{"id":24628,"date":"2015-12-08T10:54:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=24628"},"modified":"2017-02-09T16:41:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:41:39","slug":"brett-parbery-and-a-vision-for-australian-dressage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/12\/brett-parbery-and-a-vision-for-australian-dressage\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett Parbery and a vision for Australian Dressage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/K3A5733.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24629\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/K3A5733.jpg\" alt=\"_K3A5733\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/K3A5733.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/K3A5733-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/K3A5733-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a>With Rebecca Ashton<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Rebecca Ashton concludes her extraordinary series of articles with Australian dressage star, Brett Parbery. In this episode, Brett outlines his plan to turn around the future of Australian dressage\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Brett Parbery is a dreamer. He\u2019s the first one to admit that. However, where Brett is different to most theorizers is that he puts solid action behind those ideas. He has big plans for Australian dressage and is getting things going on a micro-level with his own procedures and systems that he hopes might catch on ripple over nationally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spend a lot of time thinking about how we can get dressage better from this side of the planet. In Australia we don\u2019t have all those heads that get together at all the shows like in Europe. Overseas they\u2019re all good friends, they work together, they get together at the shows and they ask each other about horses. Even if they\u2019re from different countries, they have a beer and discuss ideas. \u2018I have a horse, it doesn\u2019t piaffe so well&#8230;&#8230;have you tried this or that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have that here as much because we\u2019re on the other side of the world and I think also we\u2019re all just so busy trying to make a dollar. I have always found, every time I come back from a training stint in Europe, I have a really good focus and attitude. Then over time it starts to evaporate and you start getting molded by your environment. I\u2019ve been trying to put my finger on why that is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think one of the problems we face in Australia is that our dressage environment is not set up for the production of world class combinations. It\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault, and no one is to blame, it\u2019s just the way it is. I often ask people this question, \u2018Do you think that if we put any of the current top five riders in the world in the same position as any of the current top five riders in Australia, living here with limited coaching, nice shows but not big world class events, footing issues at many of our venues, inconsistent judging through the levels, work and finance issues, do you think they would become better or worse riders?\u2019 I think we all would agree that their talents would decline over time. My next question is then, \u2018How can we expect our riders to become better in an environment where we all agree the best in the world would become worse?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, we need to ask ourselves, \u2018How is it possible to get our riders better focused and achieving higher scores?\u2019 Firstly I think we need to have a big group of people all pushing each other in a good way with healthy competition. From my days in rodeo, healthy competition does not come about from disliking your competitors, or trying to undermine them. It comes from camaraderie and boosting other people so that you have to be better yourself. If undermining your competitors and being nasty was such a great strategy, why hasn\u2019t it worked to date? It hasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1010009.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24633 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1010009.jpg\" alt=\"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA\" width=\"367\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1010009.jpg 367w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1010009-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, let\u2019s try the other way. Let\u2019s try to enjoy our life and the sport and help one another. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean telling each other that we\u2019re good and telling lies to each other, but being honest in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the true key to development here is being able to self analyse. Having tools that help you to self analyse, whether that\u2019s eyes on the ground constantly, or whether it\u2019s getting yourself videoed all the time, or having a set of aids that you can check yourself on, self analysis is the only way you get progression. If someone can help you do this without stripping away your confidence to make you better, and therefore also make themselves better, I think that\u2019s the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result, I have recently come up with an idea for my own high performance training system. I don\u2019t think what is offered by the national organisation is broad enough. They simply just don\u2019t have the funds to help us. I\u2019m getting a couple of people involved and have a \u2018head coach\u2019 or chief organiser as-it-were who isn\u2019t a dressage person, but has a lot of experience in high performance. It\u2019s very new and still in the experimental\u00a0stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe there are four key elements to a successful high performance program:<br \/>\n&#8211; Both the horses\u2019 and riders\u2019 bodies must be in the best physical condition to take on the\u00a0challenge.