Horse magazine march 2014

MARCH 2014 $7.50

A THRILLER AT BONEO GEORGE MORRIS - THE MASTER IS BACK CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN- A VERY SPECIAL LESSON ON YOUR HORSE FEATURE

4 - The Horse Magazine

MARCH 2014

Adelinde Cornelissen talks about rider fitness and balance

Horsetalk - Discussion on calmers for horses

Transitions

A Photographers View of Dressage

2014 On Your Horse Feature

Young Guns in Jindabyne

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WeatherBeeta Freestyle Detach-A-Neck

French breeding update with Bernard le Courtois

Rider of the Month - Rozzie Ryan

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FREE REIN - ILSE SCHWARZ94

LAST WEG QUALIFIER AT BONEO PARK

BURTO ASKS FOR 10,000 HOURS OF PRACTICE

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GOLDEN GIRL - CHARLOTTE IN NZ19GARY LUNG: DRESSAGE

MADE SIMPLE

On the Cover: Mary Hanna and Sancette Photo: Roz Neave

www.horsemagazine.com

Page 28Perfecting

Practice with George Morris

Editor: Chris Hector CEO: Roz NeaveAssistant Editor: Ute RaabeDesign: Alexandra MeyerPhone: (+61) 3 9421 3320 Fax: (+61) 3 9421 3375E-mail: [email protected] Address: PO Box 2316 Richmond South 3121

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“I wouldn’t ride my horses in anything else. Equipe are the essential performance enhancer!”Charlotte DujardinDual Olympic Gold Medalist - London 2012

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The Horse Magazine - 19

It’s hard not to be a little star-struck when you meet somebody as famous as Charlotte, the face and swingy blonde pony tail instantly recognizable from television and a hundred magazine articles. And I’m clearly not the only one: one rider was literally shaking before her lesson, although any nerves must have quickly dissipated as Charlotte got down to the very serious business of teaching. The intensity of her training wasn’t surprising; obviously you don’t get to win gold medals without breaking a sweat, even if perspiration looks a long way from the Charlotte ‘look’: the designer sunglasses and impractically long fingernails that don’t look like they’ve ever been anywhere near a horse – Charlotte is the Queen of Bling and a self-proclaimed shopaholic.

Although Charlotte shies away from media attention, and is much more in her element teaching and riding than conducting interviews, she is nevertheless friendly and funny once you pin her down to chat. However, it did take Charlotte a little while to adjust to dressage, Kiwi-style. She’d been warned by Greg Smith, a close friend and Kumeu-based event/dressage rider who orchestrated Charlotte’s visit, that the standard might not be quite what she is used to at home.

“But actually, the horses have been pretty good and the riders are good. It’s just that everybody is a lot more chilled

out and laid back here,” she reflected. “You say kick and nobody kicks! You say go and their go is my working canter. Everything has got to be sharper. I think people here are happy for a six or a seven, whereas we’re always trying to go for those nines and tens. It’s incredible how you can change a picture just by putting a bit more motivation and lift into it. It’s been great to see the difference.”

“Talking to the riders it seems like everybody leaves their horses out in the field overnight, which we just wouldn’t do. That’s great if you’ve got a really sharp horse, or a young horse - we leave our young horses out overnight - but with your top competition horses, there’s no way you can do it from the grass. They’re out all day, they eat all night and then they come in and work...that’s like you eating a full meal and then going to the gym!”

Because Charlotte teaches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, her horses only school four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On the other days, they hack and/or go on the water treadmill, and Sunday is a day off. “If you ask most people, they train five or six days a week. For us, it’s not about how much you school them. Our horses are always fresh to come into the school. I think it’s great to break it up and let them do something different. In the summer they go cantering around the fields, they hack, they do all sorts.”

GOLDEN GIRL: HELEN FIRTH INTERVIEWS THE SUPERSTAR OF THE DRESSAGE WORLD…

CHARLOTTE’S TOP TIP: When I want to have my horse ‘up’, I have short reins, hands together and carry my hand. When I want to stretch my horse, my hand is wider and down by the withers.

We got up close and personal with British dressage superstar Charlotte Dujardin during her two-week trip to New Zealand in January. She spoke about Valegro being taken off the market,

her own training philosophies and why New Zealand dressage riders need to sharpen up.


What George Morris does – time after time, hour after hour after hour – is explain, and demonstrate, a simple, logical way of training a horse. A method that is designed to get the rider out of the horse’s way, and let its natural jumping talent flower. Along the way, the rider must help the horse balance himself to carry the rider. It is the great legacy of Frederico Caprilli, one of George’s heroes, for it was Caprilli who first showed the rider how to get off the horse’s back and allow the horse to use his body comfortably and effectively.

