Words and photos by Roz Neave
Watching the best rider and the best trainer in the world, working with their team, every day for ten days for three or so hours, is inspiring. Carl Hester’s views on self-carriage and how important it is to develop, and Carl and Charlotte demonstrating all the qualities of the dressage scale, are a joy to listen to and watch. When I stepped into the indoor at Werribee, I thought, I must use this privilege I have had.
The first class I watched was the final round of the Four-Year-Olds, and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed with the judges – I can hear you all screaming WHAT?? Well I wasn’t. Ricky MacMillan started off as speaker for the group of Francis Verbeek, who was also part of the great show at Jerez, and Joanne Fowler. ‘More self-carriage and the horses reaching more to the contact’, were common comments from the judges. ‘More swing, more uphill tendency, more reaching, showing tension not expression, riders holding the horse too much’, all accurate assessments of what these combinations need to work on. There were lots of charming combinations, but there was more scuttling around the arena missing the corners and with few clear transitions, than young horses moving towards balance, a strong topline, and self carriage.
Winner of the class was Freestyle MS, by the Bloomfield Farm stallion, Fürst Love (Fürst Heinrich) out of a mare by Welts Emperor (Weltmeyer), and ridden by Dave McKinnon for Wendy Satara. He’s a big loose horse, with lots of forward and judges commented on his expression and obedience.
Freestyle’s owner was thrilled with his win!
Hi Chris, after buying every single issue for at least last 20 years I feel like I should have said hi at some time! I’ve ridden since I was 8, competed for years, never set the world on fire in the competition arena but the most amazing weekend has transpired after my young horse won the four year old championship! I am a podiatrist, have four grown up kids, I am THE amateur dressage rider, my friends – FB and real – have supported me all the way with my young one’s progress. I ride him around our farm, take him to group lessons, and compete him locally but knew I needed Dave McKinnon and Robbie Soster’s expertise to compete at this level. I paid $9000 as a yearling and just waited as I knew he was something a bit special… It’s probably a story of no interest to professional riders, but to beat Frozen Chili, the unbeatable horse, was just a dream! Anyway, perhaps you might think it’s interesting, I go without, to get my training fees paid each week, certainly not able to put my hand up at the PSI auction! I don’t have any more at home in the paddock, Freestyle MS is my one shot, and what a shot! He is a pet and great fun for his ammy owner to take out as well! – Wendy Satara
Next morning we started with the finals of the Five-Year-Olds and judges were Maria Schwenessen, Francis Verbeek and Mary Seefried. A few more tense ones in this group, and comments included: ‘needs more power from behind, horse dropped down onto shoulders, rolling over and dropping in frame, horse needs a steady connection to find its frame, more swing over the topline, not just lots of activity’. There was a time, when after our travels to Europe, we would come back and the horses would look as though they were going in slow motion. Seems we have turned around and now movement looks tight and sped up.
Rodney Martin riding Andrea Beatty’s Royal Hit daughter, SPH Renaissance (out of a mare by Clintino) must have been a hot favourite going into the class. But it wasn’t to be, the judges commented, ‘when the relaxation was there, she had more expressive paces, but at times she was too short in the neck.’
So Rodney was beaten by his partner, Matthew Dowsley, riding Santiago, an elegant Sandro Hit / Florestan gelding of his own. I found the combination relaxing to watch after so many high speed pounding performances. Judges comments: ‘Elastic supple trot with good energy, canter could be more uphill with more jump.’
On to the Six-Year-Olds and great to see Charlotte Pedersen with the stallion, Baunehojens Diamond Dancer (Don Diamond / Florencio), you don’t need to be told it’s imported from Charlotte’s homeland, Denmark. Lovely smooth balanced test with a couple of green mistakes.
Brett Parbery showed MI Sirtainly Sir well. He’s by Sir Donnerhall out of the Florestan mare, Fashionista, and a half brother to Santiago, both bred by Sally Kean. The judges commented how well Brett handled the horse’s tension from the atmosphere, and managed to show good lengthening.
