There is something very special about great partnerships, and there is no doubting that Coby van Baalen and Ferro are shaping into one of the most exciting dressage combinations in the world today. This partnership is based on yet another very special relationship, the one between trainer and rider, and the teamwork of Coby and her trainer, Jo Hinnemann is such, that an interview with the rider, ends up between a three way inter-change around the table. As Coby explains, it was only four years ago that the dainty doll like Dutch rider met up with the black stallion of every rider’s dream. At that stage Ferro was working at Prix St Georges level, but according to Coby – ‘he was not trained so much. He was also a jumper when he was a younger horse. When he was five and six he was with a Dutch international showjumping rider, but then the national showjumping coach, Hans Horn, said to the owner, ‘maybe he could be a very good dressage horse’.’
“We started with my trainer, Johann Hinnemann, and now you see the result…”
Did he always show such a lot of talent for piaffe and passage?
This question provokes great mirth from both Coby and Jo…
“I think that is a better question for my trainer.” Coby passes that one along…
“It was really difficult to get the movement.,” says Jo Hinnemann,
“He was a very hot and sensitive horse in one way, and in the other way, not sensitive enough to get all the half halts through. That was the difficult part, to get the whole thing together so he listens to the rider and starts to move in a rhythmical way. The only way to do this was to go back to the basics – normal simple work, how you train a young horse. We had to bring his basic movements back, and improve those basic movements.”
And Coby, did you think at that time you were riding such a fantastic horse?
“I always believed that Ferro was, and is, a very good horse because he has a very good character, and the power in his hind legs is very good. He is a strong horse. We saw he had a lot of talent for collection, then as Johann says, we worked on the basics, many many transitions until he went better, started to use his back better. The results at the shows in the small tour were very good.”
But you have recently had a little up and down form – fantastic in Rome, then at the Europeans, not so wonderful…
“When we went to the European Championships, it was when he was really breeding a lot of mares, so it was not the best time for him. The Special was really good – 74% – but the other national riders were a little bit better so I couldn’t ride in the Freestyle, even though we were sixth in the Special.”
Jo backs her up:
“Everybody is talking about Ferro having a bad show, because of the Grand Prix, and yet he still had the chance to win an individual medal! At the end of the Special, we had exactly the same result as we had one year earlier in Rome – she was ninth in Rome in the Grand Prix, and sixth in the Special, and then went into the final. We had exactly the same places at Arnhem, but Ferro was not allowed to do the final leg, the freestyle, because only three are allowed from each country.”
At the World Cup final in s’Hertogenbosch, your Greek music was a real hit with the crowd….
Coby is happy to agree: “We started with the music two months before, and the Final was the first time I rode on the new music. At the stallion show in s’Hertogenbosch last February, we did a show with Ferro, and at the end of the show, we tried out three kinds of music – and asked the audience to decide which they liked best, just twenty seconds of the three sorts of music. They liked the Zorba the Greek very much.”
Your daughter, Marlies rode some stallions at the big stallion show at Zwolle – German stallions….
This is Johann’s area of expertise: “I have a contract with the Westfalien state stud in Warendorf to train five or six horses for them, and to train two or three of their riders. The new director has a new policy to take the stallions out into the sport. I think that is workingfantastic, we seven stallions from the Landgestut, and one rider competing successfully at Prix St Georges level, and because one rider cannot ride seven stallions, and they are not all the same size, we are lucky to have Marlies to ride some smaller horses. The picture looks fantastic and she’s a very experienced rider. The Zwolle show is becoming a very good place to advertise the stallions, weÕll take the stallions back next year. It is a very interesting show for the breeders to see the stallions.”
Are you very competitive with your daughter?
“My daughter is the best rider, it is no problem. It is a pleasure to ride together in the same competition.”
For Coby, riding is a family business…
“My husband’s family is a real horse family. I always rode young horses, breaking in the young stallions. I was teaching students to ride before I met my husband at a horse show – he had at home ten brood mares, and my father-in-law said you must get the best lessons so you can become a good dressage rider.”
How many Grand Prix horses have you competed on?
“My first Grand Prix horse was Biraldo, I rode him from the age of four to eight, then the owner sold him to the Canadian rider, Christilot Boylen. That was when I started training with Johann, that was the first Grand Prix horse we made together, and now we are working on our eleventh Grand Prix horse.
What do you find so helpful in Mr Hinnemann’s training methods?
“Everything, his experience with horses – I think we have a very good team together. It is very pleasant and good to work with him.”
Are you a nervous competitor?
“I think you better ask my trainer about that..”
” Everyone has to be a bit nervous, to be too cool is not good enough. We talk about the difficulties in the test – not directly before the competition, that is part of the training work at home. We focus on really special problems that can happen in the test, this is what they have to think about all the time. They have to be a little bit nervous and a little bit frightened.”
” Before the test, I like to go somewhere quiet with Johann, and not too many people, that’s the best way to concentrate on the test.”