As I settle under a shady tree for the first session of the morning, the first thing that strikes me is the quality of the horses. There’s Brooke Campbell riding the World Cup jumping stallion, Copabella Visage, Chris Chugg is riding Black Currency a five-year-old import by Balou de Rouet. There’s Jess Stalling and Rhys Stones riding their two Diamond B horses – Diamond B Vermont (Vivant/Starlight/SkyHigh) & BS On Air (Con Air/Caretino). Jono Berry is riding Balou de Roman, another Balou out of a mare imported by the Hartog family, and host, chief mover and shaker of the GM clinics, Vicki Roycroft on an imported Cassini ll mare, NP Cassinata.

Truly in terms of horse flesh, Australia is now at the cutting edge.

If you listen hard, there are always little nuggets of gold at these sessions. George is barking to one of the participants, ‘don’t let your horse sniff the fence, all you are doing is teaching

the horse to look at the fence, we want to teach it to jump the fence’, and later in the session, George shows his riders how to show the horse the fences while in motion, during the warm up.

The length of the stirrup is crucial in this warm up period:

“Don’t fall into the European trap of very short stirrups. That pushes you back into the horse’s back and it goes hollow, then you raise your heels and lower your hands into the chair seat. For this work your stirrups should be two or three holes longer than jumping stirrups.”

It may look like Vicki Roycroft’s jumping paddock, but in George’s eyes, there is a dressage arena with a track, short sides and diagonals, and woe betide the rider who doesn’t ride that track.

“Is the horse going straight on the track? Most of them fall in. Check – keep them on the track with your inside leg to the outside rein, and make sure

you have definite contact, not a loosey goosey rein. I hate this habit of low set and sawing hands, low hands on the bars of the horse’s mouth don’t raise the shoulder, it pulls the horse down. Carry your hands above the wither.”

“Now ride across the diagonal to the left of the triple of fences, this is how to introduce the fences, in motion, not sniffing the jump. Do the pattern in trot that the horse will do jumping the course.”

“When a horse raises his head, raise your hands. This is the simplest way to get the horse to accept the bit, when he realizes that he can’t get higher than the rider’s hands. When the horse takes the bit, lower your hand.”

While George is enormously fond of quoting the old masters of Equitation, he is always on the look out for new material to absorb and utilize. This trip, he is enthused about Malcolm Gladwell and his notion of dedicated practice. In his book Outiers, Gladwell talks about the ’10,000 hour rule’, arguing that it takes about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to truly master a skill, be it playing the violin, computer programming or skateboarding. Gladwell’s examples include the Beatles and Bill Gates, arguing that the biggest factor in their success is not innate talent, or blind luck, but rather dedication to their chosen craft.

This of course is hardly news to George H. Morris, whose constant refrain is that it is not practice, but PERFECT

GEORGE MORRIS

“PRACTICE ISN’T THE THING YOU DO ONCE YOU’RE GOOD. IT’S THE THING YOU DO THAT MAKES YOU GOOD.”

― MALCOLM GLADWELL, OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS

- Perfecting Practise

There is always the lazy journalist’s ‘cheap thrills’ method of covering a George Morris clinic, you just write down the most outrageous things George says, and cobble them together, leaving the world’s greatest jumping trainer looking like some kind of demented pantomine dame. You may get a giggle from the riff raff, but you have certainly missed the point of the exercise…


practice that produces the result, and that means that every single second you are sitting on the horse you are thinking about the consequences of what you are doing: you are either training the horse, or UN-training the horse.

And that means when you trot, you trot in rhythm, not over the rhythm.

“Trot through the cavalettis, and lengthen ten strides, then a very slow collected trot, all in rising trot, so you learn that you can work in a very light seat. Shorten and lengthen the trot, but all the time, keep your upper body about 30 degrees in front of the vertical.”

It is time to walk but this is no sloppy walk, “see how fast you can walk without trotting, then see how slow you can walk without stopping. This teaches you the coordination of the aids, and once again, you see the importance of the inside leg to the outside rein. We want the horse as straight as possible, and that is only possible if you use the

inside leg to the outside rein.”Time to canter, and guess which leg

is the important one?“See how straight the horse can be

in the canter transition, and for that you must use the inside leg. I don’t like the trot to canter transition, we battle with jumpers to teach them not to drop back into a trot, so we don’t want to encourage that.”

