Carl talks about friendly fields, intense detail and

Carl talks about friendly fields, intense detail and being on a roll to Rio!
Central region members’ visit to Carl Hester’s yard 13 March 2014
Arriving at Carl Hester’s yard is like embarking a luxury cruise liner,
pristine, pleasing to the eye and functional with the intent to make
you feel relaxed and pampered but nevertheless on an intrepid
journey, most especially if you are a horse!
As we passed through the security gates we were greeted by an
extremely handsome horse strolling along the drive taking in the
spring blossoms while Alan Davies, international travelling groom,
attended to his iPhone, chilled or what! We had arrived a little
earlier than scheduled so had the rare pleasure of seeing some of
the horses working in the outdoor arena - humming with activity Carl’s girls and Charlotte stretching or working on movements with
arguably the best horses in the world. The audience included dogs
racing up and down the side of the arena and several exotic
chickens, while we quietly watched Carl working on pirouettes,
large at first and then shifting between walk and canter in the
movement, no fuss no bother just making it all look so effortless and at one with the horse like the mythical Centaur.
Kim Moloney, RDO and human dynamo, assembled the excited Central gang for their exclusive passage into the world of Carl
Hester, his horses and fantastic support team starting in the indoor school, which housed everything an equine athlete could
possibly need including state of the art wash-off, solarium, magnetic rugs and leg-icing facilities.
Carl welcomed us and explained he would describe his philosophy for the stages of training from a just backed four-year-old
to the Grand Prix horse. Carl is always relaxed and humorous, but throughout the morning he exposed his personal thoughts
and profound horsemanship as he talked us through a superb string of horses.
Young horses – temperament and turnout
In a young horse Carl looks for conformation, movement and temperament; there are very few horses that have the perfect
temperament. There are naughty ones, lazy ones but they can be moulded generally as you go along, may be not to have topclass temperaments but good enough.
Firstly, a charming four-year-old out of a Donnerhall mare who inevitably came with a story; he was bred here, being prepared
for stallion grading, but not considered to be macho enough so ended up a gelding, which is how most horses end up as
geldings including Valegro. Carl first saw him when he was two and a half years old, an age at which he buys in many of his
horses. “A friend up the road rings up and says we have a really nice horse. That’s what normally happens and within three
minutes and a cup of coffee later I’ve bought it.” He’d been away to be broken and then hacked out for two months and came
back on Monday and tried to buck Katie (Bailey) off, so she had a neck strap and had given him a quick whirl in the lunge pen
before getting aboard today.
Carl is pragmatic and stressed that the first thing you have to do with a young horse is be safe. People talk about training and
stretching and all these lovely things but they are no good if you are not safe. The first thing we do is put the horse on the bit
so we have some control and went on to say “What I love about him is his balance; considering he’s had no schooling he is very
balanced.” In a young horse Carl wants a good walk, exceptional canter and a trot he can do something with, not too
extravagant, good in the hind leg and enough bend in his knees to have expression and extremely relaxed in his body. It’s
important to start with an easy mover so they last; too much extravagance puts a lot of wear and tear on the joints. This horse
should do well in young horse classes as they are now more about relaxation and
rideability. He has a beautiful natural three beat canter; his upward transition is
natural not trained. You see a lot of air as he canters; lovely suspension. It is
important, if buying a horse to look both sides, sometimes canter on one side is
fantastic and other side is not. Katie’s next instruction “See what happens when you
give him a longer rein - he stretches his neck but you have to work him first and when
he gets tired he finds where he wants to go. This horse had done 20 minutes work,
which is enough for him; we must work within his level of development to preserve
him.” The plan is for Katie to do a couple of four year old classes with him. You’ll all
have to come back in a year’s time to see if he’s any good!
Carl took the opportunity to explain the importance of managing young horses
correctly. He has three four-year-olds this year; they all live out in a field weather
permitting and come in to be ridden. Carl said that people phone him for help with
their young horses rearing and bucking to which he advocates turnout which often
solves the problem. They just need to get rid of their energy and frustration.
Attention grabbing and attention to detail
Our five-year old was an attention grabbing Dutch gelding out of the same mare as
Christian Landolt’s, super successful Don Jovi, similarly black and exuding quality.
With his usual openness Carl described the gamut of emotions he’d been through
with this horse, “we’ve been through keep him, sell him.”
So what does a really good dressage horse have to be able to do at this stage of his
development? It is evident that he is starting to sit, or take more weight on its back
legs. Carl demonstrated that most horses are one-sided so working on straightness
and self-carriage is the daily mantra. The work starts with correct stretching with the
neck muscles moving and carrying the head, understanding the contact, allowing the
back to stretch which is both physically and mentally relaxing leading to a swing
through the whole body. Carl talked about the routine for his horses which
incorporates plenty of variety, so school days are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and
Friday, with hacks on Wednesday and Saturday and Sunday off. The horses are
worked in the mornings and turned out in the afternoons – apart from the youngsters
and some special cases that live out all the time. Carl reiterated that management is
crucial to the longevity and preservation of soundness in horses, and the quality of
work for the horse is the key rather than spending six days a week in the school. He
explained that team riders are also supported by a raft of professionals through the
World Class Performance Programme, supported by Lottery funding thorough UK
Sport, providing advice about biomechanics, nutrition, sports physiotherapy and
remedial farriery. On top of all that the day-to-day attention to detail, warming-up,
warming-down, magnetic rugs, icing legs, daily turnout all add up to happy horses
and world-breaking dressage scores.
