Sam York Oakring Stud and Performance Horses

31/08/2026

What can I say, another podium finish overall champions out of 30 teams from all over the county including Ireland and Scotland. And my boy individual reserve champion in our level 🥇🥈Full post to follow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿👏🍾🎉🥳

26/08/2026

Not long now ….

Feeling inspired by the FEI World Championships? Closer to home, the upcoming Senior and Para Home Nations are nearly here!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Find out who has been selected, times and results in the event preview via the link below! 👇
🔗https://bit.ly/HomeNationsPreview26

25/08/2026

**This is an absolute game changer for coaching! 🤩🐴**

One of the things I constantly encourage my clients to do is **reflect on their training** — summarise the key points from each session, record their homework, identify what went well, what they found challenging and, importantly, how *they* felt the session went.

That reflective process is such an important part of meaningful learning and long-term progression.

So when I discovered **EQ Coach-Copilot by Equestic**, I was genuinely excited. The app can record the lesson and automatically create a structured summary of the key guidance, exercises and priorities, while also allowing riders to record their own reflections and keep a diary of their training.

It essentially helps us capture the learning from the lesson **and carry it forward into the training that happens between lessons** — exactly the area I’m always talking about with my riders.

I’ll be using this much more within my coaching going forward, as I think it has huge potential to support **more intentional training, better reflective practice and ultimately better progress for both horse and rider.**

So, if you’re one of my clients, **download the app and let’s start getting serious about reflective practice!** 💪🏼

I’m really looking forward to seeing how we can use this to make every lesson count — not just for the 45–60 minutes we spend together, but for everything that happens afterwards.

[Find out more about EQ Coach-Copilot / download the app](https://www.equestic.com/coach-copilot/app/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

21/08/2026

What a great camp we have had, with so many amazing moments and great discussion all based around our wonderful horses and their wellbeing when we work together !

But what an incredible artist Sian Lyon JUMAPhotography is to capture the special moments and beautiful photography, its way more then a photo it’s a moment captured in time and an emotion we can look at and remember forever 🩶

20/08/2026

Well we have had a bit of rain …..

Spaces available for this Saturday 22nd August 2026 At Oakring stud NG22

Private sessions or your own groups

Dressage, jumping, arena eventing

August dates available 8am till 7pm

24th
25th
26th
27th

September

3rd
4th
5th
7th
8th
15th
16th
17th
18th
21st
22nd
23rd
24th
25th

October

5th
6th

19/08/2026

One part of my office for the next few days
Lindores Equestrian

Let the training commence 💪

18/08/2026

A very special annual pilgrimage to Somerset ❤️
Our annual pilgrimage to Somerset — and one that means more and more every year.

A trip down memory road to remember Dad and celebrate his involvement with the Mid-Somerset Show, a show that was such a huge part of his life and one that our family has loved for so many years.
It’s always very special to see Dad’s annual trophy being presented to someone who has shown outstanding commitment and dedication to the show. It feels like such a lovely way of keeping his memory and his contribution alive, and I know he would have been immensely proud.

But for us, the Mid-Somerset Show is about so much more than the trophies. It’s the traditions, the people, the atmosphere and all those things that make a proper country show so special — especially the cattle judging 🐄, along with the traditional crafts, produce, livestock, horses and all the wonderful skills and hard work that go into putting on a show like this.

And, of course, it’s the people. Every year we get to catch up with friends and family from all over, many of whom we have known for years.

There’s something incredibly comforting about returning to the same show, seeing the same faces and feeling that connection to generations of memories. ❤️

And no annual Somerset pilgrimage would be complete without our essential visit to Heck’s Cider 🍎🍏 for the annual “trying of the ciders” — accompanied, of course, by plenty of nibbles! 😂 It’s become another little tradition that we absolutely have to squeeze in every year. Because obviously you can’t come all this way and not go to one of dad’s special places do some very important cider research! 🍎🥂😂

This year, however, Mum decided to add her own rather unexpected contribution to the Highland cattle section… 😂

A rogue mobility scooter somehow managed to take her straight through the fence and into the Highland cow show ring! 😳🐂
It was actually very scary at the time and tipped mum over backwards, and Mum has been left extremely bruised, but thankfully she was okay. Once the initial panic had subsided, and the fencing repaired, we did eventually manage to see the funny side — because honestly, you literally couldn’t write it! 😂 it was like a comedy sketch, you would have to of seen it to actually believe it !

And we all know exactly what Dad would have thought…
He would have been absolutely laughing his pants off. 😂❤️
(The photos have been created with AI, but the incident itself was VERY real!)

