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New racehorse venture under starter's orders Craven Herald Friday 10th Mar 2006. A PROMISING young racehorse trainer is set to put Gisburn firmly on the equestrian map with an 80-horse stable. At the age of just 27, Joss Saville has been awarded his trainer's license from the Jockey Club and will be bringing extra employment and prosperity to the village in the coming months. After taking over Gisburn Park Stables less than a month ago, he is already training racehorses under the guise of Joss Saville Racing and plans to add stabling for another 40 horses on top of the existing facilities, which were once owned by champion trainer Michael Dickinson. A former assistant trainer to Sue and Harvey Smith, of Bingley, Joss has already held a trainer's license at the age of 21 in Ireland - making him the youngest in the country at the time. Now, after his successes at the Smiths' yard, he hopes to start producing winners of his own. Top-class facilities at the stables include half-mile all-weather gallops, indoor and outdoor arenas, a horse walker, schooling fences and a Panama Spa Equine Hydrotherapy Unit - which was invented by Joss' father Nick. The device uses salt water to treat various injuries and ailments and is sold all over the world. It consists of a walk-in spa which bubbles oxygenated saline water around a horse, cleaning wounds, increasing circulation and repairing ligament damage. Joss is already training several racing syndicate-owned horses, such as recent winner Rising Tempest, Panama Three-Knots, Panama-at-Once, Minster Lane, owned by a local farmer, and Farrington Lodge - a recent winner at Newcastle. He will soon be stabling more than 20 racehorses, ranging in price from £2,500 to £30,000, and around 10 thoroughbreds. Joss said getting his trainer's license had been a huge achievement. "It involves a lot. The stables and training facilities are inspected to make sure they are up to standard and meet all the health and safety requirements, you need references from other trainers to prove you know what you're doing and then you've got to do a week-long course and interviews in London." Joss places a lot of emphasis on jumping the horses - often without the prompting of a rider. He said "You've got to get them to learn to do it without the interference of the jockey. " You've got to educate a horse to make it think for itself and avoid accidents. If, for example, it comes over a fence and finds another horse has fallen, it should instinctively avoid crashing into it." He added: "I think it's important to keep them doing different things like riding them on the roads, giving them a gallop on the grass and although they are racehorses, taking them showjumping makes a nice change for them - they really enjoy it."
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