Time for another of the eternal truths – don’t hang on!

“Take and give, never hang on when you are giving a half halt or flexing. There are lots of different interpretations of the half halt, and different half halts for different things, this is the galloping half halt, it is a check.”

THIS IS HOW TO INTRODUCE THE FENCES, IN MOTION, NOT SNIFFING THE JUMP. DO THE PATTERN IN TROT THAT THE HORSE WILL DO JUMPING THE COURSE.

- Perfecting Practise Story by Christopher Hector & Photos by Roslyn Neave

There is always the lazy journalist’s ‘cheap thrills’ method of covering a George Morris clinic, you just write down the most outrageous things George says, and cobble them together, leaving the world’s greatest jumping trainer looking like some kind of demented pantomine dame. You may get a giggle from the riff raff, but you have certainly missed the point of the exercise…

VICKI ROYCROFTHorse: Noblewood Park Cassinata

“She’s from Noblewood Park, by Cassini II. She is a bit green for this level but there was a gap in that top group. I think she’ll come out of it alright because she needs to learn but she is not even seven yet. I was happy with her, she’s got plenty of scope.”

It is amazing the way George always finds a new way to express old truths and the riders improve so much…

“It’s pretty much like that. I’ve always encouraged my students to come to George’s clinics, and Chris Chugg and Rod Brown, they have always

been hugely supportive, but there are some trainers who discourage their students from participating. I think I am a good trainer, and I’ve got a record of producing students, but George Morris can do more with my students in half an hour than I can in two months. And that is the value of coming to his clinics. It is nothing different, we are all singing from the same hymn book, but he just can put things so succinctly, and demonstrate much better than any other trainer on the planet. I encourage my students to come here and learn from him, it’s probably not great for my business but I think it is so good for my students.”


Christopher Burton was fresh from his surprise win at Adelaide four-star when I found him giving a clinic at Christine Bates’ wonderful complex Willow Park at Wilberforce.

Story and Photos by Rebecca Ashton

THE ‘10,000 HOURS OF PRACTICE’ RULEWith Christopher Burton

Unfortunately, due to ridiculous amounts of rain the week before, most of the sessions of the Northside Riding Club run clinic were confined to the 20 x 60 m indoor. This didn’t stop Chris working on the basics and the lack of space actually made for more precise riding.

All sessions began with Chris checking that the flat work was under control and the horses were responsive to the stop/go aids. For all those eventers who find the dressage training a drag (which is probably most!), Chris was adamant of its importance, “Dressage is designed to help us have control of our horses so we can jump them.”

He wanted the horses to respond off the voice, ‘whoa’ to stop and a ‘cluck’ to go, but supported with leg and hand to begin with. When Caitlin Foulis’ green stallion wasn’t responding to the forward aids enough, Chris encouraged,

“Say ‘cluck’ followed straight away with the leg. When you kick him Caitlin, something has to happen. He has to fart and bolt! That’s what’s so good about living in Australia. We live on an island; the horse can’t go anywhere! In a dressage test, when I do an extended trot, I don’t use my leg. I cluck just so the horse can hear, then he goes because he knows in the past that it was followed by a kick.”

When Debbi Jenkin’s horse wasn’t responding well enough to the stop aids, Chris wanted her to understand how very important this was before they could move on, “Say whoa first and then use the reins to stop until we don’t have to use the reins anymore,” instructed the Olympian, “If you can’t halt, you can’t half halt. If you can’t half halt, you shouldn’t be pointing a horse at a jump.” He really wanted his students to become riders that remained centered, rode

“When you kick him, something has to happen”


without using the reins, and allowed the horse to just get on with the job. “The more you give, the softer he will be. You need the hind legs under more,” reminded Burto.

The flat work also gave Chris a chance to check on the riders’ positions. Some riders wanted to flap and use their whole body to get the horse to respond, sledge hammer style, and Chris was quick to get them still and using the smallest aids possible. It’s easy to form bad habits, so awareness is key.

With stop and go under control and horses working over their backs, it was time to put it into practice over some poles. With two poles set some meters apart, Chris wanted the riders to canter between them. “You have to get the poles within the canter stride. No matter if you have to lengthen or shorten, it has to be in the stride,” he instructed. After the riders cantered over them a couple of times, the question was put to them, “How many strides did you have in between?” There were some blank faces with the trainer emphasizing, “Ninety percent of riders forget to count. I always count!”

The natural stride between the two poles was five, and the riders had to estimate the canter they would need to achieve this before they even started the exercise. Once the horses were balanced and happy with this, the challenge was to make the distance in six and then seven strides or stretched right out to just four, then three strides.

