{"id":24638,"date":"2015-10-26T10:57:38","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T23:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=24638"},"modified":"2017-02-10T10:44:15","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:44:15","slug":"carl-hester-talks-about-the-euro-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/10\/carl-hester-talks-about-the-euro-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Hester talks about the 2015 Euro Champs at Aachen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Carl\"<\/a>Interview by Chris Hector<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about Nip Tuck \u2013 I guess there must have been dozens of horses that you have started that look more glamorous, that move more brilliantly, that never made Grand Prix. How important is what you can\u2019t see, what\u2019s inside?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGood point, that horse proves it all doesn\u2019t he? I\u2019m 48, coming up 25 years at championship level with different horses, and that one still taught me a great lesson. His owner Jane de la Mare is a really good friend of mine, she was a groom at Dr B\u2019s (Dr Bechtolsheimer, father of Laura and owner of Carl\u2019s Barcelona Olympic ride, Giorgione) <\/em>when I was a rider there. So this is a good partnership between the three of us. We started at the bottom, Jane and I together. She\u2019s from the Channel Islands too. When I got the horse, Nip Tuck was nothing on the way up, but I always said, \u2018I know he will do a Grand Prix\u2019, that\u2019s all I could say\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you know that?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know when you ride him. You can ride that horse in a pair of slippers, it just wants to go. You don\u2019t have to ride with a whip or spurs, nothing. The sensitivity is there, and if you touched him with a whip, the horse was like, right, I\u2019m going to piaffe. That was a natural thing for him to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, I think I can teach him everything. Last year, when he got to Grand Prix I said, he\u2019s not going to be good enough. Jane said, oh please do a Grand Prix with him before we sell him. I said, we\u2019ll go down the road where no one goes. We went to a back-of-beyond Grand Prix, and the blooming horse gets 77%. He was as green-as-a-leek. When I came out, I said, I can\u2019t believe it, he was pretty tense last year, he\u2019s a very hot horse, and January \/ February is not a good time of the year for him because he\u2019s not in the field as much as I\u2019d like. I said that\u2019s unbelievable \u2013 the horse is so tense, but he tries his absolute hardest not to make a mistake, he\u2019s doing what I said.\u201d\"CarlNipTuck\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThen Jane said, \u2018oh please will you do one international\u2019. I went, I\u2019m not doing an international on him, he\u2019s just not good enough! \u2018Please before we sell him, do an international\u2019. I said I\u2019ll take him to Saumur, that\u2019s a small one. And of course, he gets 71% at his first international! I thought, maybe I am being a bit hasty here, I\u2019d better settle down and start believing in him. I just changed my mind about him \u2013 the biggest thing is that every day I wake up I think I can\u2019t wait to get on that horse. He will go through the Grand Prix in a snaffle and a pair of slippers, it is a very unusual horse. I know physically it is demanding for him, he\u2019s got a long back, his hind legs were naturally always out, he didn\u2019t really have a walk because he was so tight, he didn\u2019t really have a canter because he was so tense and always trying to run off \u2013 and his trot had to be developed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that goes in a Grand Prix has helped make him a better horse. Once he learnt a canter pirouette, he started to take the weight back in canter, once he learnt to passage, the trot started to develop because before he had no lift, no nothing. It has just been a great lesson for me and I am delighted that I have been proved wrong, because it helps you in so many ways. It helps you as a trainer, because instead of saying to somebody, oh your horse is not good enough, now I say, well actually I tried this, I tried that, let\u2019s see if we can develop something with your horse. Obviously on a personal level, every horse I get up to this level is a challenge for me, and that\u2019s what I do it for. I love the opportunity to get a horse up to this level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose the best thing about it, at my age, I\u2019ve done so many championships, it is not about winning a medal, I don\u2019t care if I win a gold medal. I would love to, but bearing in mind, Valegro and Nip Tuck work together, I\u2019m looking at one and looking at the other, and there is no point in me thinking, why is she getting that score and I\u2019m getting mine? I know why, you don\u2019t need to be a dressage expert to get it, but I really feel that when the horse does a test like he did in the Special, that horse put as much effort in, as much hard work in his head, as Valegro. So, on the one hand, if somebody hung a little plastic gold medal around my neck yesterday, I\u2019d be like, thanks very much because that horse deserved his gold medal yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Valegro didn\u2019t have the greatest Grand Prix did you give Charlotte one of your famous bollickings?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I didn\u2019t this time. One good thing happened in that Grand Prix, I don\u2019t think anyone could be critical of Fiona (Bigwood), for where she is now, and where we are with her training, she met our expectations. Brilliant. I missed my flying change at the end of the canter and got a 4, fair enough, quite right. Charlotte didn\u2019t count to six, she counted to seven. Did I lose the Team Gold medal or did she lose the Gold Medal? One of us did, and I think this was not the time to be saying to Charlotte, you caused that, it could have been my score as well, it was that close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother reason is that I do realize at times, that her confidence, while she is a very brash, forward person, I know deep down, out the back, there\u2019s this whole thing about Aachen, it was like absolutely stifling for her, to the point of I\u2019m not really sure I want to ride<\/em>. I was thinking we need a bit of reverse psychology here. It\u2019s like, we could have had a gold, but we didn\u2019t think we were going to get a gold, we got a silver and we just have to be happy that seven years on the trot, we\u2019ve won medals.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was totally different in the Special?