{"id":4862,"date":"2011-02-14T03:35:01","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T03:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=4862"},"modified":"2015-01-22T07:37:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T20:37:50","slug":"working-from-the-core-with-hayley-beresford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2011\/02\/working-from-the-core-with-hayley-beresford\/","title":{"rendered":"Working from the Core with Hayley Beresford"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There\u2019s something intriguing about Hayley Beresford, because although she was successful in Australia (she was a member of the Australian Young Rider Squad and had a couple of State titles to her credit), she was relatively unknown before bursting onto the International dressage scene under the wing of Isabell Werth. Then she not only made the Australian team for Beijing after just eight months of Grand Prix competition with the Lusitano Stallion, Relampago do Retiro, but was the star of it, despite the selectors best efforts to shun her from the selection process.<\/p>\n

I met Hayley for the first time at the World Equestrian Games, where she had fought her way onto the team despite making some big changes, leaving her mentor in Germany for a life in Switzerland: \u201cMy husband couldn\u2019t have a Visa in Germany. It was very difficult for me to leave Isabell\u2019s but you can\u2019t have a husband who can\u2019t work, and Isabell is an incredibly busy person. She will always be my mentor, she will always be the person I call when things go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hayley and Relampago – he is on the way back…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After making many sacrifices to get to Kentucky, a niggling injury surfaced in the Grand Prix and\u00a0 Relampago was belled out. When she came to Queensland on her Australian coaching tour, the shock had finally worn off:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was eliminated from the World Equestrian Games. Which, when you think of it, you\u2019re like, oh that\u2019s not cool<\/em>. But it was a big lesson learnt. I don\u2019t think that we would change anything now. There was something underlying and we did every test we could possibly do to see if it was really bad, and nothing showed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, she put on a brave face, and looking back now, she\u2019s pleased with how she handled the situation: \u201cI came home from Kentucky and I was like, I did all of this, for this?<\/em> But it didn\u2019t close any doors. I got so much positive publicity for being a good sport, I didn\u2019t even think of that aspect at the time, I was just trying to be part of the team. The Australian team was so well regarded in Europe; I think we had the best dynamic of any team. There weren\u2019t any internal politics, we had a fantastic chef d\u2019equipe (Debbie MacNicol) and I thought our riders were fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Despite relocating to Europe to hone her craft, Hayley feels Australian riders are potentially the best in the world: \u201cI\u2019m with Heath Ryan on that, I think our kids and our basic is better than anywhere in the world. We can gallop across a paddock bareback, we can jump, we can event, and we can tear around novelties at pony club. We\u2019re all rounders, and I think that makes us better. It might take another ten years, it might take twenty years, but I really believe we can make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Embarking on a coaching tour around Australia has given Hayley a chance to reflect on just how far the standard of dressage has come since she left in 2006: \u201cThe quality of horse is really on the right track and I\u2019ve been able to teach some young riders who are very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those with International experience will continue to add to Australia\u2019s progress: \u201cI think there is enough talent in Australia, with Brett (Parbery) teaching and me teaching, and Matthew Dowsley\u2019s around, and Mary (Hanna) and Rachael (Sanna) are here. Young riders should experience the horse scene in Europe but they don\u2019t have to live there. I\u2019ve made a decision to live there because I didn\u2019t have the financial resources, I couldn\u2019t be a client, I had to be a worker. I\u2019m self-made, I had my training business in Australia, and when I went over Germany to have a look, the opportunity to work with Isabell presented itself, and I had to make a choice because I couldn\u2019t do both. Now, five years later, I have my own business again and this is the only way I can come back, to give clinics, it\u2019s taken this long because I haven\u2019t had the flexibility to leave my position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayley has a passion for teaching and is eager to help her fellow Aussies realise their dreams: \u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of young riders come and train with me. I got over 400 applicants wanting to come over as working students when I advertised on Eurodressage. Now I\u2019ve started a program where they can come for six weeks and get an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of horses imported to Australia, as well as good use of frozen semen, has seen tremendous improvement in the quality of horse. Hayley feels we need to complete the picture: \u201cI think there needs to be a closer guidance, everyone is so ambitious to get there and they\u2019re forgetting the basics along the way. Because of a lack of information everything is getting overcomplicated and you know what? Our Aussies are pretty laid back, and that\u2019s an asset in this game. If you stay laid back and if you don\u2019t overcomplicate things, then it can all come together. Brett proved it, he\u2019s so laid back and look what he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about having the fanciest horses in the world for us, Germany and Holland and England can fight about it, we just need to be consistent and keep improving. We were 8th<\/sup> at WEG and we don\u2019t need Porches or Ferraris, we need good brains, we need big hearts, and just consistent training. Like Victory Salute and Relampago, they\u2019re horses with really big hearts, they\u2019re not the two best horses in the world, both have their weaknesses, and I really think that Australia can be right up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

