Nowadays Iberian horses such as the Lusitano or the Andalusian are a welcome appearance on the international dressage scene going from junior riders' level to the senior division. Their increasing popularity is shown in the fact that in the last Olympic Games in Hong Kong nine Iberian horses competed for four different nations.
One may suppose this is nothing special since Iberian horses are well known for their beauty and ability to collect. However, only 20 years ago it was unthinkable to ride these horses in international dressage and achieve in a field dominated by modern warmbloods with their ground covering movements. A visionary personality like Alvaro Domeq was necessary and an equine pioneer to make a break through possible for the Iberian breeds.
This trail blazer was a most beautiful grey Lusitano stallion called Orphée RBO, who became the first Iberian horse to compete at Olympic Games in dressage. His story is also one of a horse and rider trained by the principles of the famous Portuguese master Nuno Oliveira that could successfully stand the comparison with modern dressage.
Orphée RBO was born in 1980 in France and bred by Roger Bouzin, a notary from Havre, who was successfully breeding Lusitanos after importing an outstanding grey stallion in the 1970s. Bouzin had been a dear friend of French dressage trainer Michel Henriquet, a pupil of the legendary Nuno Oliveira, and his student Catherine Henriquet (née Durand). When he was looking for a stallion to import from Portugal to start the breed in France the Henriquets recommended the 16-year old Emir, who had sired outstanding offspring in Portugal and was for sale at the time.
Emir came to France and founded a lineage of his own. His genes are still found in several French bred Lusitanos and the horses of the Bouzins. Probably his most famous offspring, besides Orphée, was Odin, which was the solo star of the Cadre Noir in Saumur and trained by Philippe Karl. The latter dedicated a book to his horse’s training.
Orphée crossed the path of the Henriquet's for the first time when the stallion was 2,5 years old. Catherine recalls that he was a well behaved horse then. When Orphée was three his breeder gave him to a riding centre near his property to be broken, but the stallion soon proved to be quite difficult. Mr. Bouzin phoned the Henriquets to ask if they could take him for training. Michel Henriquet bought Orphée for a moderate price because he saw talent in him.
Orphée was lucky to come into such capable hands since he was not an easy horse at first. “Within five days we were on his back," said Catherine Henriquet. "He was a very sensitive horse which panicked easily if the rider was doing something awkward.”
When Orphée came to the Henriquets in 1983 Catherine was quite inexperienced at the highest levels. The 16-year old Catherine had just started to train with her future husband Michel Henriquet and she was not focusing on competing at all.
“I rode Orphée under the tutelage of my husband until he was five. At that time I was far from being able to train a horse from novice to Grand Prix and this was the reason my husband took him over for the next three years. I got him back as an 8-year old,” Catherine reminisced.
Orphée was not meant to compete. Neither Catherine nor her husband were aiming to ride in competitions. For them dressage is an art and they trained their horses in the tradition of the "Légèreté" (= Lightness). Michel Henriquet was a student of Nuno Oliveira, who rode according to the French tradition of the 18th century and who had influenced Michel's way of riding and training horses tremendously.
The Henriquets value lightness and relaxation above all. No tension is the highest priority in their training system. Contrary to the "usual" way of dressage training, they develop collection at a young age and the horses learn the difficult movements quite early in their life, but are never forced to the maximum.
The horses are only relaxed if they are never pushed to the point to become defensive: “When the horse has the ideal contact it doesn’t need to be pushed and is still showing all the movements without losing its balance while being given reins. We call this “lightness.”
This great system suited a sensitive horse like Orphée and he turned out to be a very willing character. He loved his dressage work and his exceptional good character enabled him to progress steadily without major problems. Like all Henriquet horses he was lunged at the beginning, then he learned to work in hand and do the more difficult movements this way before he was regularly ridden. Handwork remained a part of the stallion’s training as well as hacks in the forest.
Orphée may have never appeared on the competition scene if the former leader of the Cadre Noir has not visited the Henriquets. He was obviously fascinated by the high quality of the stallion's dressage work. He encouraged them to start Orphée in competitions, which Catherine had never done before in her life!
Her trainer then pushed her into this new experience, which turned out to improve the quality of their riding while avoiding to choose the wrong path of enforced and brutal training. Without the competition one may tend to train the horse’s strong spots only and avoid training movements the horse is not that talented for. So competing made their training more complete.
Without any show experience, riding with an unusual style for modern dressage and competing on a breed not considered able to excel in the sport, Catherine started her own and Orphée’s show career in 1988 when the horse was 8 years. They worked themselves from Prix St .Georges level up to Grand Prix within two years and their results were surprising and encouraging at the same time.
Unlike many other Iberian horses of that time Orphée owned the then rare ability to have enough extension in his gaits to be accepted by the international judges. Moreover he was beautifully behaved and his classical dressage training was appreciated by the panel.