Ferro was fantastic in the Kür at the World Cup final – before the test he warmed up right in front of the C judge with some super piaffe… Jo explains the strategy:
“Coby had the feeling that she had to make the horse a little bit more concentrated, and to make his piaffe a little bit quicker, to get enough collection and enough control of the whole horse. Especially around the arena, she was trying to get his concentration on her.”
And piaffe is a good way to get that concentration?
“Yes,” says Coby, “that’s the control. When he has enough energy in his hind legs, then I feel he is there for me, and he listens to me.”
But before they got into the arena, there were problems according to Jo:
“As we came in there were three or four cold blood horses – Belgian draft horses – and the stallion reacted immediately, especially as we have a small cold blood mare at home that we use when we collect from the stallion. When Ferro came round the ring, he was a little bit excited because of those cold bloods, then on top of that, the noise from the applause for the previous rider, he is very sensitive, especially to noise, and also all the special lights in the big arena. Through doing the piaffe around the ring, Coby got a quiet horse, and you could see that from the entrance. It is in walk, and he was absolutely quiet and concentrated because of the piaffe.”
Walk is a difficult pace…
“Ferro is a very nice horse and in the walk he is easy and quiet so you can see you can see the nice horse, and I can think about how he is, without worrying because you do not get marks for the entrance. I know how he is and how he feels, much easier than in trot or canter.”
When did you know you had ridden such a fabulous test…
“This time, half an hour later. It was the first time I’d ridden that freestyle, you feel the music is there, and it all seemed to follow, but you are always thinking about the next thing, you donÕt have time to think about whether it was good or bad.”
“I have never seen Coby so concentrated, and when she had finished she was so tense, happy but tense and still concentrated. It’s top sport, you are exhausted when you come out.”
And now you concentrate on Sydney?
“Yes.”
“No, we concentrate on the soundness of the horse and the soundness of the rider, and then Sydney just comes.”
The rider looks pretty sound?
“Yes, but I know both of them.”
Jo, how will it feel if you contribute to a Dutch victory over the German team at Sydney? More laughter.
“I am not allowed to have any kind of feelings there – because I also have a German rider, Alexandra Simons-de Ridder, so hopefully I have one rider in the Dutch team and one in the German.”
Can you train a horse for a young horse class CORRECTLY?
Jo Hinnemann answers the question (with quite a lot of help from Rilke).
In the past we have had a lot of discussion about the way a young horse should be presented at a show like the Bundeschampionate. I had to answer the question: ‘with correct training can a horse have success at a show like the Bundeschampionate?’
Especially in the last few years, we saw a number of cases where the riders were, in my opinion, too rough and tough on the horses to get bigger strides, or bigger canter. It is absolutely unnecessary. We have a special test devised for the young horse classes, which asks for working canter, and lengthened strides in the trot, and no more. In the final this year, we showed that it was possible to go well with horses correctly prepared. I set out to demonstrate this with a four year old stallion for the Westfalien stud, Rilke, by Ritual, that is Ramiro breeding, and his dam is by Wendekreis. What I was trying to show was rhythm, not hurrying, and suppleness. You can show rhythm and suppleness with a little bit of expression, as long as you prepare correctly, and that is what I tried to demonstrate. Not too short in the neck, correct riding. With a horse like Rilke, with such a nice temperament, it is easy to show in circumstances like this, but the main thing is how to discuss the basic gaits. It is not a special way of training, it is written in our handbook. It is the theory I stand for, and I tried to demonstrate.
There are some people who work their horses a little bit more round, and shorter, but I think these riders have a special reason for that particular horse. If you are talking about Anky (Van Grunsven) who is one of the best riders in the world, she is an artist, and you can’t talk about her way of training, or Isabell (Werth), or in former times, Nicole (Uphoff) – it’s as if I looked at a car race and saw Schumaker winning, then I called Schumaker and told him ‘you should drive like you were taught in school then you would go even faster’… that’s nonsense, they should do it their way and we shouldn’t criticise them. What I am talking about is the normal usual way for normal riders, there are always special horses and special riders and they should be allowed to have their own special way.
The main thing I am trying to emphasise is that we should be thinking about the work we do every day, it should be logical, systematic, easy to understand for the horses, easy to understand for the riders. How much you can teach a three year old depends on the horse. Because they are growing all the time, you have to watch the horse and judge: is it enough that I am doing, or is it a little too much? If you have the possibility to put the horse out into a field that is okay – but if you don’t, you should ride them, play with them. I always argue for more movement for the horse. Twenty three hours in the stable and one hour riding, that’s not enough. Horses have to move. The training should have nothing to do with developing an extended trot. A three year old cannot do an extended trot. It is impossible. The only thing you can do is show the talent – and they can show the talent when they do the working trot well, through the whole body and a little bit of lengthened stride. Extended trot is a result of three years of training. The main thing, in the young horse classes is to remember that success can still be achieved with CORRECT training…