{"id":47312,"date":"2019-09-27T18:25:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T08:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=47312"},"modified":"2023-08-20T20:04:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T10:04:05","slug":"carl-hester-talks-his-horses-his-training-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2019\/09\/carl-hester-talks-his-horses-his-training-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Carl Hester talks about his horses, his training and more…"},"content":{"rendered":"

“If you can create what we try to create, without heavy hands, without hanging onto the rein, if you can do it with self-carriage, then it looks beautiful. It\u2019s this word, expression, which is a dangerous word because once you put expression into it, like heightened suspension and things like that, then if you have got the wrong rider, or a rider who doesn\u2019t ride with an independent seat, then they use their hands and that\u2019s when you get that horrible looking, jerky dressage.”<\/h1>\n

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Valegro and Charlotte working at home in 2011 – pic Kit Houghton<\/em><\/p>\n

2011 – <\/strong>The best one you\u2019ve ever trained?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Valegro is the best one I\u2019ve ever trained. I think that horse has Gold Medal quality and I think Uthopia is not far behind. With Uthopia I\u2019m up against God\u2019s gift which is that freaking little walk, and there\u2019s not a lot I can do about that \u2013 whereas Valegro has the whole package.<\/p>\n

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Pic Kit Houghton<\/em><\/p>\n

Their temperaments and their trainability are really top, and the elasticity that they both have in the trot and the canter, but Valegro just has the edge with the bigger walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Carl and Uthopia in 2011<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI still think I am more emotional about Charlotte and Valegro because I think that is so special, she is so young. I\u2019m glad that before I die I\u2019ve made a decent score with Uthopia, but for me to see Charlotte come through, that for me, was just as pleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And the score of ten for Uthopia from all judges?
\n<\/em>\u201cI thought for a minute that there must be a dog in the arena, or a bird had landed, everyone was laughing. I didn\u2019t know I had seven 10s.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Carl rubs his head in disbelief at the seven 10s, it was a Championship at the time when seven judges were used and every judge gave the extended trot a 10. Everyone in the crowd, which was largely Dutch and a full house, gave a collective \u2018aah\u2019 of approval which was quite a loud noise as it was a big crowd.<\/p>\n

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Working…<\/em><\/p>\n

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Competing<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can we talk about positive tension? It looked to me, when we have been watching Charlotte working Valegro this week, that the incredible quality that she was showing was positive tension, he was electric, he was alive, he was never stressed, but he was electric, and that\u2019s a very weird concept\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere it tips over, that positive tension, is if you let the horse get strong in the bridle. Once you let the horse become heavy on the hand and strong in the bridle, it\u2019s not positive any more, because then there is a block.<\/p>\n

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If you can create what we try to create, without heavy hands, without hanging onto the rein, if you can do it with self-carriage, then it looks beautiful. It\u2019s this word, expression, which is a dangerous word because once you put expression into it, like heightened suspension and things like that, then if you have got the wrong rider, or a rider who doesn\u2019t ride with an independent seat, then they use their hands and that\u2019s when you get that horrible looking, jerky dressage. It is something we really work on, to be able to create it, without going over-board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you have to create it with Valegro?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course. Anyone who remembers him as a four, five or six year old, he had a very strong, Cobby, trot, there wasn\u2019t the sort of power and expression he has now. He has a hanging moment now and he looks like an incredible mover, but back then, he had all the mechanics, but he didn\u2019t have the lightness, he was always a\u00a0bloody\u00a0<\/em>strong horse. He always had the hock action, that I don\u2019t believe you can change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can you talk a little about self-carriage?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Charlotte demonstrates, working with Barolo, a young Grand Prix horse at the time<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-carriage is really easy to see. It\u2019s that tension into the hand that we were just talking about with Valegro, that really tells it \u2013 it\u2019s the first place you see it through the whole of the top line of the horse. The best thing you can do for self-carriage is the give and re-take of the reins. It is amazing how you forget to do that when you ride on your own.<\/p>\n

