Interview by Chris Hector and photos by Dirk Caremans and Rebecca Ashton
You really gave the Brazilian crowd something to cheer about, it was almost the coup of the century with your relatively unknown Brazilians…
“They are all good riders and I felt we picked out the best four horse and rider combinations we had available, and I was very proud of the way they rode and the way the horses went. Everybody is a bit unlucky here or there, we lost that horse because of a tiny scratch – which I understand is the rule, that’s a whole different subject but I understand that the rule is the rule. It was the first time I’ve ever seen three teams at the end down to three horses. I’ve never seen that since Rome 1960 where we had three out of three. And Bill Steinkraus got that changed to four in the early sixties.”
Alvaro Doda de Miranda and Cornetto K
“I understand they are putting it back to three riders, and that doesn’t work with horses particularly well.”
Ludger Beerbaum made a very impassioned little speech at the press conference, saying please for the welfare of the horses don’t change it to three…
“Oh absolutely. It really puts countries that have a strong history, that have made a real effort, at a little disadvantage, and it allows for countries that aren’t ready for the Olympics to come to the Olympics. It lowers the standard yet again. All of these things lower the standard yet again.”
And now John Madden (Beezie’s husband) is moving to get rid of open water, is this more pussification of showjumping?
“I love the water as a test for the horse and rider, but there are pros and cons. The pro is that it is a great across the country fence which is what showjumping should be. What I don’t like today – it didn’t happen at this show because there were a variety of fences, wonderful fences – most of the shows especially in Europe, are rails, rails, rails, water, rails, rails rails, water, it’s like a fish out of water.”
“There aren’t the real Liverpools, hedges, walls. I don’t go to many horse shows any more, but I’ve been shocked at the few I’ve been to in Europe, there’s no variety of fence, so the water looks odd because it is so separate from all the other fences, where it used to blend in. Hickstead, London, even Rome, Lucerne, the water was part of a course that featured more natural jumping.”
“Here at Rio, it was excellent because they had planks, they had gates, they walls, they had real Liverpools dug into the ground, so the water was part of the other jumps. I would much prefer rather than getting rid of the water, to make these shows go back to some more variety of fences, like we had in the 80’s and 90’s.”
This track seems to have worked beautifully, we had a couple of rounds that got rid of the ones that weren’t up to it, and yet they were tough enough for the cream to rise to the top…
“These courses have been excellent. Even the warm-up gave some variety of fence for the spookier horse, the greener horse, to get him going. The first competition was a step up, also to encourage horses and riders, to get them going. First round of the nations cup, it was in increments, I thought yesterday was superb. I am a great champion of this builder, and his support team, they have done a fabulous job. A plus.”
Interesting to see the French get their first team medal since Montreal in 1976…
“I remember, I was at Montreal as a spectator, I had my first student, Buddy Brown, there. I saw the French win, it was in the main stadium and compared to the individual in Rome, a very low course, but because of the track and the weather, it was very wet, it was a four foot six course, but because of the footing, it was a six foot course and they had very big scores because of the ground, and no one knew who won until the last horse left, because the scores were so high, and that’s when the French won – and they have not won the team since then, which is quite amazing…”
Montreal in 1976, not great footing
“I always factored in the French. They were talking about the Dutch, the Americans, the Germans, but I always factored in the French this year. Then they had bad luck with Simon Delestre’s horse, and Penelope’s horse, but my intuition when they were on one time fault going into the finals… I don’t know, I just had a feeling they could do it.”
What do we do with Bosty, if he came to one of your clinics you would be yelling at him…
“We’ve always laughed about that. We’ve been great friends for 30 years… Bosty is a great horseman. He loves his horses, and this is a lesson for a lot of people, what you give to the horse, the horse will give back. Horses will always pay you back, they might wait a while but they will always pay you back and get even with you, just joking. That’s Bosty’s great secret, plus he solves the five factors to the jump: pace, line, distance, balance and impulsion. If you do all those things perfectly like he does you can kick your heels up and do all kinds of gyrations. It’s not a good idea in my opinion. You can’t take the average rider from scratch and have them ride like that. For 999,999 people out of a million, it is better to teach them in a classical way, but Bosty is a great horseman.”
“I’m a great believer in the French method and the French history of riding, Kevin and Penelope, and Phillip and Marcel, they are great riders.”
Roger Yves Bost and Sydney Une Prince
Penelope Leprevost and Flora de Mariposa
What are your overall impressions of these Games?
“I was here at Deodoro in 2007 for the Pan Am, and I went back and told everybody, it is a great horse facility. That’s number one. It is not the easiest situation for people to get in and out of, but for the horses it is super – the stabling, all the warm up rings, the footing, the jumps. You have to give the facility an A.”
Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady go into the individual with no penalties, can he hold it together for the individual, or has he used up too much of the mare?
“He’s another one of my heroes. Of course his trainer in Quebec is one of my disciples, so I am very pro his method of riding. He makes it very easy for the horse. He leans forward, he’s very light in the saddle, he gallops, that makes it much easier for a horse to get scope. He is one of the greats of the era, and this is the type of horse that he likes. It suits him. I’m sure it is going to be a very careful course for the individual, bigger but careful and you can’t underestimate him. I don’t think having to ride a jump off in the Nations Cup like he did, is not a bonus for sure. No one can tell how much it takes away from a horse, you certainly wouldn’t look to do it, but it happened, and they had a day to freshen up, and they do it every weekend at home. It probably will make no difference at all.”
“The individual always starts on a clean slate, thirty five qualified then down to the twenty, they are all great. You can never really predict with riders like that.”
Ludger Beerbaum and Casello, last show for Ludger?
Sad Ludger Beerbaum’s decision to retire…
“I heard that, and maybe he’ll stick to his guns and do other things. I hope if he has a great horse, he’ll compete again, but then there is a time, I found that time – I had a couple of falls, and not enough horse, it was the right time for me. But look at Ian Millar, I watched him ride at Spruce Meadows the other week, and he rides as well as ever. He didn’t have the horse for this time, his daughter has the horse, but he could have ridden here as well as ever.”
We saw Ludger in the teams jump off for bronze, and he had no room for maneouvre, he had to go clear, he couldn’t have time, yet he was so cool, what are the qualities of the man?
“The first quality is the mentality, the emotional make up, that intelligence, that experience, it’s a special something bred into those people, and usually anchor riders have that. Ludger, John Whitaker, Beezie I always put in anchor no matter what horse – they have nerve. If you do it for day after day for years, these anchor people, they get colder.”
The Kannan stallion in your team, Quabri de l’Isle, that is a super cute horse…
“That’s a very cute horse. I’ve worked with the horse for the last six, eight months, I’ve known the boy, Pedro Veniss for a long time – but that is a very appealing horse and a very good horse.”
Pedro Veniss and Quabri de l’Isle
So are you going to coach the Japanese team at the next Games?
“No no no no, I love the Japanese but… This whole thing was an afterthought, Doda, and Rodrigo, asked me if I would do it. I’m more of a figurehead, more of a glue. I’m not changing them. A lot of their methods are similar, some very different, it was sort of a fun thing for me, to be with these guys who are friends, my friend lives in Rio. I got to come to the Olympics again, get in, watch the dressage – I watched every ride – it was fun.”