Very few things make me nervous, but one thing that does is horses. Especially big horses. Especially Arabian horses. I have had this absurd fear ever since I visited a horse show as a child and saw the huge stallions prancing about in the ring. It was only when I received an e-mail from Anne Brown of Gadebrook Stud asking me to visit her stud farm that these misgiving reappeared. However, ever conscious of my journalist duties, I tugged on my wellies and set off to visit Anne, in Elmington, just outside Oundle.

It was a bright, fresh (i.e. freezing) Wednesday afternoon and armed with my tentative questions (knowing very little on the subject of horses) I knocked on the farmhouse door. I was greeted by Anne and was ushered into her cosy kitchen where I tried to seem confident and ‘in the know’ of what I was talking about. I found that my questions were fairly useless so I decided to just listen. Anne has always had a long lasting passion for horses but it wasn’t until her job as a travel journalist in Fleet Street moved her to this area that she could fully throw herself into the profession. It was a lifestyle change as well as a professional one, but it was made easier by the thought of being able to keep her own horses nearby. Anne started breeding horses initially in 1969 but began concentrating on pure-bred Arabs from 1985. It was 20 years later in 1995 that Anne bought Tansor Lodge Farm and since then both she and the stud has gone from strength to strength.

We soon ventured outside to actually see some of the horses. Armed with the information Anne had given me, I felt slightly reassured about what I was expecting. To give you a general scale of the stud, Anne has 13 horses in total and one on lease. It is not a commercial stud and does not advertise as a livery. It has a professional feel, but a happy atmosphere and the horses are clearly in their element, frolicking in some of the 20 acres of farm land. We first visited Azarina, a very pretty filly who was energetic and full of life. Anne had already calmed my nerves and she reassured me that it is only the ‘show’ Arabs that are so feisty and that actually Arabs are one of the friendliest breeds of horses; especially Crabbet Arabs which is what the majority of the Arabs are at Gadebrook Stud. I admit I was easily persuaded as I patted and was nuzzled by Azarina.

Anne gave me a tour and as we stumbled across a part of the farm, Anne explained some of the basics to running a stud. Although it is a passion and is in many ways idyllic, running the stud is hard, manual work. With 13 horses to be brought in at night, taken out in the morning and also watered, washed, rugged up, hoof picked, poo-picked, mucked out and much more – it’s a steep ask and needs enthusiasm; a quality that Anne has in abundance. On hand to help are her “wonderful” grooms Vicki Chalkley and Jackie Pringle, as well as a continual stream of WWOOFers. These WWOOFers are people who take part in the ‘World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms’ programme and therefore they come from all over the world. Gadebrook Stud has seen nine so far, from countries including France, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, and Germany. They are part of an organisation where they can come to work for Anne in exchange for board and lodging and help with English. They visit Oundle frequently, particularly enjoying the Market Day on Thursday and the Farmers Market on the second Saturday of the month. They find Oundle a “charming place” and is very “typical of what they visualise as ‘England’”. When I visited Gadebrook Stud, Katie Robbins from Canada had just arrived. She was, as I expect what most of the other WWOOFers were like , hard working, good with the horses and wrapped up VERY warm. Anne became involved in the WWOOFers campaign quite by chance when a fellow Arab breeder in Devon used the programme and found the WWOOF volunteers indispensible. Seeing the positive effects the programme had for him, Anne too soon joined up.

Aside from the day to day running of the stud Anne also brings many events to Gadebrook Stud, such as Equine Touch which provides horse therapy. According to the Equine Touch website, it is ‘a gentle non-invasive form of bodywork, evolved to reduce the pain spiral and guide the horse toward balance and optimum functionality’. Gadebrook Stud will host an Equine Touch later in the year. Other events include artist’s seminars and tutorials, such as The Society of Equine Artists who visit Gadebrook Stud each spring.

The energy at Gadebrook Stud is quite phenomenal and the constant goings on make it a hugely exciting and interesting place to be. Anne is sitting on a gold mine that has treasures scattered throughout. If you would like to learn more about Gadebrook Stud then you can visit their website on: www.gadebrookstud.com or e-mail Anne at: anne@gadebrookstud.com to find out about the events that are happening in the future.