Richard Davison

THERE are riders who haven’t had too bad a time of it during lockdown, and Richard Davison is one of them – although also one sensitive enough that he doesn’t want to go on about it, given the uncertainty that Covid-19 and Brexit bring for the global economy. There may be dark clouds coming, but Richard does not want to be pessimistic, speaking from his Staffordshire home. He has just got off a horse he is thrilled with for having completed a lovely line of changes.

“We’ll leave it there,” he says, and you can hear the pride and joy in his voice. The horse goes for his cool down, on goes the coffee machine and we’re away.

“I’ve finally got to a place in my life where I have the right balance,” he says, referring to a reduction in the number of pupils he teaches to about 15 – for whom he enjoys giving complete management and mentoring, rather than just lessons – and having a yard