{"id":22167,"date":"2015-04-14T12:40:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T02:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22167"},"modified":"2017-02-10T10:58:20","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:58:20","slug":"keep-it-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/04\/keep-it-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep it Simple!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vicki<\/a>One of the problems about writing about training horses is that the brilliant trainers don\u2019t have any gimmicks or magic tricks \u2013 just good clean training. The wizards with the wands make for far more entertaining reading but the problem is that they never seem to produce it where it matters \u2013 in the competition arena.<\/p>\n

Vicki Roycroft has certainly produced it when it counts. The winner of countless World Cup classes, the current Australian Champion with Ricardo D, has produced stunning performances in Australia and in Europe, where she was in the top ten at the first WEG, and took out the prestigious Grand Prix of Rome.<\/p>\n

\"2VickiPt1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Right now, Vicki has one of her strongest teams of horses ever; it is also probably one of the diverse \u2013 ranging from the huge 17+ \u2018Irish\u2019 (Infatuation), to the diminutive Ricci (Ricardo D) to the spectacularly coloured stallion, Copabella Visage.<\/p>\n

But despite the wide variety of type, shape and colour \u2013 the training is basically pretty simple \u2013 because after all, the animal we are dealing with is also kind of simple..<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do we assume that horses are intelligent?\u201d Vicki asks. \u201cThey are not as smart as dogs \u2013 you might be able to teach one to come, but try to teach him to sit! That to me is one of the huge problems, people assume that horses have an intelligence they don\u2019t have. They have personalities, enormous personalities, but they don\u2019t have the intelligence of a dog. Any training you do with a horse has to be based on the assumption that they are not very intelligent and you have to keep everything very clear and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my work regimes are similar \u2013 simple, very clear exercises. All my training is inspired by Wayne and Bill Roycroft, and then George Morris. But it\u2019s not just them, Albert Voorn had that philosophy of keeping it simple \u2013 put one leg on them and they move one way, put the other on and they move the other way. You can put all the fancy names on the exercises, but it is still basically the same exercise because you are teaching your horses to react to the aids. Keep it simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

What proportion of the work is gymnastic fittening work as distinct from learning work?<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of it is gymnastic fitness work but you are teaching them at the same time, reminding them to react to the aids. In any of your work you\u2019ve got to expect resistance \u2013 obviously more from a young horse \u2013 they\u2019d all rather be sitting in a paddock eating grass. It\u2019s all right for us to go out and do aerobics and gymnastics, we want to make our bodies more beautiful or whatever \u2013 but horses don\u2019t have incentives like that. They have no incentive to train, that\u2019s why all this crap about the \u2018happy athlete\u2019 is so crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"3aVickiPt1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA happy horse is a horse that knows what is expected of it. They have a very simple thought process: if they are getting fed at regular times, if they know what to expect in their work, they are happy enough \u2013 but if you have horses that don\u2019t know what they are supposed to do, because the riders are not consistent, then you have problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be consistent, the horse walks forward and it is on the bit \u2013 not one minute off the bit, and then the next minute the rider suddenly decides it has to be on the bit, it\u2019s not allowed to poke its nose. That makes the horse unhappy because it is confused. As a rider you have to be consistent totally to create something like a happy horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

How fit does a jumper have to be? The eventers obviously think a lot about fitness \u2013 do showjumping riders?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of fitness varies. For a normal jumper it is not a very high level. My horses get 20 minutes every day \u2013 very seldom less or more. If I am aiming for a bigger event, like a Games or a five star show, then okay I\u2019ll step the fitness up another level. If they\u2019ve got to do a Nations Cup, or a serious championship, then they will go to 30 or 40 minutes work a day. And I\u2019d give them a little more strong canter work to step it up to the 400 metres per minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they go out in the paddock during the day?<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my horses go out except for Ricci because he gets too fat \u2013 he is allowed two hours on grass a day! Irish is out there all the time because it keeps him more mentally happy. The stallions come in at night but they go in the paddock all day. Outside is a natural environment for a horse, it keeps them more comfortable, it prolongs their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously you have to watch what you feed them. I\u2019ve never been one to not feed some sort of protein \u2013 even to the hottest horse. Oddly enough, the very hot Thoroughbred I had, Apache, he was better off on a lot of grain. In his case because he was a little horse, because he was strong and healthy with a lot of grain, he was actually easier to ride. I think it is like people with poor nutrition, they end up tired and cranky\u2026 I\u2019ve never been one to feed horses just chaff and hay and nothing else. Now I\u2019ve got Irish, he is 18 hands with the brain of a hot Thoroughbred; he\u2019s a very difficult horse. I don\u2019t feed him a lot of grain, he gets the Mitavite Pro-sport, and that suits him very well. Whereas someone like Ricci who is a bit phlegmatic and needs to be very fit and strong \u2013 I actually work him a bit harder than the others \u2013 and he gets the more oat based feeds \u2013 like Sustain \u2013 to keep him there. You\u2019ve got to tailor everything, feed, fitness programs, to fit the individual horse. They have to be healthy and feeling great, they are athletes, they\u2019ve got to feel like they can do the job, they can fight to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vickix\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How much is suppling part of that?<\/p>\n