When Rachel Temms was asked to do seven strides in between she asked, “Am I allowed to curve?” to which she

was told, “No! It’s a centreline. This is a dressage arena. That would be cheating! Clever girl, though,” joked Chris.

Rachel needn’t have worried as she executed it without faults. Chris was impressed, “Nice canter! See? You have choices. Good, hey? Now you’ve got your horse listening to you.”

There were no excuses not to do this exercise, “You can do this anywhere,” encouraged Chris, “Go buy two poles from Bunnings. You need to be able to control your horse like this. The counting will help you see the distance and that will help the horse to jump. Until you’re Marcus Ehning, it’s best to practice like this. You have to understand what this exercise is about. You might get it after 10,000 hours of practice!”

The exercise was progressed to the poles becoming cross rails, then verticals, and then the second fence

became an oxer. Ali Pettit’s grey horse impressed Chris with its jumping ability as the second jump kept going up higher and higher, “If your horse has ability, if you get your take off right, the jump can be as high as you like. The distance stays the same but the jump can go up.”

The question was posed, if this had been in a competition, which number of strides a rider should aim for. Burto responded, “Do the 10,000 hours of practice and you’ll know which to do, but the horse always has to react off the lower leg.”

Chris isn’t an instructor to sit in the corner offering the odd ‘good’ to the rider. He’s hands on and sees the benefit of getting on the horse and giving the rider a visual if they are really struggling with the concept or exercise. When Debbi was struggling with the speed control Chris brought her into the centre, “Some people learn better by feeling and doing, some by watching. Bring him here and I’ll do a demonstration.” One horse per session had the star rider on board. He really worked on getting the horses straight, balanced and not anticipating the jumps. Chris soon had Debbi’s horse flying but also stopping on a dime.

Lines were next to being tested with two jumps diagonally placed on a straight line. Chris stood on the line at the opposite end so the riders had something to focus on. With the jumps on an angle, it was tempting for the riders to lose the straightness. “Look up!” encouraged Chris. “You have to keep your eyes up and look at me.”

Last was a little, tight course of five jumps to put it all into practice with

“Keep your eyes up over the jump”

One horse per session had Chris in the saddle


The Netherlands has been one of the most progressive dressage countries in recent years. Where Anky showed us how to ride a Kür, Adelinde is spearheading rider fitness like no one else. So much so, that the Dutch Equestrian Federation has now made it compulsory for a third of the training of new equestrian coaches to be in the area of rider fitness. Adelinde also now has her own online training centre where anyone can get to know her fitness methods.

Adelinde explains, “The physical fitness work is really, really important. You owe it to your horse. You don’t want to be the weakest link. You expect your horse to be in top-shape every day of the year but if you’re not, then that’s not fair. I get cross when non-horsey people think the horse does all the work, but when you look at some riders, why would they not think that? If you tell people what you do for your horse, the list is long. And for yourself? Nothing? That’s not right”

“It’s changed me tremendously. Big, big, big changes. You start to be aware of your own body and what muscles you actually use and how you use them. It’s so funny because I said to a couple of riders in the clinic, ‘Relax your upper legs. Just sit.’ Then they’re like, ‘Oh, this is so much easier!’ But that’s just being aware of your own body and what it’s doing. Where do I have tension? Where do I relax? How do I get this position without tensing up. That’s just so, so good.”

Adelinde’s system isn’t about going to the gym and running on the treadmill or using the rowing machine and wearing yourself out. She believes riders should be fit for their sport. “Your body needs to be as quiet as it can be so the horse can pick up the small signals. You need a certain tension in your body, a core stability, but not tightness. Both horse and rider need relaxation first, but it’s not your end goal. You need the perfect tension in the right muscles”

“If you train your own body, you realise how training affects your horse’s body. That’s really important. You realise that your horse’s muscles cannot keep going on forever. What you see happen a lot is that riders keep on going forever and

ever and ever because the exercise doesn’t go right so they keep going with it and it gets worse and worse. People don’t seem to realise that it’s getting worse because the horse is getting tired!”

The Dutch champion got serious about her fitness two years ago, “When I came into the Olympic squad, I thought I really have to do something, not just for myself but for my horse.”

