Interview by Christopher Hector & Photos by Sibil Slejko, Roz Neave, and JUMPETCLIC
Ben Blay got lucky when he went to work for Vicki Roycroft. Not only did he receive a thorough grounding from a rider, trainer, and one of those rarities in today’s world, a horsewoman, but he was also progressively exposed to first the teaching of George Morris – both indirectly through Vicki, and directly, in clinics with the great man – and then, when it was deemed he was ready, sent off to France to see showjumping at the other side of the world.
But Ben seems to have taken it in his stride…
“It’s a whole different culture, the food is different, the weather is different… it’s a bit more cultured, there was a serious injection of culture straight away. Culture shock, I suppose…”
Do you speak any French?
“I did a bit of French at school, but nothing can prepare you for what it’s like – they talk too fast plus all the different lingos, you can get to listening to the grooms and your boss, then you go down the road to the bakery, and it’s sorry what did you say? I was very lucky that Vicki has bought a few horses through Les Ecuries du Grand Veneur in Barbizon, so she set the gig up for me there.”
“It’s near Fontainbleau, about 45 minutes by train from Paris. Just beautiful surroundings, Barbizon is a little touristy village, mega-bucks, on the other side of the village is Roger Yves-Bost. On our side we had the Grand Veneur, with Eric Couperie and Eric Negre, and Adeline Wirth Negre. Small operation but beautiful big sand arena, pine trees on the side, on the other side of the trees, a massive grass arena with three different sorts of water jumps. A big indoor arena… I think they have room for about 25 horses, so a small family operation but they are selling to America, they are selling to some of the bigger dealers in Europe. If someone wants to buy a horse they come to the Grand Veneur…”
“I think they like to keep Vicki happy, so I got some nice jobs. I think it was an advantage for them to have me, because whenever they had guys come and try the horses, I’d be riding the ones for sale – oh, we just put the Australian on this one… like anyone can ride it.”
Were the horses different, were the buttons different?
“Yeah, I suppose… The majority are Warmbloods, and when I first went there for three months, they were heavier Warmbloods – whatever the amateur market is following, that’s what they follow because that is where the money is, so there were a lot of heavier French style Warmbloods, the next time I went there, there was a lot more blood, and I said, you’ve got a lot more Thoroughbred type horses – oh, that’s where the sport horse is, they want more blood now, so we have more blood. It just follows
the market.”
The training methods, were they very different?
“Completely different. At Couperies, we were a little branch off the French style again, because Baptiste, Edward’s son, had been with Ludger Beerbaum for two years, Edward trained with Alwin Schockemöhle, so they are really German / French, still sympathetique, the French like to be, oh so don’t hurt the horses, keep the horse happy… but they still like wait, wait, wait, one more stride.”
Did you learn anything there?
“Oh yeah, the first thing that comes to mind is, work is just what you do, every day you do the boxes, you ride every horse, you work until you finish… in Australia it is a bit more like, oh not enough time today, don’t worry about it, there it is like, we have to work, no question.”
We think we are professional in Australia but it’s not true a lot of the time…
“That’s probably a kick in the teeth for some of the guys here who put in a few yards, but in France it is another step again…”
Ben and the horse he brought home, Tetiorah des Plaines
Riding technique, did you learn much?
“Vicki has given me that free-up-momentum-jumping, but these guys are on the other end of the spectrum. As Wayne Roycroft said, there’s collection jumping and momentum jumping, some people have one or the other, but the good riders have both. I’ve never been one to take an extra stride so it was a good learning curve, it was beneficial – and especially have all these GREAT horses, you can concentrate on yourself. They are concentrating on their horses, but it is a lot simpler than our Thoroughbreds.”
I know I was a bit shocked when I went to a few French jumping shows, and while it was great at the top, there was so much terrible riding to be seen…
“They talk about what we’ve got to aim for – that’s the good riders – they’ve still got 90% not so nice to look at. At the small shows, you’ve got your one or two nice riders from the area but there are a lot of wild wannabes.”