Maree Tomkinson and Donna Elena – What an eye Maree has for a horse, all those years looking for showring stars paid off!! The judges loved Donna, ‘relaxed overtrack in walk, lovely trot – 9, canter could be more uphill, croup high, 9 for submission.’ Maree takes home another ribbon for the owners.
So you won?
“Yep.”
That’s an interesting interview – yep…
“She’s an amazing horse. We bought her as a four year old when we were over there at the WEG. I had a couple of people ask me to look for horses over there, and I went to visit Johannes Westendarp to say hello. We bought Diamantina from them and we have a really good relationship with them. We went over there for lunch, and he showed me a few horses – as they do – we looked at a couple of other horses, Lyn Sultana was with me, and then they showed us Donna. She was four years old and her croup was about a foot higher than her wither, and she couldn’t maintain the canter on the left lead, but she had this amazing feeling through the back, and that feeling of really positive energy. Real willingness to go and incredible balance for such a young horse.”
“Last year we brought her here, and she was good, and she won the five year old, but she only won with 7.4 or something like that. It was okay, it wasn’t great but in the last 12 months, she has matured incredibly. The rideability is phenomenal, you just think it and she does it. I spend most of my time saying – whoa, just wait, you are not a Grand Prix horse yet, you are not even six yet, just keep all your legs on the ground and wait.”
Talking of legs, you decided not to start Diamantina in that terrible going for the Grand Prix?
“Yes. I rode her outside the day before and she was pretty good but we decided we need to take care of her before putting her on the plane in four weeks, it probably the best thing for her, given the circumstances, we decided she wasn’t quite right. The conditions were not ideal, we had a lot of rain, it was very windy. I know the scores at the selection events are the only ones that count but you don’t want to risk going out there and having a bad ride. We have our qualifying scores, there was nothing to gain and everything to lose.”
“We are taking the two of them – Diamantina, and Donna Elena for the World Young Horse Championship.”
Bloomers Simply the Best (Sunny Boy / Frazer) is an elegant Thoroughbredy stallion, also shown well, this time by Gordon Pratt. Judges liked, ‘his happy to work light footed and elastic way of going.’
The Champion of Champions goes to Matthew’s Santiago, the horse gave the guest rider, Matthias Rath the best feel. I thought it was good judging, and as our German friends say, ‘the winners are heading in the right way.’
One interested observer at the show was German dressage rider, Anna-Sophie Fiebelkorn, who was on hand to work in some of her Australian students, and to promote the Prestige range of saddles.
Is there any secret to training horses for Young Horse classes?
“I think it is just the basic for every class. There were a few well trained horses that I saw, I think David McKinnon won the four-year-old class this morning, he did a great test. He let the horse shine because the horse is trained in the right way, he is on the aids, loose and through, and that’s the most important thing – that’s what we all work on.”
Riders who can sit in the middle of the horse’s centre of balance are not that many, but those riders who can do that, their horses can move…
“Exactly, David has a perfect seat, he has the core strength that you need, but at the same time he is really loose and supple, and he is really able to feel every single moment, every second, what the horse is doing, and reacting quite quickly – instead of too late and then everything is gone.”
“That’s what always happens when I come here – first you have to fix the rider, and then the horse. There are lots of riders, especially young riders who have been taught quickly to press the right buttons instead of what we did twenty years ago, Pony Club, and just learn the basics, and then learn how to push the buttons.”
A lot of the young riders, especially here in Victoria, they are sitting behind the centre of the horse, leaning back and driving the horse in front of them, and they will never achieve balance like this…
“Often that’s not their fault, it is a big fault from the trainers here. Instead of just take the reins and hold the reins, how should I do that? Why do I need my outside rein? Why I need my inside leg? These are the diagonal aids, and our classical training scale for dressage, but they are neglecting this. If I think about our warmup, it is all about rhythm, suppleness, and then the contact. They hop on, and they all take the contact, and then they hope to get the horse as fast as possible straight. They have never been taught the system, and that’s what needs to be worked on here. Read a few books, and the trainers instead of saying, now half pass, now shoulder in, they should try and explain why the riders need to sit in a really balanced position, and how to use their aids.”
