British dressage star Gareth Hughes. Image by FEI/PSV J. Morel.
The British international dressage rider Gareth Hughes took time out from one of his recent clinics at Bellodair Park in Australia to share his thoughts on the Australian students with Equestrian Life.
The clinic proved immensely beneficial for the participants as Gareth patiently assessed each combination, listened to the riders and analysed the biomechanics of each horse and taught accordingly.
There was no grandstanding or posturing before an audience, no seasoned repertoire of smart remarks. The pupils rode a variety of horses of different ages and levels of development. Gareth gave his instructions and was calmly insistent that they be followed. He always got results.
Gareth Hughes on the late Classic Briolinca, with whom he rode to multiple British team medals. Image by FEI/Liz Gregg.
“Riders everywhere
tend to fall into
various categories.”
“Riders everywhere tend to fall into various categories,” he tells us during the lunch break. “Some are successful in the competition arena. They don’t have a natural feel and ability to train but they can ride.
“Others have a lot of natural feel,” says Gareth. “They can guide the horses to follow them and give them knowledge, but these people aren’t particularly good test riders because they ride too much on feel. When relying solely on that it can be very hard to finish a picture because it doesn’t always feel how these people think it should.
“And there are those who don’t have any natural feel but are good at being trained to present a picture. Then you have a small group who can do both – these are the ones we see bring through multiple horses,” Gareth stresses.
“When we’re competing we must create a certain picture as we ride down the centreline. Some horses find that way of going unnatural, others don’t, but all are like people – you can train them and develop their muscles to help them find the going easier.”
This is the basic aim of his methods: getting the horses to be really comfortable carrying themselves so they can execute the movements going up the levels.
“I’m quite technical,” he adds. “We need degrees of energy, but we don’t override; we’re not creating too much energy and then basically stopping it. When you ride impulsion-based you tend to be successful on younger horses because you create an impressive way of going. As the tests become more technical, the energy/impulsion seems to override the technical side so you have horses that win the warm-up but not the test! It’s a real balance.”
Gareth recently gave a clinic at Bellodair Park in Australia. Image supplied.
Upon ending the clinic, Gareth discusses the ongoing work each pupil should do. He hopes he has left them with a heightened understanding of the subtle use of aids and gives them exercises they can add to their toolbox. Just as he did with Lyndal Yelavich before he left for Australia, and as he did with the riders at Ballodair.
HOW THE RIDERS REACTED
Caroline Hooper – Ebenezer, NSW
Caroline Hooper and Furst Sir. Image by Roger Fitzhardinge.
“I’m presently bringing on my young horse Furst Sir. Gareth is strongly of the opinion that the horses need to be ‘strong up’, that they need to strengthen their bodies over time in the uphill test frame and not always be going deep and round where it might feel better. Young horses obviously only work for shorter periods than older, stronger horses in this frame – but up they go! This is working very well with my young horse and the weekend after a Gareth clinic at the recent Willinga Park competition we had a PB of 76.7%!”
(And at the NSW State Championships this August they were awarded the Open Novice Championship.)
Brett Peel – Ebenezer, NSW
“My horse Geordie Boy has only done four Grand Prixs and we’ve been working on the canter zig-zags and pirouettes. Gareth breaks down the movements into various parts which need working on and then presents a series of exercise – all are pointed at the test lines. In fact, everything is pointed towards these actual lines as well as the horse’s test frame and balance. And Gareth is really fussy! I really enjoyed the structure of his training.”
Sue Walker – Arcadia, NSW
“I have a five-year-old gelding Bloomfield Vagabond, ridden by Celeste Amezdroz. We were extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work with Gareth who is both an international competitor and coach. He brings an empathetic approach to training with a very clear view to the future. We saw our horse’s confidence grow over each session and a significant improvement in the partnership between horse and rider. His lessons are a pleasure to watch and always extremely informative.”
Kirsty Douglas – Wilberforce, NSW
Kirsty Douglas and Greengrove Cera with Gareth Hughes. Image supplied.
Kirsty was riding a green four-year-old, Greengrove Cera Calchas, and a seven-year-old former showjumper, Sandhills Showman.
“Some trainers want to come over and make a bit of an impact, then they leave. Gareth is calming, structured and always looking to the future. He keeps things simple and it works, so when he leaves it’s easy for us to keep going with that work. He runs you through the things you must do every day, repeats the exercises three times then moves on to something else.
“He’s so good with babies as well as Grand Prix horses. You can only expect four-year-olds to do so much; you’ve got to wait for their bodies to catch up. With me he suggested, after doing the exercises, I take my young one out for a hack.
“Gareth doesn’t give exercises willy nilly. He breaks down the test and wants you riding part of that test’s movements or ‘lines’. During the clinic we filmed all the sessions and when I went to the NSW Championships I looked at the footage over and over again. It was very helpful.
“We’re very spoilt having Karen Miller bring Gareth out here.”
(With Greengrove Cera Calchas, Kirsty placed in the Open Preliminary tests, scoring high 60s at the recent NSW State Championships.) EQ
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Lyndal Yelavich, who runs Ballodair UK, always believed that British international dressage star Gareth Hughes was one of the world’s best dressage trainers – even before she was presented with his Grand Prix gelding, Classic Goldstrike.
It is superbly designed, practical, stylish, accommodating and what equestrians have been needing for a long, long time. Ballodair Park at Wilberforce, NSW, is owned by Karen Miller who has been developing the facility in the Hawkesbury area since buying the 70 acres eight years ago.