Australia has neglected France as a source of horses which is weird because there are so many nice horses there…
“I think so, I think the French like to keep to the French… People say, Germany, that’s the place to go, it’s a whole human nature thing – the French can come across as quite arrogant, if you don’t try and be a part of their culture, then, oh we don’t want to know about you either…. If you have a go, then they are the nicest people in the world. And there are a lot of nice horses, especially at the French breeding championships, which is such a big deal with them. Like it is the biggest show in France and it is for four, five, six year old horses – the national championships for the open horses, is nothing. The breeding championships, that’s their big deal. Where they have them at Fontainbleau, that’s like the most beautiful park in the world – the big Derby arena, then the petit parquet, which is like our big arenas here – that’s their small one. Then there are all these sand arenas, and the sand surfaces in France are unbelievable, you can put as much water as you like on them and they will still be perfect.”
Tell me a little about Tetiorah des Plaines, the horse you bought over there…
“She is seven European, eight Australian, Selle Français, she is by Dollar de la Pierre out of a Calypso d’Herbiers mare, her grand-dam, is the dam of Jalisco B. The story was that they felt they couldn’t sell her to an amateur because she was a bit too difficult, we’ll send her back, but Eric said, we know Ben is coming over and he can kick them along and Eric loves the breeding – old French breeding. Okay Ben can have a go, they didn’t tell me the history. I just kicked it in, and the first oxer we went over it just landed on the back rail and I thought I was about to fall over, but we just kept on kicking it in, and they kept showing it to people – look at what this horse can do! Because it has got the most extraordinary back end. A bit, fierce, a bit mare-y, it is a chestnut mare, the least favorite on the buyer’s market, but I just fell in love with her. The first time I left, I cried because I thought I’d never see her again, but lo and behold, I came back, and she was still there. I think Edward had been riding her because no one else wanted to. I said, can I buy this horse? We do a deal for you… We worked it all out…”
Now you are back in Australia…
“I came straight back to Vicki’s, it’s like I never left, but now I’ve moved in with my girlfriend, Kate Roots in Singleton, to have a go on our own. I’ve got a few horses coming. It’s a bit far out of the way, but it’s a chance to do our own thing – risky because you go on your own and you’ve got all these financial issues. At Vicki’s she looks after me, like she always has… but now we’ve bought half a truck, and it’s been a bit stressful trying to work out where the money is going to come from.”
“I’ve just got a new sponsor, Karl Steininger at Over the Top jumping equipment and OTT NextGen who has been absolutely fantastic, and I’ve already got a really good sponsor in Mitch Carraro and the Carraro family at Storm Park Produce, they’ve helped me out right through Pony Club. They lent me a horse when I needed a horse and every Monday we go there for dinner, it keeps a balance, because you can get a bit obsessed with working when you are with Vicki and in that professional environment all the time. And not to forget Kaden Weaver at CWD Australia who is looking after us gear wise. It’s all looking up!”
“Mum and dad have been so supportive with any way they can help. I wouldn’t have been able to do all this without their help. I can’t thank Penny Hoy and the Hoy family at Nyngan enough. They have been more than generous. They have set us up with the truck and a few horses to get the business going. They’ve lent Kate a nice eventer to go up the grades. And that’s where it gets interesting. Kate was going eventing so I thought I’d tag along too. Now I think we have more eventers than show jumpers! People keep sending us promising eventers, we’ve just had Greg Dean’s imported black stallion Desert Storm arrive and we are looking forward to taking him eventing and jumping as well. It’s already been quite a big year already but looking ahead the calendar is booked up until November with a mix of Showjumping and eventing. Quite a change since being with Vicki since 2010 but it’s been an enjoyable one. Kate and I are looking forward to the rest of the year with excitement!”
This article originally appeared in the THM July 2015 issue.