<br \/>\n&#8211; Rider skill development<br \/>\n&#8211; A thorough and continuous review process<br \/>\n&#8211; Inspiration to keep pushing the\u00a0limits<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe horse\u2019s physical and mental wellbeing needs to be monitored. Management such as having regular body work for the horses, correct shoeing, regular dental checks, soft tissue treatments, x-rays and training logs made. It\u2019s important to view the horse as the elite athlete he is. The horses must be pain free and content, before they will offer complete\u00a0willingness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a rider and trainer, I was happy with my training system, but I wasn\u2019t happy with the quality of kilometres I was putting into my training. For example, if you have a tight hip and you\u2019re doing a lot of kilometres riding with a tight hip, your horse has to compensate for your body and it affects him negatively. Ever wondered why sometimes you give your horse time off and he feels great when he comes back to work? I think sometimes the fact that he hasn\u2019t been carting around your misalignments has something to do with it. I think work on body symmetry and constant improvement to rider position is important. It also helps to stop bad habits creeping into the training.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRider skill development is essential. It doesn\u2019t matter how good a rider we become, we can always improve. It\u2019s important that we never lose sight of developing our skills and this can be done by getting more lessons from varied coaches, but also identifying which skill you need to improve, and going and finding the answer yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce you then acquire the skills and start working on them it is extremely important to keep reviewing your performance and measuring it against pre-assigned key performance indicators (KPI\u2019s). Video review is great for that. We dressage riders are usually our own worst critics and I\u2019m no exception. I really dislike watching myself on video, but I have to make myself do it to keep the review process consistent. I have been playing with the idea of maybe one day being able to ride\u00a0a dummy Grand Prix test, and then send the footage overseas to an international judge who could possibly judge it, and send the comments back to me the next day. The results and even individual movements could be graphed so I could identify my weak areas, and therefore aim at meeting my KPI\u2019s before the show, not at the show as I currently do. I think this could be great for the review process and possibly one way we could keep up with the European standard. But at this point none of that is available but it is something to think about for the\u00a0future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to inspiration, there are a number of ways to go about it. The Europeans have great shows that usually have tough competition, so that keeps them inspired to push themselves. In the absence of that, things like regional training groups and bigger events incorporating the three Olympic disciplines. For example, a team event concept putting all of our top riders from all three disciplines into teams of three, one from each discipline and riding against each other, could possibly assist to create inspiration. About 15 months ago I decided to bring a group of riders together to mix socially, but to also discuss business and the direction of the sport. We called it the Book Club.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_1138.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_1138.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1138\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_1138.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_1138-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_1138-451x300.jpg 451w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>One of &#8216;The Book Club&#8217; get-togethers&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We live in the Southern Highlands and are very lucky in the sense that very good professionals live close by to us. I was riding around one day in the arena and I thought to myself, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m sick of this whole thing where none of us really catch up and the only time we see each other is at shows where we\u2019re all busy. I actually want to sit around a table with people I respect and discuss ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI rang around, and it\u2019s not as if we\u2019re all close friends, but we do have a common interest. We have a lot of experience between us and put in the same room, we have a great time, but we\u2019re not living out of each other\u2019s pockets. There\u2019s Matthew Dowsley, Rodney Martin, Dave McKinnon, Robbie Soster, Sue Hearn, Andrew Hearn, Michelle Baker, Kelly Rolland, myself and Mel, Mark Dowling and Ally Soster. Of that, eight are riders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, originally we got together as a dinner group and decided we should get together every four to six weeks or so. I thought that we could all get together and solve a few problems; I need some stuff, you need some stuff, where are you buying your hay? Can we buy it cheaper if we buy it together? All those little things that working together would improve. We were all joking around, thinking of names for the group. The Saddle Club didn\u2019t cut it but The Book Club stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI then wondered if I should put it to the guys that we train together, because I actually want to enjoy the journey on my horses and I don\u2019t want to feel like I\u2019m doing it on my own. After a couple of our dinner gatherings, we were all getting on well, I put it out there to them. \u2018Here\u2019s the next chapter of this social experiment! How would you guys feel if we all trained together once a month or so?