This month’s International Animal Health Rider of the Month is Brett Parbery – winner of the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special at the Sydney CDI. Brett was riding DP Weltmieser, by Weltmeyer out of a Dutch Gold mare and bred by Susie Duddy. ‘Rabbit’ as he is known in the stables is not the most modern looking dressage horse in the world, and our conversation turned to just what is the most successful type for Grand Prix dressage – Brett spent some time looking for the ideal horse in Europe:
“It’s funny I tracked down the guy who bred Valegro, and I said what was the most striking feature of that foal? And he said, that foal had the strongest back of any foal I’ve ever bred. I went on a mission to find the person who bred Totilas, I didn’t find them, but I found Egbert Kraak who found Totilas as a young horse, and I said, what was the most striking feature about Totilas, and he said, ‘that foal could trot and come back and do anything, it never looked like it was off balance. I was trying to work out what made them great…”
But with both horses they were really unfashionable in Dutch terms, they were stocky, short horses, and everyone is breeding for great long elegant horses but hey… they can’t do Grand Prix!
“Exactly. When I went to Edward Gal’s in 2010, everyone was asking me, what is it like, Totilas is amazing but he is so old fashioned. I said ‘what’s old fashioned?’ Short, stocky. No, he’s a good type.”
It’s a cruel sport isn’t it, you cracked the top ten at the WEG in Lexington, come back to Australia, and lose your ride Victory Salute, to a mysterious illness and it is start all over again…
“See that bald patch! See those grey hairs!! It is hard. If you think of climbing Mt Everest from the bottom to the top, there are so many similarities to dressage. You get to these peaks, these rises, you struggle to get up, and you get over that, can’t get the next thing, it’s one long struggle. Some people get helicoptered onto the top of Mt Everest and have a look around, others climb there. I loved it with Victory Salute, I got helicoptered in, then was lucky enough to find the right people, went and had that wonderful time in Kentucky. But it has been good for me to come back and strip it down, and bring some horses through.”
Tell me about Weltmieser? He is perhaps not the scopiest pony in town…
“No, he is not. He is out of Christopher’s mother, a mare that Jennie Loriston Clarke sold the Duddys. Heath Ryan had him as a three and four year old, then he had his five-year-old year off because he had a fungus on his face, then he came to me as a six-year-old. I’ve just brought him up through Medium and all the way through. He has a great canter, the trot has a rhythm – typical Weltmeyer – has a swing, and with that you can do stuff. Weltmeyer’s aren’t known for their piaffe, I think he gets that from his mother, he lifts his hind legs better than some. Mainly it is that swing, the swing in the back, and he has a pretty good brain. I’ve had to make him a little bit hotter – to get his knees up and get him looking really elegant and quick, I’ve had to go to the edge and sometimes that doesn’t work. Even today at the CDI when I came out, I didn’t quite get some of the things I wanted. You get to that edge and sometimes you can go over, I’ve just go to get better at knowing where that edge is.”
But don’t you think it is good that a test that isn’t flashy or spectacular, but that is in a lovely frame with lovely contact and purity of paces, can win? Isn’t that what dressage is supposed to be about??
“It is supposed to be a harmonious sport, it is supposed to look easy. When you train correctly, surely you must get to the top of the pile, going above some of the fancier horses that have cut a few corners. I’m glad that it looked very correct, that’s what I’ve tried to do. He is a correctly made horse, not a big fancy one, but just corners and short sides and harmony, and going and doing the movements, and trying to make it look not out of place, balanced… that’s what I’m trying to do.”
I was saying to young Alexis Hellyer that none of those German princesses would try to do it like the riders here do – taking on a youngster, doing the work themselves with very little training assistance, they are heroes… You must feel it, if you were in Germany or Holland you would be going to someone every couple of days for help?
“I agree. I didn’t see all the tests, but looking at the score sheet here at the CDI, that would be the best Grand Prix class we’ve had here in Australia for depth. It’s a shame Sue Hearn wasn’t in there because she could have pushed it, we’ve got a couple of Kiwi horses, it gives us depth and shows us where we are going. Australian kids like Alexis, they are resourceful, they think about it, they have to work it out themselves. It’s really impressive.”
Where do we get the next generation of information so it flows through to our riders? It’s crazy, we get someone like Princess Nathalie, who has been one of the world’s top ten dressage riders for a decade, yet our top riders are not taking advantage of what she has to offer… We don’t seem to have a structure in place so that on the rare occasions when a top trainer comes to Australia, that our riders get funded to take advantage of the opportunity?
“I’ve been trying to work this out. How do we be smart about it? We’ve put together this thing in the Southern Highlands, because we are lucky there, there is Sue Hearn, Mathew Dowsley and Rodney Martin and myself, so a few of us come together once a month and train together and swap information. We made a few rules from the start. We said okay, we are doing this because we want to get better, two, do we all agree that there is information in this group that we will accept? Everyone said yes. Okay once a month we get together, everyone has to choose a training partner, and that training partner works with the person, and any information you need to help your rider, you have to source it through the group. It removed the rider from people just yelling out things from the sideline. All the instruction comes through this training partner and they form a bond. It has worked really well.”
I’ve often thought that in Europe, at those good stables, no-one is telling anyone what to do, but it is just the pressure of riding in the same hall, of maintaining 100% concentration, suddenly when our riders go there, they sit differently, they concentrate differently…
“Absolutely, and bringing that in and getting it in a working group where everyone is trying to get better, trying to sort out the problems for each horse with encouragement. What I didn’t realize at the time we set up, is that all their clients have bought in, so it is a swelled group, and what happens now is down the stables, everyone is like good luck, and there is a good vibe, and when there is a good vibe in the stables you are comfortable taking a risk, you don’t mind taking a risk because you know people are on your side. Rather than you trying to cover up and not make a mistake, you are actually happy to make a mistake and learn from it. It is the only way we can move forward I think, no-one is bigger than the sport and we are all working to get better.”
Do you think you can realistically look at Rio with Weltmieser?
“I don’t know. I think if I can get him to being solid 70%, and I think I can, I think I could contribute to a team score. Kristy Oatley looks as if she has a good one with this Du Soleil, I’m not sure if Rio is too early for her. But if I can come through with a solid team score of 70 or thereabouts, I think I’m lucky, I’ve still got a bit of good will from Kentucky that carries me a little on the international scene. That’s running out quickly though, I’ve got to get back fast!”
As the IAHP July Rider of the Month, Brett wins a 30g tube of Protexin Paste valued at $21.60.
Protexin is the most advanced multi – strain Probiotic in the world today. Unlike many other Probiotics that consist primarily of a single strain of bacteria, Protexin consists of seven different naturally occuring bacteria. The effectiveness and synergy of these strains has been proven in years of trials and production application. The uniqueness of Protexin is not just confined to its multi-strain formulation. Research and Development has produced a special “protection” to ensure the highest possible numbers of bacteria survive the journey through the hostile conditions of the crop or stomach, into the gut where they rapidly begin to work for the benefit of the animal. Protexin’s introduction to Australia makes it the first and to date, the only nationally registered Probiotic approved for administration to animals and birds.