The six-year-old horse (Weltmeyer line) demonstrated it could sit, bend, and be
straight, all the ingredients of suppleness, whereas Carl said the Dutch YH classes
want more, more, more movement. He remained forward until told otherwise and
Carl explained that changing gear keeps the horse active and interested; otherwise
they get bored, close down and stop responding. You need to develop a system the
horse can understand. Carl upholds that his training system is the same as everyone
else, but intense attention to detail is needed to win medals; square halts,
straightness, even bend, every day! Top riders have eyes on the ground every day too.
He pointed out that this horse is stiffer on left, as he takes more weight behind look at
the flexibility in fetlock joints, not just the hocks; so travers (in canter) was used to
increase suppleness and get a straighter feeling through the reins.
Training the trot
The expressive show trot is taught. With Charlotte, whom he refers to as the queen
of trot, he described the process. As soon as the rider puts the leg on the horse must
respond with medium trot. Then ask for medium with the leg but holding to create a
passage-like trot. This takes a long time to train, gradually
Carl emphasised that most of the trot work is done in rising including the lateral
movements; training in sitting trot is quite old fashioned. Now with access to
biomechanical research we know stretching is good for physical wellbeing and you
only get expression through relaxation. Top, top sport horses have to be motivated,
that is hot enough, but they need to be relaxed enough to cope with the
atmosphere
The seven year old representative was an elegant chestnut gelding (by Brightling)
bursting with presence. Having arrived last year for boot camp with a reputation for
high jinks he is now tagged as a reserve for the next Olympics. He’s competed at
advanced medium and at seven knows a bit of everything including short steps. He
is incredible at home, but stops breathing at a show so needs to get out but not
necessarily for a test. He has a strong short neck, so it’s important to make sure it’s
not contracted; he shows a supple back with movement up and down and a nice
swing illustrated by the J-shape made by his tail. Carl demonstrated the training for
the canter pirouette using shoulder-in, so the horse is always going forward. Turning
the front end around the pole – not moving the back end. The half pirouette must be
appropriate size to the activity in the canter, always riding the front forward.
Harmony through Hester
Our penultimate star was Nip Tuck (Barney), a beautiful and sensitive ten-year-old
Dutch horse bought as yearling out of an Animo mare, by Don Ruto. Carl describes
the field as his friend – as without one he would never have trained this horse. He is
very nervous and would frighten himself in canter. He doesn’t have the hind leg
activity of other horses but he loves, loves his work and in Carl’s opinion is a top, top
class horse. He is a hot horse, the job of riding him is steering not pushing. A hot
horse will tend to run so Carl used lots of leg yielding in canter, using a steeper angle
to stop running and create more suspension. Although he doesn’t demonstrate the
jaw-dropping extravagance of some of his peers, Carl can coax every mark from a
test saying ‘every horse should be able to get top marks in a halt. There is no
expression in halt. I can make changes so straight the judge has to give me a 7. He is
a GP horse and not a lot else, so that has always been my aim. He is tense at home,
so imagine what he’s like away from home.’ He has to be very carefully managed for
a show, riding (stretching) him in the morning for 40 minutes, and then do his test in
afternoon. “Management is very much part of it; the minute the weather improves
he’ll be out in the field and in a couple of weeks he’ll be a different horse. It takes six
years to get a horse to Grand Prix and then you have another eight years to make it
better.” Having said all that Barney went out and got 76% in his first Grand Prix!
Fine Time had by all
Our last star under saddle was the British Dressage National champion Fine Time 13
(by Florestan I), a very handsome laid back chap. Carl described him endearingly as
‘a totally different horse from Barney, a stallion, a bit lazy, half an hour’s exercise
and then he wants to go and have dinner and get his feet up.’ He was very successful
last year and is very reliable. He demonstrated his talent for passage and piaffe and
the transitions, always in same rhythm. Again Carl highlighted that the devil is in the
detail as there is a separate mark for transitions.
An inspiration to us all
It was evident that Carl has enormous empathy with each and every
horse, candidly describing their physical imperfections and mental
fragility but working with them using a clear training system to make
them stronger in mind and body with an enormous helping of careful
management.
Carl’s best bit of advice is to train your own horse; it’s the partnership
that gives you the edge. It’s no good going round with a big trot and
the judge going wow, wow, wow and then do a circle and the trot
goes. You don’t have to spend thousands on a horse you have to
learn how to train it!
His closing words were that he couldn’t stop now as he was on a roll
to Rio and a comment which I’m sure will cheer up many riders who
are a tad old for BYRDS was “You ride better and better with age!”
The Central gang then got to meet the celebrities at home. Valegro
and Utopia duly obliged for photo opportunities between mouthfuls
of hay. Important ponies have to prioritise their day!
We owe Carl, his team and horses an enormous debt of gratitude for
their generosity in sharing their time and extraordinary journey of
success, not to mention the great training tips. Thank you!
All thanks must also go to Kim for arranging a truly wonderful
experience for the lucky Central members.