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said no, they didn\u2019t think it would work and they didn\u2019t want to break up the fun thing we had going. And I\u2019ll give them credit, they trusted in me a bit because it was an experiment. The last thing I wanted was to have people upset by it. You\u2019re never quite sure how these things are going to turn\u00a0out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we\u2019re in the arena, it has nothing to do with friendships. We actually all want the same thing; we all want to get better and we want to get our horses better. So we tried it, but the one thing we had to break down, what could be misconstrued was when someone was giving advice, it was not someone being critical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all know that sometimes in riding, things have to get worse before they get better and it was just making sure that everyone knew that. What someone suggests might feel worse, but it will eventually be better. So I suggested that we all nominate someone to be our training partner. Your partner is someone who works closely with you, and you share your deep, dark secrets with them and they help you source information within the group to make you better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that they are your coach. Your coach can be anyone in the group or the coach away from the group you want to stick with all the time. Your training partner is going to help you break down info that\u2019s come from your session and help you follow it up in the weeks after. \u2018Those changes that you worked on&#8230;how are they going? Have you thought about what Matthew said?\u2019 sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone chose a partner and away we went. The first couple of sessions all felt a bit awkward. So, we put the radio on, two people rode at a time and we just started training, we started talking. It continues like that now. Everyone else is either out getting their horse ready or sitting in the corner. We don\u2019t all stand around throwing our two bobs\u00a0in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, for example one session I said to Michelle Baker (who is my training partner), I want to work on my ones. Michelle said, \u2018He\u2019s not through enough.\u2019 So we grabbed Matthew and Matthew commented, \u2018No, you\u2019ve got to have him rounder, more through and come back to trot, canter transitions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Weltmieser5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24636\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Weltmieser5.jpg\" alt=\"Weltmieser5\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Weltmieser5.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Weltmieser5-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Weltmieser5-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Brett and DP Weltmieser, champions at the 2015 Sydney CDI<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAway we went, more over the back, more through, a little zigzag work and getting the horse to use its body better, get his neck lower. They took me from the original plan of the ones, back to where they thought the root of the problem was, Matthew via Michelle and Rodney chipped in a bit as well. I have no doubt that made it better. It was fantastic. That\u2019s it working in a good way. Then I came away and we had a dinner a couple of weeks later and touched base.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s many ways this can work. The underlying thing is having a camaraderie. I still don\u2019t think we\u2019re using it to its full potential. We\u2019re all still experimenting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some really good things that have come out of it though. For example, at the Nationals last year, Robbie and Michelle were the first out in the Grand Prix freestyle and they went bang, bang; 67% and 67%. That made the whole night of freestyles tougher. Everybody had to be at their best. I had no one warming me up. Rodney was walking past and he jumped in and helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf someone knows where you\u2019re at, and what you\u2019re up to, we can kind of change who works with whom. That can be really helpful. We went to Orange CDI and Robbie had had a bad ride at Bowral the week before. She wasn\u2019t going to go to Orange but we all rallied around her and said, \u2018No, you\u2019re going.\u2019 She went and got a personal best. There\u2019s a lot of that. We\u2019re around each other for the good times and the bad\u00a0times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you compete and people are on your side, it makes you braver to take more risk. Sure, things don\u2019t always go right, but you start pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Whenever you\u2019re in your comfort zone you\u2019re only ever going to get the score you always got. You can only go further if you take risks. You\u2019re more likely to do that if you have supportive people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is always talk about whether we need to get the European-based combinations to come back to Australia to qualify for the team. I\u2019m partly for it, and partly not for it. Not for it in the short term, because while the European riders are the strongest competitors for Australia, we can\u2019t ask them to come back. They\u2019re holding the cards really. We as a group of Grand Prix riders in Australia need to get better to a point that we are the strongest of the Australian passport riders. It\u2019s not about \u201cthem and us\u201d. They\u2019re good because they\u2019re amongst the good riders and are being pushed. We need to develop that here. So if we can do that with things like \u2018The Book Club\u2019, working together, going to shows, developing a detailed high performance system, we\u2019re in a better position. I also think it should be more a northern hemisphere\/ southern hemisphere thing. We need to work together with New Zealand as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we look at the equestrian calendars in both countries, Australians can compete in New Zealand, and New Zealanders can compete in Australia, and we can push each other. I just had all the New Zealanders here prior to the Sydney CDI and we talked about this. It will make for tougher competitions, and then it would be great for the dressage public if we could have the European based riders come back here. It would be good for them to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we want to leave a legacy of camaraderie, training system, clarity, Australia as one, we should be able to sit back in the stands when we\u2019re retired and enjoy what we\u2019re seeing, not criticising it. If not, we haven\u2019t done our job properly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/MG_0236.