And just to add to the madness, we had only arrived home from nearly a month in Australia on Wednesday night. I rode my lovely horse that has been selected for the home nations (he has been ridden while I’ve been away by the amazing Libby Dawson and looked after by the equally amazing Emma Leeding, rode again first thing Thursday morning, then headed straight off to Somerset for the show, came back yesterday and rode again… and this morning before I speeded off to catch train to Scotland for a coaching camp at Lindores Equestrian.
I’ve genuinely got no idea what my house actually looks like anymore 😂

14/08/2026

What else do you do when your back on home turf here’s to dad who worked for showerings for a very long time which is home of the famous babycham
Babycham

Sure it’s 5 o clock somewhere !

13/08/2026

Whoop whoop Oakring Santino you are such a good boy, representing the home nationals team again x 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 very delighted to be picked again, especially as it’s been a crazy year of being away and we have hardly done any competing this year and loads of big work events camps and coaching commitments really clashed with the main goals we had for this year, next year he needs to be much more priority 2027 goal and date setting must be priority!

11/08/2026

🇦🇺 THE FINAL LEG OF OUR AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE – KINGS CANYON & ULURU ❤️

And what a way to finish our incredible Australian adventure!

Our final chapter took us deep into the heart of the Red Centre, with Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjuta — and honestly, it’s difficult to put into words just how spectacular this part of Australia is. ❤️

As soon as we arrived we started with a sunset tour of Uluru followed by a 4am start the next morning to go to Kings Canyon, where we walked for miles taking in the incredible scenery, towering red cliffs, ancient rock formations and breathtaking views across the outback.

There were the over 500 stone steps to start with! 😳🥾 Let’s just say they nearly killed Pete off before we’d even properly got going! 😂❤️ But somehow we made it, and it was absolutely worth every step. The views as we hiked around the canyon were simply spectacular. No camera can capture the views and the depth of it all let alone what it felt like to stand very close to the edge !
This tour also did the authentic stops at Kings Canyon Station and Curtin Springs cattle station and the other local outback stations along the way. ❤️

These gave us a real feel for life in this incredibly remote part of Australia — rugged, isolated and wonderfully authentic.
But one of the things that really struck us throughout this part of Australia was learning more about the Aboriginal people and their deep connection to this land. ❤️

Uluru and Kata Tjuta aren't simply amazing rock formations or tourist attractions — they are sacred places, with enormous spiritual and cultural significance to the Anangu Traditional Owners, who have cared for this country for thousands of years.
We became very aware that there are places, stories and cultural aspects that are not for us to photograph or film. In fact, even during our helicopter flight, we were told that certain areas and aspects of the landscape were not permitted to be photographed or videoed. 🚁
That made the experience even more meaningful. Looking down from the helicopter and seeing this vast, ancient landscape, while knowing that some of it is deeply sacred and remains private, was a powerful reminder that we were visitors in a place with a history and culture far older than anything we could fully comprehend.
Then came Uluru. ❤️

We stayed at the beautiful Sails in the Desert, which was the perfect base for exploring this extraordinary part of Australia.
We walked around much of Uluru, seeing this incredible natural wonder from so many different angles. Every turn seemed to reveal another breathtaking view, and the changing colours of the rock were simply amazing.

The endless sunrise and sunsets watching Uluru glow and change colour as the sun moved across the sky was something we’ll never forget. The silence, the landscape and those enormous skies the stars ✨ made these moments feel truly magical.

Then there is also Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and the incredible surrounding outback landscapes, with their huge rock formations rising dramatically from the desert. Completely different again.

As for the helicopter ride! 🚁 that was a real treat especially with a free upgrade as well 😉
Seeing Uluru, Kata Tjuta, the vast red desert and even the salt lake from above was absolutely incredible. The scale of this landscape is something you simply can’t appreciate until you see it from the air. Some of the views were just jaw-dropping!

We had a fantastic evenings at the Outback BBQ, where we got to choose your own food steak, sausages, (camel, emu, crocodile, kangaroo) with endless salad and then you cook it yourself on the communal barbecues — such a laugh and definitely a great relaxed Aussie experience. 🔥🥩become the favourite eating place during this stay.

From walking for miles around Kings Canyon and surviving those 500 stone steps 😂, to the authentic outback stations, learning about the ancient Aboriginal culture and the sacred significance of the land, unforgettable sunrises and sunsets at Uluru, the walks, the helicopter flight, amazing food and a beautiful place to stay — this really was the perfect finale to our Australian adventure.

Looking back over everything we’ve seen and experienced on this trip, we feel incredibly lucky and very humbled, people ask why we both still work so hard, well it’s trips like this that make all the long hours worth it all . ❤️

There was so much more to this final part of our journey than simply seeing beautiful places. It was about experiencing a landscape, a culture and a history that deserve enormous respect. ❤️

Australia, you have been absolutely amazing! 🇦🇺
So many memories, so many new friends, endless photographs and videos, and far too many incredible moments to fit into one post… but here are just a few photos from the final chapter. 📸❤️
Until next time, Australia… 🇦🇺✈️❤️