Shannan Makauskas is the Assistant Editor and a regular contributor to Australian Equestrian publication The Horse Magazine. Since she was six-years-old she has been a die-hard dressage fan and is training her two current Warmbloods to FEI level.
In her first guest column for Eurodressage she questions the tradition to train overseas, and ponders whether an aspiring young rider can find inspiration closer to home…
Who Knows Best?
Writing for a horse magazine has given me the opportunity to watch, interview and take part in lessons with some of the World’s best trainers. It has opened the doors to Australian riders’ stables, where I have asked them about their life story, what they learnt from each of the trainers they spent time with overseas, and witnessed the hallmarks of their training as they worked their horses.
After doing this for three years, I’ve seen the basics of dressage repeatedly serve as the most fundamental element to success, over and over again. From clinicians working with the best riders in the State, to trainers working their horses at home, I have seen the principles we all know, transform ordinary horses into something extraordinary. They all told me the same thing - there is no secret to success.
I remember interviewing Brett Parbery, who represented Australia at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Riding the Australian bred horse, Victory Salute, they finished 9th on 76.35%, even beating German heavyweight Christoph Koschel riding Donnperignon.
In the lead-up to the competition they based with Edward Gal for a year, a year before that they spent time training with Hubertus Schmidt. Here was a rider who had the chance to experience the best of both Dressage worlds – Germany, well regarded for their ‘classical’ approach, and The Netherlands, who are infamous for their use of hyperflexion or rollkur in their training methods. What was his experience between the two? At the time he said:
“I knew that training with Edward would suit us and it has. Still, good riding is good riding, and my time with Hubertus was the single most important thing that has happened in our development as a combination.”
Brett described Edward’s training methods: “It’s good riding and good horsemanship. It’s nothing new but the simple things done well. If a horse needs to go deep, then they put them there. If not, then they don’t. They train each horse to suit the horse, not to the confines of a system with a name.”
The basics are the basics, and their meaning is the same in every language. The Germans and the Dutch aren’t harbouring a vault full of riding tricks or classified information passed between those on the ‘inner circle’. So why is it we still seek a year in an overseas barn to tell us what we already know?
For me, it’s not the knowledge of a trainer in Europe that holds so much allure. Although there are trainers who have a way with words that breath fresh air into their meaning, enough of the elite riders in our own countries have already done the hard yards in a barn in Europe to impart their wisdom upon the rest of us.
Perhaps it not so much the trainer, or the ‘system’ they promote, but the atmosphere created by riding under constant supervision in a professional barn, and against a high standard of competition, that incites huge improvement in a rider.
I recently did a profile on an upcoming talent on the Australian dressage scene, Sarah Honeywell, who trained for three years with Belgium’s Stefan Van Ingelgem and for four years at PSI under the guidance of the Kasselman’s and Ulf Möller. Sarah reminded me of the saying, ‘You only do as much as you have to do to win.’
Formerly from New Zealand, she said: “If you’re riding against the best horses and riders in the world, you have to learn to do a whole lot more to beat them. It’s all very well winning in New Zealand, but when you go to Europe, you have to step it up a whole lot more.”
Is being surrounded by riders that are of a higher standard therefore the source of their improvement? It’s certainly a contributing factor. In an interview with my editor, Christopher Hector, Brett Parbery talked about competing at Aachen for the first time:
“That’s the toughest stage in the world. It is just such an educated crowd…Aachen definitely brings out the best in everybody, everyone tries to do their best at Aachen.”
There is no denying riding against the best in the world will motivate a rider to rise to their level. And with the best riders from each country competing on the World stage, they are bringing more knowledge and experience home, raising the bar in their own country and inciting progress.
At the last seven Olympic games, Germany has been unbeatable as a team, claiming the Gold medal at every meeting. It wasn’t until the 2007 European Championships that the Dutch, riding in Germany’s shadow for so long, finally overtook them. Two years later, with horses like Totilas and Parzival leading their ranks, it’s impossible to deny the cause of their team’s success. But it was Great Britain that saw the Germans demoted to the Bronze medal position, a shock to the Dressage world, where the Dutch and German teams were always in a league of their own.
With the unpredictable nature of horse sport, one must also consider the circumstances. At the 2009 European Championships, Germany’s champion Isabell Werth was out (pregnant and just out of her suspension for a ‘drug’ infringement at the time). And while the other veterans of the German team were experiencing an untimely shortage of talented horses, the younger German talents were selling their best horses after selectors refused to induct fresh faces onto the team.
They had remedied this problem by the 2010 World Equestrian Games, Isabell was back with Warum Nicht and some truly gifted riders were filling Ulla Salzgeber and Hubertus Schmidt’s shoes. Anabel Balkenhol, Matthias Alexander Rath, and Christoph Koschel were the missing links, but it still wasn’t enough.
The team medals were nail bitingly close with The Netherlands taking the Gold on 229.75. Great Britain proved themselves again by claiming the Silver on 224.77. In fact, Germany only just managed to hang onto the Bronze medal with 220.6 from the United States team effort of 218.128. These performances prove the rest of the world is finally catching up and loosening Europe’s strong hold on the winners’ podium, and it’s because of our elite riders time in Europe that we have caught up.
The development of Dressage is a history unique to each country, and evaluating which nation is the best is impossible, just as arguing who the best trainer is. We are now at the stage where the information has been shared, the professionalism of the equestrian industry in Europe has been experienced, and the knowledge is filtering down to the rest of us.
Most dressage enthusiasts have read enough books, watched enough clinics, and ridden in enough lessons to know what they have to do. Most of us have seen enough performances to know how it should look. In fact, if you watch Edward Gal’s freestyle at the 2010 WEG you will see a near perfect example of a test, given he scored 91.8%.
Therefore, my point is this - it doesn’t matter whether Edward himself is teaching you, or whether you are based at the stables of Isabell Werth, what makes the difference in a young rider is having someone knowledgeable overseeing them train several horses a day in a competitive environment. Whether that is in your home country or across the ocean is neither here nor there, there are talented trainers in every country and a talented rider can flourish under their guidance.
It can be easy to become discouraged in a sport when it seems to be all about money, when the rider with an overpriced imported horse, who has quit their day job to ride full time under the nose of the latest expert, takes the title. Although there’s no denying a trip overseas will give you a heavy dose of knowledge and experience, I think aspiring young riders can now benefit just as much from their own country’s Champions.
-- by Shannan Makauskas for Eurodressage.com