To give herself every chance of success, Hayley has now moved from Switzerland and made Lippetal-Lippborg in Germany her base, where she has formed a strong support network. Joining her long time sponsor, Eduardo Fischer, is Family Elmerhaus, contributing to Hayley\u2019s promising team of horses:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful stable and it\u2019s really working, I\u2019m so happy. Relampago will probably come back into work in February, maybe March, we\u2019re not sure, but it looks good and I need him back. Everyone\u2019s sort of saying he\u2019s over, but he\u2019s 13 years old and I still need him. I have two horses that will be Grand Prix around the middle of next year, but you need a full team. He\u2019ll come back, it\u2019s just one day at a time still, and it\u2019s building up a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayley has some exciting new horses to campaign including the Belissimo M stallion, Blickpunkt: \u201cHe\u2019s the one I want to try and take to Verden for the World Young Horse Championships. But I haven\u2019t bought him just with the young horse sport in mind, I don\u2019t want to over-ride him because I want him to be good for later. I was impressed with him at the auctions and then I did a stallion show with him under spotlights, which was my first show with him, and he was wow, \u00a0so much fun. But he\u2019s a six-year-old, he doesn\u2019t need to go out, out, out. He needs to train hard at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0F\u00fcrst Grandios and Hayley<\/em><\/p>\n

Another addition, that literally arrived at Hayley\u2019s stable as we spoke, is the nine-year-old stallion, Sun and Fun, a Prix St George son of Sunny Boy. Then there\u2019s the eight-year-old Prix St George stallion, Furst Grandios, along with some promising progeny from Relampago. Prior to the clinic, Hayley was able to ride one of his sons at the Villa do Retiro Auction in Brazil:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so much fun. I rode a Relampago\/Donnerhall baby (BonBon), he sold for US$186,000, he\u2019s really cute. Relampago had 300 mares so he can pay for his rehabilitation this year,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

With a solid team of FEI horses to work with, Hayley is looking forward to the future: \u201cI\u2019ll\u00a0 build them up over the next twelve months and if I have some luck we\u2019ll be right just in time for 2013,\u201d she laughed, \u201cI might get a job as a groom in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Hayley and Rhapsodie Queen at Aachen<\/em><\/p>\n

But what happened to the superstar she was blazing a trail on, Rhapsodie Queen?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Isabell has her at the moment. I waited for that horse for a year and a half but she went severely lame. I had huge hopes, but she was always going to be for sale and Kentucky was getting closer and closer. Rhapsodie Queen is an amazing horse, but at what expense am I going to build up a horse for someone else? I know the horse is just getting sold so I\u2019d rather have a horse that maybe isn\u2019t quite as talented, but it\u2019s mine for many years. I got to train a lot of Grand Prix horses at Isabell\u2019s place and I\u2019m not finished learning, but at least I\u2019ve had a number of experiences to get me to that next point, and now I\u2019ve finally built up my own team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Hayley was only on her second clinic of the tour, she had already identified a common problem amongst the riders: \u201cEvery rider has their horse so flexed that they stop themselves from getting the horses through.\u201d<\/p>\n