\u201cEssential because that is the nature of modern course designing \u2013 they are always asking you to run forward and sit back, to be able to do a bending six or a direct five\u2026 I was watching Fox channel on showjumping at Spruce Meadows the other day, and there was an open water, five long strides to a big oxer, then what looked like it would have stepped a nice six or a steady seven, but you had to do eight up to a double of verticals \u2013 the Athens Coins fences which are very hard to see \u2013 so not only did you have to add one stride but you had to add two to get the horses sitting on their hocks. It has become a much more technical sport, which I think is a good thing because it then shows how well the rider can ride and train the horse, not just how much jumping ability the horse has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does that mean you\u2019ve got to move to another level of sophistication in your flat work?<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, but that has been an increasing factor over the years, no question.\u201d<\/p>\n

How sophisticated does it have to be?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I go back to the simplicity of someone like Albert Voorn who said, \u2018I never do half passes\u2019. We don\u2019t necessarily have to do half passes, but you do need a horse that understands an inside and an outside leg. I guess when they go in the dressage arena, they ride a half pass to prove that, but for us, the proof is in the ring, how well they handle the lines, how well you have trained them to respond to that inside leg and outside rein. I do a lot of lateral work, but mainly leg yield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do quite a lot of counter canter because it is so good for their balance. It\u2019s jumping flatwork. I don\u2019t know how much it varies from straight dressage but for instance, in the rein back I don\u2019t like horses to rein back and then go straight forwards because to me, that looks like the clashing of aids. I\u2019d rather they back up and stop, chill out and then go forward again. I wonder sometimes if that is why you see so many lousy rein backs at dressage competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same basic principles, just varied to suit the different disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JumpVicki\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this keep it simple mode, do you keep what is in their mouth simple, or do you change that around?<\/p>\n

\u201cBits don\u2019t make a huge difference. Bits can refine and give you that little extra help but we are talking about a very small percentage \u2013 if you think a bit can totally change a horse, it won\u2019t. It can refine the process but it won\u2019t solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the auxiliaries \u2013 like draw reins? After all it was the showjumpers who created this whole \u2018rollkur\u2019 problem in dressage with Alwin Schockem\u00f6hle riding them super deep and round in draw reins\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the deep riding but riding deep and reaching. I haven\u2019t entirely followed the dressage debate but I entirely agree with your comments. I was in Athens \u2013 how could you give the gold to a horse that won\u2019t even stop? It wouldn\u2019t stand when she went to get back on it, it took four people to hold it \u2013 and then it jacks up when she goes for the presentation. That was the single most noble gesture at the Games, when Ulla (Salzgeber and Rusty) gave Anky (Van Grunsven and Salinero) a lead to do the presentation. It was rearing and jacking up and spinning sideways. We all just sat and waited and after about three minutes Ulla finally gave her a lead\u2026 I wouldn\u2019t have done it, I\u2019d have backed up a couple of paces. What kind of dressage horse is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI used draw reins a couple of times when I first got Ricci and he was a total plank. He\u2019d spent a year in the States with a little American junior, and he was a total plank \u2013 but that is the only time in the last six or seven years I\u2019ve used them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But you want them deep and over the back?<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the training I think that is essential \u2013 again this is another difference from dressage, I want a very supple loose neck. All the horses I\u2019ve got from dressage or eventing people that come here to make jumpers, the first thing I notice is the rigid neck. In the dressage arena they obviously demand this stillness and they are just rigid in the neck \u2013 I\u2019m sure that doesn\u2019t apply at the top level. As showjumpers, one of the things is that the neck has to be very supple because that allows the shoulders to be supple and the horse jumps bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VickiRicci2<\/a>This article was first published in THM April 2006.<\/em><\/p>\n

Roycroft, Vicki<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n