Full House for the TBA ACCESS Foal Forum

The event, which was free to attend to anyone, welcomed both existing TBA members and a host of new faces providing a great networking opportunity aimed to inform and educate attendees about the intricacies and challenges of breeding and pinhooking foals.   

The forum was led by Vanessa Ryle and featured fascinating insights into the first steps and considerations of breeding a foal, nurturing the growth of a young foal with the expertise of Kate Sigsworth of West Moor Stud, and Ed Harper from Whitsbury Manor Stud. Considerations when buying and re-offering stock at sales were covered by Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh of WH Bloodstock and leading bloodstock agent, Alex Elliott and some of the key mistakes both have made when first starting out. Robert Dallas MRCVS of Rossdales provided excellent insight from a veterinary perspective across all areas.   

Kate Sigsworth, Deputy Chair of the TBA and a panellist commented: “We were absolutely thrilled to see such a great turnout for our inaugural event. It was lovely to see some of our existing membership, but particularly encouraging to see some new, much younger faces in the audience.   

“A huge thank you to Tattersalls as well as to the rest of the panel who gave up their time and shared their expertise with everyone at what is a very busy time for them all.”  

Alex Elliott, who formed part of the panel added: “It was a really positive event to speak at and exactly what the industry should be doing more of to make it as welcoming and accessible as possible. We were all new to this game at some point and the more we can do to get others involved the better.”   

The panel discussion was followed by a Q&A from a packed auditorium with attendees enjoying some mulled wine and mince pies.   

A recording of the TBA ACCESS Foal Forum will be available to view via the TBA’s e-learning platform TB-Ed – www.tb-ed.co.uk in due course.