Women Gain the Upper Hand

"MNN yeah mnn mnn yeah yeah mnn" is something I say quite often.

Living with a wife, two daughters, a chestnut mare and Tiggy the Leonburger, then coming to work with six other women and female customers is bound to crunch even the toughest male.

Mnn-ing and yeah-ing is a kind of Teflon - my way of making sure stressful things don't stick and I don't get snagged on all the endless discussion of trivia women seem to relish.

Maybe this is one of the main Mars vs Venus differences between the genders? Women are fluid, flexible that Indian goddess with all the arms - whereas men are more focused and driven. At home I'm policed by my wife Val, a political administrator, and daughters Danielle, 21, and Alanna, 20. Danielle is a politics graduate from Hull University and hopes to become a political researcher or journalist, Alanna works with the managing director of Harvey's store, Halifax.

Considering my line of work, niether of them are particularly girly girls. Both have represented their country in dressage and showjumping championships and they are strong-minded enough - I could say stroppy - not to seek my opinion on very much these days. Danielle deigns to let me cut her hair now and again, but Alanna and Val prefer one of the other Hair and Beauty World stylists. At home we're like My Family meets Survival Special - four people with very different personalities all battling for space to express conflicting needs and interests.

Like most lone men in all-female households, I make sure the Extra Strength Anadin is at hand to run the gauntlet of all those endless hormonal minefields. I'm just praying that Titch - who is in foal will have a colt rather than a filly so I can get some male support around the place.

Having waved goodbye in the mornings to one female tribe, I greet another at work minutes later and they are often equally feisty. Their current nickname for me is Gordon - after chef Gordon Ramsey and his Hell's Kitchen series - because the girls think I'm such a stickler for quality and service.

But the relationship seems to work. I took two of the girls, Leanne and Rachel to Las Vegas last year to one of the leading hair/beauty events in the world. But because women have changed so much in the last couple of decades, how I approach clients has altered dramatically too. I trained with Sassoon and he always told customers what they should have, rather than asking what they would like.

I remember Versace saying "A designer designs and Vidal cuts" meaning he himself conceived a dress for a woman and did not expect her to tell him what to do or how to do it.

Nowadays, though, women expect to say what they want and have it done, whether it suits them or not.

Was it Noel Coward who said: "Some women should be struck regularly, like gongs?" Occasionally, I can't help agreeing with him.