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So when Jessica Greelish and the 13 year old Westphalian gelding, Riverndell Parador (by Paradiso out of a Dutch mare), stepped onto the arena, throughness and a focus on the fundamentals took precedence over tricks: \u201cLet him come lower in the neck. When I\u2019m looking at a horse I want to see one silhouette (making one horse by connecting the horse\u2019s hind end to the front end), you have too much flexion happening from the inside rein. Flexion should not be more than bend.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a focus on getting the dressage horse as supple as possible, but Hayley reminded us that suppleness doesn\u2019t come from over-bending and flexing the horse: \u201cThe nose is in front of the inside shoulder, which is in front of the inside hind leg, it shouldn\u2019t be. Try to keep the nose as central as you can, it doesn\u2019t matter what exercise you\u2019re doing, whether it\u2019s a pirouette or if you\u2019re on a straight line, the nose is in the centre. The flexion and bend come from the core of the horse. Don\u2019t ride so much the nose, don\u2019t ride so much the hind leg, first ride the core of the horse and then everything else will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica and Parador have been a raging success on the competition circuit, taking out numerous National and State titles at Small Tour level. They had their first Grand Prix start in October, which they won, and will be campaigning in Big Tour next year. Hayley gave her impression of the combination: \u201cWhat I see immediately is a big, impressive horse. He\u2019s a really nice moving horse, but he\u2019s so crooked, and that\u2019s what\u2019s causing all your problems. He\u2019s stiff through the body too yeah?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica said: \u201cYeah, and his weakness has always been that he gets heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hayley takes a simple approach: \u201cHe\u2019s got a neck, his head won\u2019t fall off if you let go. I want a silhouette on the horse, connect the back end to the front. The biggest problem is the stiffness in the core. I don\u2019t want to go and totally change everything. You\u2019ve got a good position, you\u2019ve got a very good horse, and you\u2019ve already been quite successful. It makes no sense for me to come in here and turn it all upside down and then leave next week. Let\u2019s come on a circle and uncomplicate it, let\u2019s just spend some time on the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straightness is one of the basics that is easy to define but hard to achieve, with one-sided horses, one-sided riders, and lateral movements thrown into the picture, it\u2019s no wonder we get sidetracked. Hayley wanted Jessica to visualise the outcome: \u201cThink of an aerial view. You\u2019re looking down from the roof, and there\u2019s a line on the ground of where you\u2019re going. Keep the right side of the horse on the right side of the line, keep the left side of the horse on the left side of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much focus on riding in shoulder fore to establish an inside leg to outside rein connection, that it\u2019s easy to lose sight of what is straight and what is running through the outside shoulder. Hayley said Jessica was falling into this trap: \u201cWhat you\u2019ve got is the whole head on the inside of the line, and then both shoulders on the outside of the line. You have a big break between the shoulders and the ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the hind legs we generate impulsion, but if the horse isn\u2019t straight, it\u2019s blocked through the body, and the desired outcome, swing, is lost in the process. It was about allowing a connection from the leg to the hand, one that allowed the swing and impulsion to come through the body. To help Jessica feel this connection, Hayley exaggerated her position:<\/p>\n