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24630\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/MG_0236.jpg\" alt=\"_MG_0236\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/MG_0236.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/MG_0236-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/MG_0236-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Brett goes through an iPad video with student Katharine Farrell<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talk a lot about Equestrian Australia needing a slogan like, \u2018One Sport, One Team\u2019. If we want to make Australia number one at something in the world in equestrian, let\u2019s make it that we are the best at working together in very smart and very efficient ways. Let\u2019s become more innovative in our coaching, having our high performance coaches working with our event organisers, working with all the different disciplines and having them all work together. I believe that is the strategy that must come from the national board. All the little factions and infighting; if they\u2019re not together in the boardroom, you cannot expect the sport to be together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho would want to be a selector, for example? You get shot down whenever there\u2019s a selection event on, social media goes mad, everyone\u2019s an expert until they try to do it. No one wants to be a selector and how do you blame them? No matter how black and white you make a selection policy, there\u2019s always going to be a scenario that will test it. Add to that uninformed opinions, why would you want to do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we need to turn up at a big world event and have other countries look at us and think, \u2018Man, those guys are going somewhere. They\u2019re running a very exciting form of the sport and they\u2019re united in the way they approach this.\u2019 When your strongest combinations are coming out of Australia, that is when your sport is at its best. That\u2019s nothing against the girls based in Europe. They\u2019re there because they want to bring the best out in themselves and they think that\u2019s the way to do it. Give me half a chance I\u2019d be there too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the moment, the showjumpers are all based overseas, the eventers are predominately based overseas, the dressage riders are all based over there. That\u2019s not great for what is going on here. We need to pull together and it has to start in the boardroom. The longer they talk about Hendra, the longer they talk about ICT platforms and all that stuff, the more they try to micromanage&#8230;.they\u2019ve wasted so much time over the years.\u00a0\u00a0 Hopefully it will change, but need to be united, and focus on the sport, and get to where we need to be in the high performance\u00a0field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, when that kid comes out of Pony Club, forget \u2018Ready, Set, Trot\u2019 &#8211; that program is about kids getting a helmet on and pretending they have a horse trotting around. What we really need is to find the kid in Pony Club who wants to go on with horses, \u2018Where do I go? Do I go to polocrosse, do I go western? I want to go equestrian because those guys look like they\u2019re together, the events are exciting and they go to the Olympic Games.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are the kids we need to drag into equestrian, and we are not going to find them through \u2018Ready, Set, Trot\u2019. Is it a surprise we have all the problems that we have? That\u2019s where I\u2019m hoping that the incoming board goes right back and starts from a \u201cone team\u201d basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still believe that the quality of coaching in this country is there. In The Book Club, I\u2019ve said to those guys, I don\u2019t want to go to a clinic with an international guru, I want to trust in my Book Club members. We need to take ownership of our own training and our own system. This will work better than having the next big guru come out and inject two days of information. I don\u2019t know whether I\u2019m living in Lala Land or not&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What \u201cThe Book Club\u201d members think:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SuePort.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24635\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SuePort.jpg\" alt=\"SuePort\" width=\"367\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SuePort.jpg 367w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SuePort-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>SUE HEARN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is more about swapping little ideas. We are all very friendly, we are all very open to new things, and I think you have to be. Little comments can help so much, oh I did this with this horse \u2013 and that makes a big difference \u2013 and of course, we all drink a lot of wine, that makes it even more friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinding a time when everybody can be together is tricky when we all have to work for a living, but when we get together it is really good. When we are at a show, if there is one of the group on the side, we know they can help. It\u2019s not some strange person helping you, it is someone you are used to. Like Rodney Martin came and helped me at Sydney, and it just blew me away. Not changing anything, but just the confidence, he\u2019s seen the horse go and knows how to help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur dinners are hysterical\u2026 it seriously is like everybody talking, all at once, quite crazy. It\u2019s a My Kitchen Rules thing, you have to out-cook the person before you, come up with something pretty good \u2013 there\u2019s no running out to the pizza place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of the group in The Highlands, no one has tickets on themselves, we all know how hard it is to train a horse to Grand Prix and to keep it sound. We all have to work for a living, there\u2019s none of us who have been given anything. We are all working out ways of saving money, earning money, trying to keep our businesses going. Like Dave McKinnon is trying to get cheaper hay, getting a bulk deal, cheaper feed, finding little ways, little ideas, to help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/rodney.