Before Roz and I went to the Games selection trials in France, we enjoyed being part the Oldenburg tour group. We had interesting lectures, saw a sale preview, plus we saw some real live horses in action, and our first stop was the showjumping yard of Danish star, Sören Pedersen. Sören has been an international showjumping rider for over 20 years, competing at the 1999 European Championships on Carlo Colucci – and more recently, enjoying great success with the Landor S son, Lobster.
Sören has a pretty unique set-up. His 40 horses are all owned by a Norwegian lady, Katrin Lund, whose horses all have the prefix, Tailormade, they are all mares or stallions, and none of them are for sale… and despite the fact that there are stallions by stars like Cassini, Darco and Stakkato, they are not breeding stallions, but Sören says eventually the stud might become a breeding station.
Sören’s yard is one of those understated set-ups that says ‘horsemanship’ not ‘ostentation’, and his riding style is a bit like that. Nothing fancy, just tried and true gymnastics, although Sören himself has a distinctive way of using his back and upper body, and perhaps not unexpectedly, his bereiter, Sashia Astrup-Jensen has a similar style.
The first horse Sören showed us had been purchased from Paul Schockemöhle, the six-year-old mare, La Centa, is by Landcap out of a Centauer Z mare, and in the background – those two stallions that were so influential in Schockemöhle’s breeding program, Continue and Sandro. Indeed Ms Lund has obviously been a good customer at PSI, the next, a bay seven-year-old, was by Chacco Blue out of a Baloubet mare.
La Centa was being prepared for a Bundeschampionate qualifier the next day. Sören likes her, ‘she’s very careful, but too stiff, see what you can see in trot, a little stiff in the body.’ The mare has had a break, been worked out in the fields and no jumping. So Sashia works on softening the mare and asking her to relax, working her around the large jumping arena in changes of tempo and pace.
Surprise, surprise, out come the poles and Sashia is trotting then cantering her over them, first two strides, then one. ‘This is work we can do every day without taking it out of the horses, small play without stressing the bodies of the horses’.
Finally they jump several combinations and a course. Sashia’s (and Sören’s) way of using the upper body over the fence looks so flexible and sympathetic to the horse, really encouraging the horse to bascule.
“I don’t take my young horses to many shows. This nice young Cassini II/Singular Joter is not a dressage horse, but loose in the body and an amazing jump”.
“He will go to one or two more shows this year, and no more. For me he is a special horse, not for sale, so why should we work him so much?”
The first time through the grid, the young stallion jumped so enthusiastically over the small jump that Sören added a rail on the other side, which made it easier for his young rider.
“I’ve put that there to encourage him to land and not jump so big and run off.”
“It is important that he stays sound, just two more shows this year – then out in the fields. The same when he is five years old, when he jumps well and everything is going good, then another break – not just going show, show, show. The same when he is six years old, good breaks, two months, for sure we still ride the horses, small dressage work, out in the field, out in the paddock, on the walker, but they will not see a jump. I do a lot of dressage with my horses, I think it is important.”
Not complete breaks from work, where all the muscling is lost.
Next Sören himself is riding a bay stallion, by Quidam’s Rubin out of a Grannus / Weltmeister mare. Quinnus, a seven-year-old, has had four or five weeks with no competitions.
Sören has planned his campaign for the season:
“He competed on grass at Redefin and was really spooky and had two down, then he competed at Hamburg and had the first fence, he looked at a tent and came in too deep. I have made a plan to take him to lots of different places: a show at Klattes, the Danish Youngster Championships, then Poland and Switzerland, five or six shows, but always with a week’s break in between”.
“Dressage and ‘jumping dressage’ are maybe two different things. To me, what I showed you today with two poles on the ground, that is dressage, it is something we can do every day – we don’t need to jump a horse until it gets lame. Do a lot of dressage work, do a lot of working with poles, little things. One day, just go out in the field, you can always ride half pass in the field, that’s dressage, the horse moves away from your leg, and you can do that in the field. Then you are working with them, the horses are happy, you are playing dressage, when you ride down the road, go a little to the right, a little to the left, small dressage work.”
Who influenced your jumping style – did you grow up jumping in Denmark?
“I lived in Denmark for the first 20 years of my life and I have lived over 20 years here in Germany. My father and mother had a small farm with horses. I started to ride when I was 12 years old, with ponies. I won the Danish Jumping Championship two or three times, and then I thought, something has to happen if I want to go more into the sport. Denmark is not so big… I went and worked for two years in Hugo Simon’s place, after that I was very lucky and got a job with a very good rider, Gerd Wiltfang and I was with him for two years. After that, I started my own place.”
What was Wiltfang’s style?
“He had a lot of feeling for horses, he couldn’t tell you it, but he could feel it, and you could learn by watching.”
You stopped the horse before the yellow jump and said, he has to listen to me…
“He has to stay with me so he doesn’t get the wrong distance. I try to give him a good distance so he can jump – he must listen if I want to go forward or wait. I have walked the distance, he hasn’t. It is my job to bring him in the right distance.”
Your rider, Sashia, is a lovely rider, has she been with you long?
“She has been here two and a half years. She is also from Denmark, and I think she is a very good rider. She has a lot of horses that she has started off in the small classes, and now they are ready to step up.”
Do you have any Grand Prix horses at the moment?
“I have two Grand Prix horses, Tailor Made Esperanto de Revel, and Tailor Made Cavetta – two Grand Prix horses and Sashia has one Grand Prix horse.”
“We take riders for training but they have to come with their horses and stay for a longer time. We have one Danish girl who has been here for a year with two or three horses. Last year we had a girl from Prague with five horses, we had an Indonesian girl with six horses. We train with them and manage the competitions, everything.”
You are very lucky that your horses are not for sale, most jumping riders are always nervous their horse will be sold…
“At the moment I hope my horses stay for a long. We have a very good sponsorship, and it is a very lucky situation that most riders don’t have.”
Just a week or so after we visited, Sören won the Danish Showjumping Championship on Cavetta (Careful / Grannus)…
