Wye Oak Quarter Horses

Michael grew up in Northumberland where he first experienced Quarter horses and western riding at the age of fourteen. A move to the Isle of Sky in 2001 offered him the opportunity of working and training at Portree Riding Stables where he gained Scottish Vocational Qualifications level two and three. During this time Michael continued his interest in Western riding through the training of his own Quarter Horse mare. In order to further develop his western career, he decided to move to the South of England in 2004 to study and work with Bob.

During his time at Wye Oak he has gained his WES instructors qualification and an impressive reputation for teaching, and training all types of riders and horses, even helping dressage riders with their training.

His speciality is starting the young stock which he does in a quiet and totally understanding way gauging each according to their temperament and personality.

His limited show outings to date have always resulted in top places often with the youngsters on their first outing.

His hobby is presently rebuilding his Audi Quattro.

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		Bob Mayhew Needs no introduction to those au fait with western riding. Bob has been riding western and training for some 30 years and, along with Roger Wells, founded the Western Equestrian Society. Bob was also a founder member of British Reining. He is the author of a best selling book on western riding, and has produced two videos (the last now available on DVD) on training the western horse. Both book and videos have been translated into several languages and have been best sellers in various countries of the world. An animated and enthusiastic instructor, Bob is a level five WES instructor and has taught people and their horses in Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Denmark and Belgium in his ever popular clinics. Bob has been a qualified judge for the National Reining Horse Association of Germany, the National Reining Horse Association (USA), the American Quarter Horse Association, the National Cutting Horse Association, The American Paint Horse Association, and the Western Equestrian Society, and has judged in most of Europe, and in the USA on a multitude of occasions. He recently decided to take things a bit easier on the jet setting, and has retired from all but WES and NRHA Germany judging, although his weekends seem to be constantly filled with teaching and judging appointments and a lot of air travel again! As a competitor, Bob managed to win in all western disciplines, although his first love is reining, where he has NRHA earnings of over $5,000 in UK shows. He has been a member of British Reining Teams on many occasions including the World Equestrian Games in Spain where the team came fifth. He has trained horses for every western discipline and taken many to their AQHA all around titles, and qualified for the world show in trail, pleasure, western riding and reining. He and Chrissie made up the first AQHA champion in UK shows. He decided to retire from competitive riding in 2007, but is never happier than helping his pupils to achieve their dreams. Many of his pupils have gone on to be leading players in the world of western riding – as trainers, competitors, and judges. Bob’s other loves are Golf, and his vegetable garden.
		Chrissie Mayhew Chrissie rides as an amateur in competition and competes in reining, pleasure, trail, western riding and horsemanship. She has earned AQHA amateur all around titles on four different horses, several WES open and all around titles, and has ridden for points on several horses for AQHA open all around titles and the making of the first UK Champion. She has also handled five different horses to AQHA grand championships, and has NRHA earnings of nearly $3,500 limited to UK shows. Her love of freestyle reining (to music) has produced many awards, fun runs, and funky outfits ……see photo page. Chrissie is a qualified veterinary nurse with many years experience in small animal and equine nursing and is in charge of the health of the horses at Wye Oak, and of the office work (the first being far more interesting than the latter). The other half of her life is dedicated to her dogs. Her Arnac kennel of Chesapeake Bay retrievers are dual purpose dogs and she both works and shows them with success. She has bred three UK field trial award winners, numerous best in show and best of breed winners including Crufts and a best of breed winner at Westminster (USA’s equivalent of Crufts) along with numerous champions in different countries ( USA, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Norway) Chrissie judges the breed both here and abroad and has had the honour of judging at Crufts and the Swedish and Danish specialty shows. She is the president of the British Chesapeake Bay Retriever Club. Her main hobby is picking up with her dogs every shooting season……..which fits in well with the summer horse show season!
		Michael Langford Michael grew up in Northumberland where he first experienced Quarter horses and western riding at the age of fourteen. A move to the Isle of Sky in 2001 offered him the opportunity of working and training at Portree Riding Stables where he gained Scottish Vocational Qualifications level two and three. During this time Michael continued his interest in Western riding through the training of his own Quarter Horse mare. In order to further develop his western career, he decided to move to the South of England in 2004 to study and work with Bob. During his time at Wye Oak he has gained his WES instructors qualification and an impressive reputation for teaching, and training all types of riders and horses, even helping dressage riders with their training. His speciality is starting the young stock which he does in a quiet and totally understanding way gauging each according to their temperament and personality. His limited show outings to date have always resulted in top places often with the youngsters on their first outing. His hobby is presently rebuilding his Audi Quattro.