Tjalling van den Berg, Adelinde’s fitness coach is based in northern Holland about 1.5 hours away from her. He told her she could come every Wednesday between 11:30-13:30. Adelinde continues, “This was hard because of my commitments but he said time doesn’t count, think about your priorities!” Tjalling, who used to train the Dutch gymnastic team, is not one to mess with. The only answer was, “Yes, sir!” and it is definitely worth the effort. He’s a tough man but also a generous one and utterly passionate about what he does. When Adelinde asked him what he wanted in return he said, “If you win a gold medal in London, I want a thank you. If not, I don’t want anything.”

The training consists of everything from boxing to ballet, running, trampoline work, work on the balance beam, core stability on the ball and balancing blindfolded. Adelinde enthuses, “I’ve done so many weird things! In two years, not one week has been the same as another. What my trainer constantly does is get me out of my comfort zone and see how I respond to that. You see it is only when you are out of your comfort zone that you start training. If you do what you did, you get what you got!”

ADELINDE CORNELISSEN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BALANCE

Story by Rebecca Ashton Photos by Rebecca Ashton and Roz Neave

The Olympic silver medalist explains why being fit to ride is non-negotiable

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Just think about the math for a second, three tests each with 500 possible marks applied by five judges, that’s 7,500 possible marks, and at the end of it all, two combinations are absolutely tied! Well that was the situation after Maree Tomkinson and Diamantina finished their Grand Prix test at Boneo Park, in what was to be the final round of the selection series to determine which Australian horse and rider combination would be given a place in the two European selection trials to decide the team to represent Australia at the WEG in Caen in August of this year. Ree, after a test she no doubt would prefer to forget, was tied with Rozzie Ryan and Bullwinkle – with both sitting on an average score of 67.1.

Dressage team management was putting on a brave face – of course they had thought of a tiebreaker in this most unlikely of eventualities. Oh yeah? I suggested that perhaps a round of paper, stone, scissors was as good as any…

But wait, there was more to come. Rozzie Ryan had not ridden her test yet, and because Rozzie, unlike Maree, had entered all four of the selection events, if she scored better than her Equitana mark of 67.34, then she would go into the lead, and claim the spot at the trials.

Certainly Bullwinkle looked well and truly tuned, crisp and forward, with

a dash of pizzazz that had previously been lacking, and while in the past, the horse has been shown with a very short neck and his nose behind the vertical, today he looks longer, freer – it was really only when the pair went through the final corner and headed up the centre line, that the neck started to shorten, and you went, hey what’s happening because it wasn’t short in any of the work before that!

In truth it was a lovely test. The horse’s owner, eventing selector, Olivia

Skellern (nee Bunn), was sitting in front of me, and at the end, she turned to her mother, Meredith, and remarked, oh well, there goes my new kitchen!

Rozzie wasn’t so sure they would be making the trip (see the interview on our Equimec Rider of the Month Poster pages) and later told my friend and colleague, Suzy Jarratt, who interviewed her for Hills & Hawkesbury Eqestrian News, that she would go to the Sydney CDI and if they scored 70% think about making the trip…

One person who is definitely making the trip to Europe is Mary Hanna, who finished second on Sancette. The horse is looking stronger and more confident every test – the pair won the right to represent Australia at the World Cup final in Lyon, and Mary was leaving in early March to begin her European campaign.

Earlier in the day, I sat through the Prix St Georges, looking for our next generation of dressage stars, and it was a somewhat dispiriting experience. That elusive quality of positive tension continues to elude our riders. We tend to get either end of the spectrum: too quiet, too relaxed, no snap or lots of snap with lots of negative tension: short neck / mouth open / tongue curled / eyes wild.

The winning horse, Mary Hanna’s

Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Roz Neave

DRESSAGE THRILLER AT BONEO

Maree and Diamantina show the judges that they can be balanced and in self-carriage, but it was not maintained throughout the test

GV Bullwinkle and Rozzie shined when it mattered most

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The Kieffer is a particularly good saddle for Sancette – really they are good for all the horses – because the pads are wide with great contact on the horse’s back, so there’s no pressure points. It’s really important with Sancette that his back stays healthy and he doesn’t get sore spots. The other thing I like about the Kieffer is that it is one of those saddles that you can comfortably ride in straight away, you don’t have to break them in. I like the way it puts you in a correct position but you are still able to move in the saddle, I like to be able to move my legs forward and backwards whenever I want to and not have that locked into the saddle feeling. I have had some back problems, but the Kieffer sits me correctly so there is no pain. I’ve used Kieffer saddles for quite some time now, and they have worn really well. The stitching and the finish is really classy, so that’s what I like, a really functional saddle that looks stylish…- Mary Hanna

Kieffer congratulates Mary Hanna on her CDI3* Freestyle Win at Boneo Park and wish her great success at the World Cup Final in Lyon.