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTotally, it was like back to the old days. The other thing to remember is that it was ten degrees cooler for the Special than it was for the Grand Prix, and the horse is just not great when it is hot. You\u2019ve stood next to him Chris, you\u2019ve seen his legs, he\u2019s a chunky monkey. When it\u2019s hot, he\u2019s like, stuff it. There\u2019s one thing in his favor, but it does work against him as well, he doesn\u2019t care about crowds and he doesn\u2019t care about arenas. He\u2019s so laid back. Unfortunately you don\u2019t have the lift effect when he goes into the arena. He\u2019s happy, he\u2019s jolly, he\u2019s up for it \u2013 even when he\u2019s a bit hot or tired \u2013 I know it is not going to make any difference when he goes in, he still feels the same. It\u2019s great for all the relaxation marks, not great when you need him hot and looking like a million dollars. He was getting better in Special.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to drop you into it, but we do have to say, going into Rio, the judging situation is fragile? Marks were all over the place in the Grand Prix and the Special \u2013 I don\u2019t think these are evil people, I think they are trying their hardest to do a difficult job, but we do have a problem\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we\u2019ve had a problem but the general consensus is that after these championships, it will sort itself out because of what\u2019s happened. On the positive side, two judges finally became brave enough to give marks that no-one thought would ever be given to Totilas. Finally somebody stood up and said, I don\u2019t think this is right, we are going to give the marks it deserves, surely that gives the confidence to the other judges that they\u2019ve really got to start being competent enough to actually give their marks, rather than think, what am I supposed to give? These people have been around for years and of course they are not evil people, they are good people, but I think this championship will make them, and we\u2019ll get it sorted.\u201d<\/p>\n

What worries me, if you look at the composition of our judging panels, they are not people who have come from business, where they have to make very fast decisions under pressure, or, none of them comes from a background where they have ridden a top Grand Prix horse\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interesting, Mr Truppa said to me, \u2018we judged at Hagen, and did you see the results?\u2019 He said, \u2018we were all the same.\u2019 You were all the same? He said, \u2018that\u2019s the old group, we are the original group that has been doing it for years.\u2019 That is a problem, on one hand we have to open the judging to the world, take judges from all over the place, every country has trained them up, but there isn\u2019t a culture in so many of these countries of having ridden at an advanced level, of having been immersed in it for years, and I think a lot of people think the panel has to consist of those people that have been in it for a long time, who have the experience to judge alongside each other and have the feeling for it. So the answer is in their own body.\u201d<\/p>\n

But we are not going to have a change to the Rio panel, and one of those judges distinguished herself by giving a silver to Andreas Helgstrand, and then distinguished herself by giving an 80 to Totilas here at the Europeans \u2013 her reward? Rio.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carl is chuckling:<\/em> \u201cThird time lucky, that\u2019s all I can say, and for the sake of the Olympics, let\u2019s hope that is the right\u00a0one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HesterNipTuckCh2\"<\/a>Do you think it would help if they had some sort of instant replay available to them in their box, they could say, I want to see movement 12 again, that wouldn\u2019t be time consuming\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGreat idea, but then they need to wait till the following rider has finished, at the moment the JSP fill that role. They will correct it if it is wrong. You can see on my sheet, they corrected the score, and Charlotte\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Put you up or down?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDown. Poor Michael Eilberg, his ambition here was a 70%, and you know what, he got 70 in the Grand Prix and they corrected it down to 69 something. He does the Special and gets 70 something, they correct it down, to 69 something. So I know the JSP was in operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can we have an experienced Ground Jury that can\u2019t see a lame horse? We now have veterinary evidence that the horse was lame from day one, hello, where were the vets?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSurely it has to start at the trot up. The interesting thing that I found out from this championships, it\u2019s not is the horse lame or sound, it\u2019s is the horse fit to compete. What the hell is the difference there? The horse has to be sound, that is fit to compete. It\u2019s not a question of, it\u2019s slightly off but it\u2019s fit to compete? It can only be is the horse sound?<\/em> \u2013 and that can only start at the top. If they have to have three vets at a trot up, then let\u2019s have them. That\u2019s where it starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to open up the warm ups, they are open now, perhaps the trot up has to be open as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you still get an Aachen buzz<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do. The interesting thing is that I don\u2019t ride at Aachen very often. I\u2019ve actually been last here, I hold that record. In 2004 on Escapado, that walk of shame, coming out of A, to go back through the entrance and to the stables, is probably one of the longest walks I\u2019ve ever walked, with that damn horse jogging the whole way back, foaming and so over-excited. That was my Olympic preparation. It caused a huge controversy, I heard women in the toilet who were like can you believe they put Carl Hester on the team, grr grr. The selectors were very good to me that year, I said, my horse will be fine if he is able to be in a venue for a couple of weeks. He can\u2019t come to Aachen on a Wednesday and compete on a Thursday, and expect him to be settled. He was just too nervous, he was mostly Thoroughbred that horse. I\u2019ve had that privilege, so Aachen has never been a place where I\u2019ve had a great ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen with Charlotte, of course, she started getting the vibe off me, like well let\u2019s not go to Aachen. I don\u2019t mean for the championship but generally. But it is without doubt a great show. This is where the WEG should be all the time. It\u2019s absolutely perfect, people love it. It\u2019s full of buzz and atmosphere, great stabling and surfaces, there is nothing to complain about. As a competitor I\u2019m just glad it went right for me, and right for Charlotte, and our team. Funnily enough I could see it on my face when I finished the Special, it was like, I actually really enjoyed that. No nerves, no nothing, just out there enjoying my ride and in an atmosphere that is appreciative when things go well. There is a buzz still for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the October 2015 issue of THM.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hester, Carl<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n