My work with different horses

Andrew Kerr Sutherland has over thirty years experience in the horse world. He has worked in the racing industry with the late Commander Crawford and other Scottish trainers. He has also competed in a number of equine disciplines - show jumping, eventing and showing. He was Head Groom to the Duke of Buccleuch Hunt and has hunted with the Buccleuch, the Cleveland and the Berwickshire hunts. He recently took over the famous Tilton House Stable Yard, so that he could fulfill a lifetime ambition to improve the relationship between horses and owners. Andrew has wide experience with young horses and ponies and is particularly skilled with problem horses, where he uses natural methods of working. He has a great understanding of horse communications and body language and picks up on the signals they transmit, building trust and confidence with the horse very quickly. "I work closely with the horse and the owner to build a happy partnership. I want the horse to do the job because they want to do it, not because they are forced into it." Andrew creates a programme for each individual horse, tailored to its needs. "The secret is time and patience" he says and "It is all to do with confidence building or re-building and that takes time. I observe its behaviour, to understand why it is not happy. Then I work with it to modify its behaviour so that it is happy and comfortable in its relationship with its owner or other people with whom it may come into contact." Writing about Andrew in The Scots Magazine, Fyfe Hendrie called him "The Scottish Horse Whisperer", a title he is happy to have "as long as people don't think there are any magical answers to horse problems. All I want is a happier life for the horse and I work to achieve that."