Alexis Hellyer and Floreno – Off to the WEG

Twenty-nine-year old Alexis is well and truly the new face on the Australian dressage team, and she does so on the basis of qualifying in Australia, at Australian dressage competitions. Go Alexis!

When did the dressage bug bite you?
“Dressage has always been an interest. I started competing in Western breed shows when I was seven and they always offered dressage and showing, and I enjoyed doing dressage with the Appaloosas and Quarter horses. When I was thirteen I moved more to EA dressage, and took my little Appaloosa out in EA dressage and started him at Medium / Advanced. He’d done Reining, and all those flying changes, so he converted easily across…”

Who gave you your first lessons in dressage?
“I started having lessons with Leesa Robinson and Bee Flynn. Bee Flynn rode Grand Prix on Barrington Ock Tedi, and Leesa Robinson used to ride Medallion. They were both near where I lived.”

Alexis and Waca winning at Young Rider level

You were lucky to meet Silva Stigler, now Martin, at a fairly crucial point? (Silva, a German dressage rider who trained with Rudolf Zeilinger, was based near Alexis – Silva is now based in the USA with her husband, Boyd Martin. If you’d like to see Silva starting Alexis’s first GP horse Waca, click here)
“I really took to Silva, and Silva took to me. At the time I was riding a big imported Swedish mare that was way too big for me. Silva was a huge help – I remember having a lesson one day on the Swedish mare, and Silva was riding Waca. I just fell in love with him and said, can I have a ride? Silva was amazing, starting me out on a ‘proper’ horse, the horse you try and learn everything correctly on. She was a huge influence in my riding career.”

Not many riders start off on a novicey just broken youngster and take it all the way to Grand Prix, like you did with Waca… especially when you were so young yourself.
“I think I was twenty-two when I got Waca to Grand Prix. I did under 25 Grand Prix while I could, which was awesome. Waca has been such a huge part of my riding career, Mister Wack, and I owe so much to that horse.”

And you made him yourself – there are lots of riders who are given super expensive made horses and they don’t go as well as you have…

Working on passage with Spanish trainer, Rafael Soto – you can find the story of the lesson here

“My mother has always helped me, with all my different horses, but I have a bit of a drive that tries to get the best out of everything that I am riding. Certainly with Wac, I’m sure a lot of riders would not have persisted at certain times in his career, but ultimately I had a good bond with him and I really wanted to succeed with him and get to Grand Prix.”

The ‘we’ Alexis is taking about is her partner and fellow rider, Elliott Patterson

It must have been kind of nice when someone said, here’s this imported stallion, would you like to show him for us?
“We’d bought some horses from Bluefields and as time went on the relationship built up, and they said, come down and have a ride on Floreno. I fell in love with the horse from the get-go. He’s a really unique character, he’s not your typical stallion – he’s very shy, he really is a one-on-one sort of horse, but he has a heart of gold and has such drive and is such a trier. I love him. He’s a super animal.”

Floreno and Alexis in the Carl Hester Masterclass at QSEC in July

Was there a point where you said to yourself, hey, you might be able to make an Australian team for Tryon on this stallion?
“From the start, the horse was a Prix St Georges horse and he always did try super hard, and he always gave you the feeling that he would over-try. I really liked his trainability. To be honest, I’ve done under a year at Grand Prix with this horse. We did our first Grand Prix in September last year, and there’s no doubt that all the Grand Prix I did with Wac, definitely helped me with this horse. It is still very surreal to be selected, at my age, and at this stage in my life. It’s great, it’s really cool.”

In Brisbane, in the Masterclass, Carl Hester said to you, whatever you do when you get to the WEG, just enjoy it – are you going to be able to do that, or will you be stressing out…
“I don’t feel the pressure. I’m the youngest team member by a long way, I’m on a super talented horse but he’s also green, I just want to go in there and give it a really good go. Once I get there, I just want to absorb where I am at, it’s only a short time, and I really want to take it all in.”

Have you ever been to a big international show?
“I groomed for Brigitte Wittig at Aachen, that was super cool, but I’ve never been to a WEG or an Olympics. It’s pretty crazy to be competing in a WEG when it’s the first time I’ve ever been to a WEG. Crazy!”