Story and photos by Roz Neave

EVERY THING THAT IS NEW IS OLD AGAIN

A PHOTOGRAPHER’S VIEW OF DRESSAGE

Last month we looked at the years from 1990, and the era of Rembrandt, Gigolo and Bonfire… By the next Olympics in 2004, Anky had a new medal winner in Salinero. The

rollkur debate continued, and was not confined to the Dutch camp, here is a picture we took of German team member Ulla Salzgeber working with Rusty at home, and how he looked

at Aachen in 2004. Yes, but his mouth is not touching his chest and he is not in halt.

Next came Salinero, here at Aachen before the 2004 Games - he looks better than he looked in London in 2012.

Salinero at Aachen - did his training

improve him and his attitude to his

work?? At his last appearance in London

THE SYDNEY CDIAustralia's Premier Dressage Event

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NSW Young Horse Championships Young Horse Jumping

Jumping & Freestyle on Saturday Evening

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1 –3 May 2014 Sydney International Equestrian Centre, Horsley Park

Original painting: Rosemary Parcell


In the most recent edition of the magazine, Le Selle Français (No 16, 1st trimester 2013), the current president of the Selle Français, Bernard le Courtois, contributes one of his thoughtful annual reviews of the influential stallions in the SF studbook.

Bernard prefaces his rankings with these observations:Here are the top 15 stallions who are approved by the Selle

Français studbook who are the sires of the most winners in CSI classes who are amongst the top 100 of the best Selle Français jumpers in the world in 2012.

Most remarkable is the domination of the male line of Ibrahim. Almost a majority of the leading stallions are descended from Ibrahim through two branches, that of Double Espoir (Apache d’Adriers, Timorrak des Isles) and mostly that of Almé through Jalisco B, the sire of Quidam de Revel (out of a mare by Nankin), Dollar du Murier (mare by Uriel), and Scherif d’Elle (Prince du Cy) and through his other important son, Almé who is responsible for Quick Star, and Baloubet du Rouet.

The stallion line of Nankin (by Fra Diavolo xx), which was so important in the 80’s, is only represented by Rosire, and this line might vanish in the years to come.

Alligator Fontaine brings from his sire, Noren, the rare and valuable blood of Mourne xx, through his father, Sire xx. Mourne xx was also the grand-father of Laudanum xx. This Thoroughbred bloodline crosses exceptionally well with the line of Jalisco B.

Most important of the ‘foreign’ blood is that of the Holsteiner, Capitol I, through his sons Carthago and Cumano.

The blood of the Selle Français ‘export’ Furioso II (by Furioso xx) returns to France thanks to Voltaire and Kannan.

Finally we find the blood of Landgraf (Ladykiller xx) provides a beneficial touch through Lando. These three lines provide an outcross for most of our Selle Français mares.

The Selle Français horses at the highest level are principally from the seven great international jumping lines, but it is incontestable that the grand chef de race Selle Français is Almé.

These are the great treasures of French breeding. Some of them you will be very familiar with, but you will discover some surprises, stallions that you perhaps did not take notice of. This poses the interesting question, why the breeders pass to one

side a stallion without using him? For certain, the roll of the dice has passed, since they are dead or retired without leaving a true legacy, while others may be still available through frozen semen.

The top fifteen stallions on the basis of the number of winners of CSI classes in 2012

• Quidam de Revel (Jalisco) 8• Kannan (Voltaire) 8• Diamant de Sémilly (Le Tot de Sémilly) 7• Cumano (Cassini I) 6• Dollar du Murier (Jalisco) 5• Quick Star (Galoubet) 4• Carthago (Capitol I) 3• =8 Alligator Fontaine (Noren), Apache d’Adriers (Double

Espoir), Baloubet du Rouet (Galoubet), Lando (Lancier), Rosire (Uriel), Scheriff d’Elle (Jalisco), Timorak des Isles (Double Espoir), Voltaire (Furioso II) 2

But Bernard has long been a thinker who keeps refining the figures, looking beyond the obvious and so he introduces another ranking – this time taking into account the number of foals by the stallion.

