Words Christopher Hector Photos file, DigiShots, Roslyn Neave
Belgian born, but long term German based dressage trainer Jean Bemelmans, is a master of his craft. He is in huge demand as a one-on-one trainer, a master of the public clinic, and a successful team coach, with both the Spanish, and later with the French team. I caught up with Jean at the World Cup Final, where he flew in to help French squad member, Morgan Barbançon with her stallion, Sir Donnerhall II.
You are a trainer in so many different situations – a day-to-day trainer with your riders, a team coach, and, sometimes, like here in Göteborg you come in at the last minute to help Morgan, when her coach Dorothee Schneider cannot make it…. can we talk about how you have to adjust the coaching in all these different situations, with different personalities and horses…
“This is a super good question because coaching is not only coaching. You can always see what is happening with the eye of a judge, and everybody can see if the nose is up or down, is it enough collected or not collected, but coaching also has to do with who are you coaching at the moment.”
“At home you know the horses, and you know the riders, and the horses all have a special character. The riders also. And you have to adapt the character of the horses and the riders together, and then you have to see a little the past – what was happening yesterday? What is it like today – was it good what we did yesterday? Do we need to do it better today? Should we try something different?”
“You coach differently at the show from at home, at home you can try something a bit new, a bit different, you can go a little bit further, this you can’t do at the show.”
“If you coach a rider daily, then you know the problem a little, you know how to prepare him for a show. And when you go to the show you always take some of the past with you – how was the last show? What happened at the last show? Will it happen again? Can we avoid it or not? This is something you can do with the people you train daily.”
“Sometimes people come to me at the show and say, can you help me? I cannot help them, because you don’t know the horse, instead of being able to look deep into the horse, you can only look as a mirror – oh it looks good, or maybe a little more, or try this, but you have to be very careful because very quickly it’s your fault if it doesn’t work!!!”
“At the end of the day, we have to be very flexible in our job.”
You can be harder on the riders you know, more honest?
“This also depends. Some riders are a little bit shy, and you have to give them confidence. Even if it is not so good, you tell them, oh it looked very nice, you are in a good way. Others are tough, and to these ones you can say, it looked shitty, then you make them a little bit angry and sometimes they ride better. There are no rules for this…”
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Borja and Jean working at home in Krefeld
With someone like Borja who you train at home all the time, when you go to the show, is it different?
“It is different, yes. What we do at home is gymnastic, we don’t prepare every day, top power. Maybe the pirouettes are not good enough, so we make gymnastic work, so that the pirouettes can get better some day. At the show, you do a warming up, you don’t do so much of this gymnastic work because you are focused on presenting, and not killing the horse in the warm up, so he comes dead into the arena. It is very different. You have your line, you see what you want to see and this you can go into more with the riders in daily training. With the others, you are more an advisor, and it is up to them to come to you for advice.”
Morgan and Sir Donnerhall II competing in Doha
Today, you have been called in at the last minute, is it hard to help Morgan, is it difficult to suddenly make that connection with the rider?
“No, no, no, it is not difficult at all. First of all, I know the horse, I know Morgan. Morgan was riding with me with ponies. She lived in my house many years ago, I know the family, I know how she is, but here, I am more a help on the side.”
I was watching her in Doha with this horse, it is a horse that almost has too much of everything, the changes are so big that the horse almost confuses itself, the pirouettes so extravagant that it almost tangles itself, is it difficult with a horse with so much talent, so much scope, to say, come back a little?
“It’s always good when a horse has enough talent, this is something that you get for free. But from the other side, I know that the horse with the big movement, at first you have to cut the movement a little, to make it a bit shorter, then you can go to this big movement again. If you only go to the big movement that is a problem, in the ring you need collection, so in the repetition of the canter stride, you need the short one, the one of the spot, this is very important, he will do that big stride, but the problem is, how do I come out of the corner, am I prepared, and that is something we have to do here. But also I leave it a bit to Morgan, because Morgan has also a lot of experience over the years and she knows her horses better than anyone else, and it is very important that the rider has their own feeling, and that they don’t act like an obedient student – they must be a clever student, an independent student. They must be riding on their own, and you are a mirror, it looks good, this doesn’t look good, maybe this is a little big, I would try a little smaller – but on a long rein.”
What sort of rider is Morgan, is she a rider who likes a lot of theory, or is she a rider who rides more from the heart?
“She has everything. She has a lot of feeling, but she can also react because many times at a show, you see trainers, and the riders have earphones, and the trainers give so much instruction, if I would have a trainer that would give me so much instruction, it would confuse me in my warming up. I just need some points, a little the look, is it good, is it not good, can I do better, can I not do better. Because the moment you go in the ring, these riders that have been coached so deeply, the earphones are away and you are left alone. The riders have to be independent.”
Representing France at the World Cup Final in Gothenburg
Is Morgan a rider that you have to build her confidence before she goes into the ring?
“She is this one one, because I know she will go full speed, so it is good to always say, ‘it’s good, everything is fine’, because if you put on too much pressure, it’s over, it’s too much pressure and that is not good.”
And Borja is a very different rider to work with?
“Borja is a guy who has, for me, incredible feeling. He can manage the worst situation and it still looks good. He is such a talent. He likes to be coached very deeply at home, he loves it. This is why we work very well together, we understand each other very well. But the moment we are at a show, I always step back, because he is the star, it’s not me, it’s him. This is something that riders have to learn, they have to learn that they have the responsibility for what they do. As a trainer you have to leave them a little on their own – at home it is different – but the moment you go to the show, for me, the trainer has to step behind the rider. The rider is the one.”
You haven’t had a chance to work with Morgan because she had already ridden when you arrived today…
“She had already ridden this morning, but I saw her in a lot of shows last year, I know the horse quite well, and I have also an idea of where the weak points and strong points are, and I think I can have a good eye for this. For example we were together at the last show she had a young horse, Bolero, and in the warming up, we worked very well together, she was second in the class with over 70%. So I can help her in the warmup and after we can discuss it. That is the idea – at home, you make yourself ready, and then you go to the show, and that is the second education. The first education is at home, and if you are not ready, don’t go to the show. The second education is in the show and when you get there you have to see how the horse is. Some horses are shy, some horses are a little bit hot, inside, it is a whole process. And also the horses change over the years, the excited one gets more calm, that’s the interesting thing, it’s not like a car. Once you make a car, you can make a similar car again, but with horses, it is not the same.”
Working with Lyndal Oatley at a Conference organised by Marietta Withages in Australia
What language do you and Morgan use, you must have quite a choice…
“We speak in German because Morgan is a multi-talent in languages, she speaks perfect Spanish, French, English and I think she speaks other languages. For me it is more easy to teach in German, I’ve lived fifty years in Germany.”
Ernst Hoyos says German has more words to teach in, in English he said there weren’t enough equestrian terms…
“I like German, but maybe if I was born in England like Carl Hester, he can teach very well in English, but my English is not so good as Carl’s.”