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That constant giving the hand, taking, giving, taking, making sure that the outline is stable, the mouth is soft. You only have to look at the mouth to know how it is working, the horse is carrying its own head and neck. People that ride on their own, it can be something that they forget they are doing, people put in too much power and that\u2019s why they find self-carriage difficult, and I always think you\u2019ve got to create a balance and then put power in, that way around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were always told, particularly through the German system,\u00a0hind legs, hind legs, hind legs, ride him more forward, ride him more forward\u2026\u00a0<\/em>and when you look around the world, there are very few riders with an independent seat, and if you don\u2019t have that independent seat, then finding self-carriage is one of the most difficult things, and you should never forget it, really. But balance first.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if it is chicken or egg, but the riders who sit in the middle of the movement, in the middle of their horse are the ones with the self-carriage\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cExactly, they have self carriage themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And the riders who sit behind the movement, particularly the ones with their shoulders back, they are never going to have self-carriage\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, because they are driving the horse down in front. If they sit too strong, behind the vertical, then they are pushing the horse down, through and into the hand. I was told by \u2018Rocky\u2019*<\/strong>\u00a0when you go forward you bring your body forward and when you want to come back, you bring your body back<\/em>. And it is amazing how most of us do the opposite to that. He always said to me,\u00a0when you piaffe, you should be sitting over your knee, not sitting on your backside.\u00a0<\/em>Charlotte does that naturally, I have to remind myself to do it because I want to be too strong, but that is a really interesting little tip he gave me because piaffe, you get the feeling that you are driving, but in fact you should be sitting over your knee to let the horse use its back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd Harry Boldt, you know Harry taught me when I was at Dr B\u2019s and already then, he was riding Rembrandt because Nicole had broken her arm, he moved with the times. He just developed as the evolution of it has. It wasn\u2019t abusive. A good rider can make impulsion and expression without being abusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Words from Carl at a Clinic in 2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Move! Movement in stillness. You\u2019re trying to be still and elegant, don\u2019t make yourself stiff and rigid. You\u2019ve got to have movement within the stillness and that should help you stop being stiff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NipTuck – this pic was taken early in 2016…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI 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. Everything 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

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Sitting on Barney, I\u2019m riding presence, going round today, you are sitting behind a neck like that, and he starts to go, and when he\u2019s more relaxed and starts to use his body like he was today. In the Grand Prix he was so nervous, but today when his body moves, his hind legs don\u2019t look so much not part of him. Honestly you sit there, and he is so lovely in my hands, when I have him really light and on his hind legs, it\u2019s just the best feeling, the feeling of changing something\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we all trained with the rules and the blocks of the training scale\u2026 I haven\u2019t been able to put those blocks in place with that horse. The contact came as he has got more on his hind legs, some things have been back-to-front a little bit with him. That\u2019s alright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes me laugh when you get his critics saying, he should be more sitting, he should be this or that\u2026 Well, I started with no walk, no trot and no canter, that\u2019s what I started with, Valegro started with all three paces.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s training, it does show that you can create something in every horse that has the willingness to work \u2013 it won\u2019t be of the same quality, but it is something you can still make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How did you reach this state of beatitude where you don\u2019t care if you win or not\u2026 you weren\u2019t sitting under a tree meditating\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know when it came on me, no light bulb moments, I think it probably has to do with Nip Tuck because I had to deal with the criticism, which was very often right. I had to learn to stop being possessive about my own horse, because if someone tells you your horse isn\u2019t good, you want to give them a thump. Then I thought, get over yourself, if someone says your horse has no extended trot \u2013 guess what, they\u2019re right. No he hasn\u2019t, your right. Accept it. But you couldn\u2019t say the horse wasn\u2019t a worker, and you couldn\u2019t say he didn\u2019t become the best he could be. And I thought I\u2019m going to stop worrying what other people think about because let\u2019s face it, in dressage there are three people who win a medal, and I\u2019m lucky enough to have been one of them, once, but I also realise how hard it is to be one of those top three. There are lots of talented riders out there, who will go to the World Games with amazing horses and they won\u2019t get a medal. So if you get that opportunity once in your life, which I\u2019ve had, I\u2019m very happy to rest on that, and I\u2019ll be very happy if it happens again, as well, but no desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pic Arnd Bronkhurst<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to breed your own dressage star in Australia? Go to www.ihb.au<\/a> and select from the best bloodlines Europe can offer…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

Vitalis<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

Floriscount<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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