Do Germans have an advantage because your young riders tend to learn to ride on educated horses, where if you do the right thing, you get the right reaction?
“There are lots of good riders in Germany who did not have a very good horse when they were young. They start in Pony Club and just have a good trainer who told them why they do some things. We rode lots without saddles, without stirrups.”
“I think in Germany when we are riding on a higher level, we are quicker to do two steps backward, and then another one forward, instead of always climbing, climbing, climbing, and then it gets worse and worse and worse. Better to say, one step backwards, fix the basics, and then again, back to the higher level. We are really more strict about getting everything perfect before we climb – why should I ride a half pass if my horse is not really on the diagonal aids? How can that work?”
“Okay we have some riders who do not sit in perfect position but they are very experienced and they do not unbalance the horse, even if they are not sitting perfectly – but this is only possible for really experienced riders.”
And this is a bad model, people see photos of riders winning and leaning back – oh that’s okay to ride like that…
“Exactly. But that can happen to anyone, you can always find a bad picture…”
Anna-Sophie – producer of Young Horse Stars
I’ve never seen you leaning back on a horse…
“Never? Really! I give my best, I try to sit straight, but I think I have a very good trainer. I don’t need my trainer every day, just every couple of weeks as a little reminder, and when I ride there is always a little man in my ear telling me what to do.”
A rather special little man…
“Yes, a very special man, Hans Heinrich Meyer zu Strohen, that helps.”
Have you got any nice horses at the moment?
“At the moment I am in a really lucky situation from a three-year-old to a nine-year-old, so that’s lots of fun at every level. I have a girl riding for me, she’s from Queensland – Victoria Jane Harding – because I have lots of good young stallions, and I can’t ride them all on my own. I have a three-year-old
who was the champion of the Oldenburg licensing – Bonds HC, he is a Benicio son, he’s gorgeous. It’s a secret but I think he is better than his father. He has great rideability, with three natural paces. Then I have Fürst William, Champion from last year at the Bundeschampionate. He is having a little break now after the breeding season, then hopefully we can do the same again at this year’s Bundeschampionate. Then I have Venenio, the Vitalis son. He was a bit unlucky last year, he had a big accident with another horse and that’s why he was a bit shy, and I got the tension at the Bundeschampionate, and then there were all the umbrellas, so he was oh my god! But he’s gorgeous, he’s winning his first classes now, and hopefully he can go to the Worlds this year.”
Is it very hard when they have to go to the stallion shows, and they are charging around and the crowd going crazy. How does anyone ride them after the stallion shows?
“That’s why I did just two stallion shows. I prefer to do a good video at home, or mix competition videos. But taking them every weekend to a stallion show, that’s very difficult. I think if you are a good friend to your stallion, they understand what you are doing. I think it is important for the stallions to have an experienced rider and try to ride them perfectly.”
Do you have any advice for our Australian riders?
“We had a big discussion last night, I saw the tests yesterday and the judging, and they have all ridden nice tests, but when we ride our tests, we ride a little bit more. When you see them here in the warmup, they are really riding their horses, and when they come they come into the test, they just sit. Okay – I have to look pretty and I do nothing, and then they trot one whole mark less, compared to the warmup, because they are scared to really show the horse. One of my riders yesterday was beautiful in the warmup, and I said change nothing, just smile and keep this rhythm, it’s great. And she rode in and hah – stopped riding completely. I was very angry. We Germans we fight for something not oh the judge is there, just look pretty. We did it again today and it was much much better, at least she rode the test. The riders here are a little bit scared of the judges because they talk the whole time about looseness, looseness, looseness, which is totally right, but to make the horse, we must produce the trot a little bit. You see the three and four year olds in Germany at the Championships, and they are already able to carry themselves a little bit, they are not ridden like Pony club. The riders here need to be braver.”
And some positive tension?
“Exactly, they all have it in the warmup but as soon as they enter the test, they lose it. I just said to my rider do me a favor, ride me a German test now instead of an Australian test. They are all so scared of the judges telling them too much tension that they totally stop riding.”
FOOTNOTE: Sadly Anna-Sophie’s young stallions have been sent to Andreas Helgstrand to be trained. Poor things…