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24634\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/rodney.jpg\" alt=\"rodney\" width=\"367\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/rodney.jpg 367w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/rodney-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a>RODNEY MARTIN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrett\u2019s wants to make us Southern Highlanders the best in Australia! We\u2019re pretty fortunate having a group of really good riders down here and we all want to help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody does things differently and it\u2019s always beneficial to have another viewpoint. You might be having a problem with one thing and your way of fixing it might not quite work, and someone else, especially someone who doesn\u2019t see you all the time, might have a method that does work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s so busy and we can\u2019t do it all the time but we do it as much as we can and then we\u2019ll try and have a dinner and discuss each horse. We\u2019ve also started doing videos and we\u2019ll have a video night from say a judge\u2019s point of view. We\u2019ll ride a test and then people will talk about the movements and about what marks they would give and why. Just trying to help each other a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good for the green ones. I can go to Mark Dowling\u2019s place and get them used to an indoor and the sound system. It\u2019s really good to get them off the property. I try to take a different horse every time. It\u2019s not a full on lesson as such it\u2019s just for instance Sue and Brett watching and Brett might say to Sue, \u2018What would you do with that?\u2019 And Sue would give her opinion and Brett might have a different opinion, so you might try both ways, plus your own way, and see what works best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think at comps helping each other is what we need. Matthew might be doing something at the same time as me, because we usually have so many horses at a show. If someone from the group is around, they might come up to me and say, do this or do that in the warm up. And I do the same. If I see Brett warming up and I think that could be better, I\u2019ll say just do this, Brett.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really good like that, and no one seems to take offense. We are all just trying to get the most out of our horses. We are all open-minded so we\u2019re willing to take a bit of criticism. We\u2019re not so set in our ways. I think when you start to think that you\u2019re better than someone else, that\u2019s when things start to go wrong. When you stop learning you might as well retire. I\u2019m always willing to take any criticism or advice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Who\u2019s the best cook?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe! Haha. Mel is a good cook to. Everyone does a great job really. Actually we drink more than we eat. I bet if you asked each person in the group no-one would be able to tell you what we had at each person\u2019s place. We\u2019ve got a waiting list of people wanting to join!\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Dave-and-Robbie.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24631\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Dave-and-Robbie.jpg\" alt=\"Dave and Robbie\" width=\"367\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Dave-and-Robbie.jpg 367w, https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Dave-and-Robbie-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAVE MCKINNON<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked for Brett for two years after Kentucky and we\u2019ve been good friends since then. The whole Book Club just sort of evolved, there was no sign up or anything like that, it just started as dinner and an idea with the riders in our area. The training sessions came later. As the youngest riders, it\u2019s hard for Robbie and I to teach any of the other guys how to do anything because they all know so much more than us. They coach us but our role is more to be eyes on the ground and doing some videoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven when you\u2019re back home, it\u2019s great because instead of riding on your own trying to come up with solutions, you have all their voices in your mind. You feel the support from those guys even if they\u2019re not there all the time. You know they\u2019re there barracking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s also much better at competitions. Before the club you were on your own, but now we all try to get the same stable aisle and there\u2019s someone to help you warm up. It\u2019s just a better and more supportive atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe dinners are really like My Kitchen Rules type of affair. I don\u2019t want to say who I think the best chef is. Everyone is pretty good!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>This article first appeared in the October 2015 issue.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rebecca Ashton concludes her extraordinary series of articles with Australian dressage star, Brett Parbery. In this episode, Brett outlines his plan to turn around the future of Australian dressage\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[444,1316,1243,1315,1265],"class_list":["post-24628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dressage","tag-brett-parbery","tag-dave-mckinnon","tag-dressage","tag-rodney-martin","tag-sue-hearn"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24628"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32225,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24628\/revisions\/32225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}