\u201cI come very much from Isabell\u2019s stable and the first two years I was there I got such strong biceps because I was only allowed to ride like this (she puts her hands low and wide). Don\u2019t think lift up, think sit down. Sit like you\u2019re riding a big Harley Davidson and get control of the shoulders. Don\u2019t ride the nose, ride the shoulders, get the core of the horse flexible. You\u2019re thinking about the back, toes (activity of the hind legs) and the nose. That\u2019s correct, in that you never forget about the back toes, but his back toes are going to keep coming, he\u2019s already expressive. Relax and think about the core of the horse and get that supple, the rest will come. Everybody\u2019s talking about the core of the rider, but I like to think about the core of the horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quality of the basics is reflected in the laterals and Hayley wanted to show how this work would improve the half pass: \u201cWhen you watch the greatest riders do it, the horse grows in the movement. Like Princess Nathalie, that horse (Digby) trots normal, it\u2019s a great horse, but it\u2019s not flamboyant. When she rides shoulder in and half passes, piaffe and passage, it starts to swing. It\u2019s because the basics are so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica is a determined and focussed rider, she said: \u201cWhen I\u2019m doing the half pass I really feel like I just want to create more all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hayley felt she was over-riding: \u201cYou\u2019re looking desperate in the exercises and it\u2019s because the basics are not simple enough. The horse is already fancy, what\u2019s happening, and why I think he gets so stiff, is he gets so strong in the back. Think of being round and let him be soft, then leave him alone, get out of his way. Most of the time, we riders get in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The horse is seriously talented, but Hayley wanted to impress upon Jessica that without suppleness in the body, the movement becomes punchy instead of expressive:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me there\u2019s too much happening in front and that\u2019s why you\u2019ve got a few problems in the Grand Prix. The basics aren\u2019t easy enough, some of the questions you ask are too complicated. You need to keep it simple, they\u2019re just horses. Sure, they\u2019re pretty cluey, but they learn from repetition, make it easy for him to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the half pass you\u2019re riding with too much flexion in the neck which is pushing the shoulders in the opposite direction and the arse is trying to lead. You\u2019re lucky, because he\u2019s talented, the legs keep going, but on the next horse, if you ride with a bend like that, you might not be so lucky. You see it so often, they\u2019re trotting beautifully, then they go half pass and it\u2019s scurry, scurry, scurry. Everything has to connect, the piaffe has to come into the passage, passage has to come into the trot, the trot should never deteriorate in any exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Hayley wanted to see the horse more through in the body: \u201cRide shoulder-in left, put your hands down here, so you\u2019ve got a connection to both hands, it\u2019s very Isabell. You\u2019re missing a true connection, never bring your hands backwards, you\u2019re riding on a closed back. Try to think he\u2019s got to come over the shoulders, keep the right hand over the right shoulder. I want to see the neck down, make one silhouette. Push his belly to the right so he gets more moveable in the middle of his body. Stop over-riding the trot, come down a level, relax. This is not a competition, I don\u2019t want him climbing up stairs so much, I want him rounder, I want one horse, not two horses. That\u2019s it! Can you feel the difference? That\u2019s connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The connection must be established before asking for more expression, or as Hayley put it: \u201cWhen you have a true connection you have true control, when you have true control you can allow him independence, and then you can allow the party to begin. Don\u2019t start a party without any rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the core of the horse is supple, swing and expression become inevitable: \u201cYou don\u2019t need to create, he\u2019s got quality enough. We\u2019re not riding for auctions and stallion shows and the sport has changed. You see Totilas perform like he does because the basics underneath are so brilliant. When Edward was riding him he could access any gear at any moment, and if a mistake came he could quickly resolve it. I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s got to come down to, harmony. The days when you could come onto the international stage and boom, boom, boom, don\u2019t exist anymore. It\u2019s all got to be about creating an athlete, and if he\u2019s going like this (punching fists) he\u2019s not going to last. The softer the connection, the softer the movement, we don\u2019t want it to be mechanical. Think of those amazing latino dancers, think about everything being loose and supple and athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a question of improving the pace, but of longevity: \u201cHorses break down, if they\u2019re like this (Hayley punches her fists) they\u2019re strong in the back, they\u2019re strong on the ground, and they break. If they\u2019re soft in the back, they\u2019re soft on the ground. I always say we\u2019ve got twenty years of riding in a horse and you can use that up over two years, or over twenty-five years, it depends where you\u2019re coming from, it\u2019s about how you manage those miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this in mind they got back to the half pass left: \u201cHalf halt, take a little of the power out of the front and balance him to the back, that\u2019s it. Sit, don\u2019t panic. Now come on the diagonal. Imagine there is a wall on your right side and only ride travers, not half pass, look at the marker at the end of the diagonal. Come with his ears and his shoulders and your shoulders all looking to the marker, your shoulders should be the same as his. Let him come round, hands wide, they\u2019re your training wheels, control the shoulders, and swing your hips through the middle of your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parador was impressive in the half pass before, but with everything moving in the right direction he gets an extra inch in his stride: \u201cThat\u2019s the best half pass you\u2019ve done. We riders complicate everything, let him be rounder, let the nose out, that\u2019s what I want, the nose is centred now huh? That\u2019s a feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayley\u2019s years of training in Germany have made her determined to be a good communicator: \u201cIt\u2019s really hard in Germany, they don\u2019t tell you how to train, you have to look in the mirror, all you can do is watch them. With me, I had to find little ways to get there, to get the feeling they had.\u201d Well, luckily for us, Hayley is one hell of a talker, and next month she reveals her secret to riding one of the more troublesome movements in the Grand Prix \u2013 the canter zig zag.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Story \u2013 Shannan Makauskas & Photos \u2013 Alex Makauskas<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

German based Aussie Dressage star, Hayley Beresford takes a dressage clinic in Queensland…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18314,"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":[20,410],"class_list":["post-4862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dressage","tag-dressage-training","tag-hayley-beresford"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862","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=4862"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20552,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions\/20552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}