Second Classification – by the % of winners to progeny born (1999 – 2003)

• Cumano (Cassini I) 6/61 = 9.83%• Timorak des Isles (Double Espoir) 2/42 = 4.76%• Lando (Lancier) 2/49 = 4.08%• Carthago (Capitol I) 3/43 = 3.97%• Baloubet du Rouet (Galoubet) 2/91 = 2.19%• Scheriff d’Elle (Jalisco) 2/96 = 2.08%• Quidam de Revel (Jalisco) 8/425 = 1.88%• Kannan (Voltaire) 8/465 = 1.72%• Dollar du Murier (Le Tot de Sémilly) 7/440 = 1.59%• Diamant de Sémilly (Le Tot de Sémilly) 7/440 = 1.59%• Alligator Fontaine (Noren) 2/148 = 1.35%• Quick Star (Galoubet) 4/397 = 1%• Voltaire (Furioso II) 2/260 = 0.76%• Apache d’Adriers (Double Espoir) 2/313 = 0.63%• Rosire (Uriel) 2/515 = 0.38%

An interview with Christopher Hector

BERNARD LE COURTOIS- and the current state of French Breeding...

INTERNETAUCTIONSunday, 6th April 2014

Online Bidding Opens 9am - Closes at 8pm

Horses Available for Inspection from 22nd March 2014

Horse Details & Video Footage at

www.bloomfieldfarm.com.au

LOOMFIELDARM

BFWARMBLOOD STUD

All of these Horses were purchased as Weanlings, Yearling or 2 Yr Olds From Bloomfield Auctions

Ph: 03 5626 7080 or 0408 744 064 Crossover, Victoria 3821 Email: [email protected]

Past Bloomfield Auction HorsesWhere Are They Now?

Bloomfield Royal Diamond (formerly Bloomfield Royal Flush) - Now a 5 Yr Old, 2013 Dressage NSW Champs - Reserve Preliminary Champion. Consistently scoring over 70%.

Bloomfield Royal Tango - Now a 5 Yr Old, Sensational Dressage Horse with scores over 80%

Bloomfield Royal Winston - Now a 4 Yr Old, Recently won 4 Yr Old Qualifier with 7.7

Bloomfield Royal Compliment - Now a 5 Yr Old, Winning with scores over 70%

Bloomfield Royal Duke (now known as EJ Real Diamond)- Now a 5 Yr Old, just started competition, big plans for long term, high level dressage career.

Bloomfield Royal Charmer - Now a 5 Yr Old, Recently won 5 Yr Old Qualifier in Bowral with 7.96

Bloomfield Royal Deelite - DJWTS Reserve Champion 4 Yr Old 2012, Now training Medium

Bloomfield Real Hit- Now a 5 Yr Old, Breeding and Competition Stallion, Plans to Train in USA

Bloomfield Royal Prince- Now a 5 Yr Old, DJWTS 2013 4th Place in the 4 Yr Old.

Bloomfield Royal Victory II- Now a 5 Yr Old, Exported to NZ

Bloomfield Royal Victory - (Our first born Royal Hit) Winning her classes in WA

Bloomfield Fürsteniro - Now a 2 Yr Old, Exported to NZ

Bloomfield Fürst Fashion - Now a 2 Yr Old, Exported to NZ

Bloomfield Fürstin Romance - Now a 3 Yr Old, Just started under saddle, SENSATIONAL

Bloomfield Fiderstar - Now a 2 Yr Old, Purchased by Maree Tomkinson from our last Internet Auction

Our Horses Are Purpose Bred With Huge Potential For Future Dressage Success

Here are a few that we tracked down!


The forecast predicts one of the hottest days on record for Victoria; temperatures of up to 43 degrees. What a lovely day for a dressage clinic – not! So I am making my way to Yarra Junction to Adam Wootten’s Australian Sporting Equine Academy, very early in the morning. Most lessons are scheduled before lunchtime, this should help with the heat.

Gary Lung is returning to Victoria for a two-day clinic, organised by Peta Elstrek who has arranged lessons with Gary ever since she witnessed his performance in the Mitavite Ultimate Masterclass in 2012. Most riders today are ‘repeat offenders’; one rider is here for her fifth (!) clinic with Gary. The polite and kind man who hails from PNG has many friends, in fact more than 2,200 on his Facebook page alone. And it comes as no surprise, Gary teaches his students in a quiet and positive manner, using simple terminology and plenty of colourful examples to make sure his pupils understand the exercise. “Squeeze his wither like a pimple” is the recommendation for Narelle Walker and Ego Centrepiece, by Camelot Ego Z. The black gelding has just come back into work after a break and Gary makes them do plenty of exercises to get Centepiece’s back supple. “Don’t address the front, the back is the issue,” Gary directs. “When you soften, don’t let the reins go altogether. Tap him a little on the shoulder, don’t encourage him to lean.”

And after the lesson, “Did you feel that he was starting to move up? You did that by simply moving his body.” Narelle nods and beams happily.