“Some have told me Orphée’s performance has reshaped their judging criteria because they were only used to the German warmblood horses. They said that after Orphée they understood better what they are looking for in the collection,” Catherine said about the judges’ reactions to her 'unusual' horse.
The stallion also behaved very well in and around the arena. For Catherine it is essential the horses behaves himself on the show site the same as at home: “Dressage training allows me to control my horses easily wherever we go.” Not only the judges, but also the spectators liked the “exotic” horse and greeted him with great sympathy. Orphée was a beautiful type of Lusitano with the attractive dapple grey colour, long curled mane, a pink blaze and big dark eyes of rare beauty and intelligence. He was a great ambassador for his breed on the international scene, on which he appeared regularly in 1991 and 1992.
1992 was an Olympic year and France had one exceptional individual rider, Margit Otto-Crépin, but the other team members had to be gathered during the season. Orphée, who had had satisfying results in 1991 still missed out on team selection for the European Championships. Prior to the 1992 Olympic Games he had competed in five CDI's. At almost every show he was able to qualify for the Spécial, coming 4th in Pamfou and placing 3rd in the Grand Prix of Rennes.
Four years after she had started competing Catherine Durand became a member of the French Olympic dressage team with a horse which was going to be the first Iberian dressage horse on the international stage.
“Norbert van Laak, the French national coach and Isabell Judet, our chef d’equipe, took the decision to send me based on my performance, despite the fact that I had never taken part in big competition. They took the risk and I didn't disappoint them.”
The performance of the first Iberian on the Olympic stage was also a reason for the famous Spanish breeder Alvaro Domeq, who founded the Royal Andalusian Riding School in Jerez de la Frontera, to attend the Olympic dressage competition in Barcelona.
Probably not everybody was aware that Orphée’s start was a remarkable Olympic debut, but the dreamlike stallion drew attention during the training sessions, his white mane flying in the air and being ridden in a traditional double bridle. For Catherine it was the greatest experience as a rider she has had to date: “In Barcelona I had nothing to lose. I knew my horse was well prepared, could do the program and I had greatest faith in Orphée.”
Orphée’s Olympic performance in the Polo Club stadium of Barcelona was impressive because of the harmony and style in which he performed the Grand Prix test. Catherine’s extremely good seat was even mentioned by the late Dr. Reiner Klimke in his report about the Olympic Grand Prix. The first Lusitano ever to enter the Olympic stage finished in a remarkable 25th place out of almost 50 horses and was 2nd best team horse for France, which finished 9th. But more importantly he had shown the dressage world that it is possible as an Iberian bred horse to stand comparison to modern warmbloods as long as they possess enough ability to extend.
Orphée’s performance in Spain sparked Alvaro Domeq's plan to send a team of Spanish riders on Andalusian horses to the next Olympic Games. It did not remain a dream. Four years later a Spanish dressage team with two Andalusians from the Real Escuela came seventh at the Atlanta Olympics. Ignacio Rambla and Evento qualified for the freestyle final. Rafael Soto's Invasor, then only 7 years old, went on to become the most successful Andalusian to date, competing for over a decade at the highest level.
Orphée himself had definitely had his peak at the Barcelona Games. He went on to compete for a further four years, but was a bit overshadowed by his half brother Spartacus, another Lusitano bred by Roger Bouzin and sired by Emir, who almost made the Atlanta Olympics, but missed it due to a health problem shortly before.
Two or three times a year Orphée was featured in exhibitions about classical dressage, which are quite popular in France. He showed the beauty and lightness of dressage. On this occasions Orphée also showed some of the airs above ground like the levade which he could do extremely well.
The great value of his training was once proven during a ride at the famous CDI-W s’Hertogenbosch in Holland. Shortly before entering the arena Orphée put his tongue over the bit, but still managed to show a good performance. The judges were astonished by this and asked Catherine afterwards how she did it. She told them it was able because of the lightness she had reached in Orphée’s training, not be dependent on rein pressure.
At the age of 16 the Henriquets retired their wonderful stallion and started to use his great breeding potential. Orphée was sent to Portugal to cover there and Catherine accompanied her horse to ride him in a farewell ceremony in public in Lisbon. He remained in Portugal until his untimely death in 1998, when Orphée suffered a severe colic attack and sadly could not be saved.
Though Orphée wasn’t one of the medal winning horses that competed show after show, he paved the way for every Iberian horse that came after him and earned respect and acceptance from the judges. Besides this he showed an extraordinary lightness incomparable to many other modern dressage horses. Orphée proved that dressage can still be more art than sport.
Text by Silke Rottermann
Photos courtesy M&C Henriquet. Top Photo : Book Cover "Henriquet on Dressage" J.A. Allen Books, London.
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