Welcome. The archive contains the majority of my work for magazines and other publications over the last 10 years or so.

Since the site first opened 10 years ago W.H.E.E.P. has been at the forefront of the natural horse movement, helping to spread practical, holistic and ethical methods for the management and training of horses. From the start the work has had a firm foundation in science, and has relied on developments in scientific research to inform and enlighten the impact of what we do and the possibilities for doing it a whole lot better in the future.

By 20th March 2003 the site had attracted in excess of 50,000 international visitors from 93 countries including a large number from over 860 Universities and colleges worldwide, and at 27th January 2004 those figures had risen to over 81,000 visitors from 98 countries, including faculty and students from 1186 universities, colleges and centres of tertiary education in 66 countries. Since that time visitor numbers have grown to well over a million.

The goal has always been to increase our understanding of the horse and to improve both their welfare and the pleasure we get from connecting with this beautiful creature - without neglecting the safety of both partners in the relationship and that of the environment. And it hasn't all been easy. 15 years ago when W.H.E.E.P. first started a lot of ideas that are accepted now were attacked quite spitefully, as is always the case when tradition-based personal myth is challenged.

When in 2005 we lost the original farm on which most of the work was done, the herd went one way, and my wife Vicki and I went in another; they to a succession of leased blocks, us to first a caravan, and then a couple of little cottages. Hard, dogged, days they were, lurching from leased block to lease block, all barely satisfactory and almost entirely without anything in the way of facilities.  Little wonder then that the relationship between us, forged over the years when we shared a common home, changed. From being as close as family we slipped into something like acquaintances that meet on the bus or train; sharing a little time while moving between one paddock and another, before parting again, our lives and realities separate and distinct. When you’ve lived closely with a group of animals, whatever the species, their absence is like the hole after a tooth is pulled; ever present, and almost impossible not to keep on probing with your tongue. But, as with all such challenges there is, within the day to day experience, a lot more to be learnt than it may first appear—if you can only find the resilience required to meet the challenge.

 Finally we again found a farm to lease, and although it's very much like having to start all over again from scratch in a new area the herd and I are back together in one place. The gypsy years were not totally wasted, and I got a chance to try out and develop practical ideas and solutions in a number of different settings.

As soon as I have time I'll try to get additional material added covering the results - but if there's a particular subject readers want to see covered please e-mail me and I'll try to get it done.

Thanks for visiting - I hope the archive has something of interest!