Indeed every rider leaves the arena with a smile on his or her face, tired yes, but with a sense of achievement. Gary shows them exercises and movements that they can train and repeat at home. With every horse and rider, lessons are about moving the horse’s body, lots of quarters in, quarters out, leg yield, half-

halts and transitions. He calls it his ‘toolbox’. “It’s all very

simple stuff,” Taylah Lambert says after her lesson, “But it works well, I find a massive improvement after each lesson.”

The indoor arena resembles a sauna by mid-morning, but Gary shows no sign of distress, he happily goes on and every rider gets the same attention and support during their lessons. Sharyn Symonds and her 17 hh Clydie/TB cross work on transitions and towards perfecting their simple change. Under Gary’s tutelage the pair has already progressed through the Adult Rider levels.

“Tell me, and think about this, what has made sense and what has worked?” Gary questions Marley Kerford. His youngest pupil today is only 14 years old and she has her hands full with her big paint Junior who is taking advantage of his young pilot.

“Last time we worked on movement, now we want quality of movement”, Gary continues. “He’s got that shuffling trot, he is like a wheelbarrow and he needs to become a motorbike. He needs to sit up, use his hindquarters and not fall on the forehand.” To demonstrate his point, Gary is quick to change into this top boots and jump on Junior himself to show Marley what the horse’s frame should look like. Gary puts Junior through his paces – leg yield in walk, then trot and canter transitions, a quick rein back when the gelding leans on the

Story and Photos by Ute Raabe

GARY’S TOOLBOXDRESSAGE TRAINING WITH GARY LUNG

Narelle Walker & Ego Centrepiece


bit, yet a quick pat when Junior gives. Gary provides a running

commentary while he works on Junior’s suppleness, “Now he is light, he has to learn to do the work himself. When he leans on you, use your body, not your hand. Tell him he has to carry his own fat head.” Gary grins and hops off the horse, “Fun to ride,” he adds and then it is time for Marley again to show that she has understood.

“We stay so focussed on keeping the horse’s neck down, we forget about the rest of the body,” Gary states, “It’s all about straightness.”

Next up are four-star eventer Adam Benson and his elegant 17 hh grey Warmblood gelding Revelwood Marmaduke. “His canter is fantastic, but he is a bit spooky and I want to take it slow,” Adam explains. Gary starts the pair on a circle and describes the ‘inside leg – outside hand’ principle to

his audience. “Every instructor always says ‘inside leg, outside hand’ but never elaborates what it means. Treat it like a two-stage principle. Before you use the inside leg to push to the outside hand, you put a stage in beforehand, stage 1, and that’s actually showing them the outside rein. So bending them to the outside first. If you are going to the right, you flex them to the left. Once you do that and they click on the left side, they give to the left hand side, then you come with the inside leg – stage 2. That way you are actually creating ribcage bend, but you’re also bringing the back, the wither up and the frame up. You get them to work through their body. You can do that in the walk, trot and canter for every horse. It encourages them to use their body, especially their neck and shoulder, and step up from the inside hind to the outside hand.”

“Now test him, this is what Steffen

Narelle Walker & Ego Centrepiece Narelle had the 10-year-old gelding for 2 ½ years and has taken him from entry level to one star eventing in that time. Her goal for 2014 is a start at the Melbourne 3DE in June.

Peta Elstrek & Tullows Jumpin Jack Flash Peta had the 5-year-old since he was a yearling and is currently competing him at dressage level 3 HRCAV. Her goal today is for Jack to become softer, relax more over the back and bend through the ribcage for an even and consistent contact.

Taylah Lambert & Centurion Taylah has high hopes for this 4-year-old gelding, she wants to take him eventing but needs to improve his flatwork first. Centurion is bred for showjumping, he is a spitting image of his sire Centus and out of a Heartbreaker mare, bred by Oaks Sport Horses.

Marley Kerford & Junior The slender young girl and her horse have her 2014 season mapped out, she is qualified for the Pony Club State Champs, then the Equestrian Victoria Young Rider competition in April and Interschools in July.

Adam Benson & Revelwood Marmaduke

Adam has just taken over the ride on the 6-year-old Warmblood that

was bred by Amanda and David Shoobridge. The leggy grey is by

Magritte out of advanced dressage mare Kirrang Serendipity and was

formerly ridden by Cassia Montgomery.

Sharyn Symonds & Alderbaran Admeyer

Sharyn and “Flash” paid attention to

Gary’s words and won their next

competition on the following weekend

with 71.86%.

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Horse magazine march 2014