve had crowds like Glastonbury here so listen 100 thousand deeply can’t see anything [ __ ] you see look look so anyone listening we’ve got a great crowd here and come back next year if we’re allowed back if they’ll have us back we’ve got a very exciting uh series next series we’ve got some fantastic guests so keep supporting keep sending your questions in uh keep getting involved in the community. It’s amazing to connect with all of you and thanks for educating me Pipper for the last 6 months. It’s been a an eye opening experience and thanks guys. Thanks lad. I know. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you.