Lisa Williams

WINNING THE SHONGWENI WCQ

PHOTOGRAPHY: J. REILLY AND HILARY O'LEARY

Most equestrians in South Africa are aware of the journey of Lisa Williams and the very special Campbell. For those who are not, Lisa travelled to Europe and the USA with Campbell in 2018 and competed very successfully overseas, really putting South Africa on the map. She culminated her time there at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon and the FEI World Cup Final in Gothenburg. She subsequently returned home with Campbell and has been competing with him and her other two horses ever since.

The Forsyte World Cup Qualifier, Shongweni, (17-20 June) saw Lisa and Campbell ‘do it again’, clinching victory with a compelling performance. HQ met with Lisa to discuss the show and her plans for the future.

HQ: Tell us a bit about your Shongweni experience? Campbell looked like he was enjoying himself!

Lisa: The Shongweni Foresyte shows are always so beautifully run. The venue is stunning; the weather is was great; and the facilities are top class. When we arrived in Shongweni, Campbell was his usual spunky self, and the sea air makes him even wilder. There’s a lot of holding onto the neck strap when he’s like that, and I tried to tell a few people in the warm-up that he’s my four-year-old, not my seasoned 15-year-old! We I never restrict him or discipline him though because it’s when he’s like that that he performs at his best. He is always focused when he’s competing in the arena. He knows his job.

In Campbell’s first round of the World Cup Qualifier, he was excellent, and I tried to be the fastest clear going through to the second round (which is poll position for the jump off), but Jonathan Clarke beat me to it. I knew that to win the class, in the jump-off I needed to be galloping by the time we hit the start. Jonathan is excellent at turning very tight, but Campbell can drop a stride easily, so I used that to my advantage and dropped a stride from jump one to two. I needed the pressure on from the outset and then just had to hope that was enough! Thankfully it was!

HQ: How did 2020 affect you and your horses?

Lisa: Lockdown was good for all of my horses, really. With Campbell, it meant that he could take things a bit more slowly. You can’t stop work entirely as he’s an older horse, and he needed to keep fit and strong, but we did a lot of hacking (when lockdown permitted) and were able to take our time over things. With Pilgrim, it was an opportunity to get to understand each other, and then for Perouges, I used the opportunity to get him much stronger behind and to find his balance. I really built exercises to work on specific things to improve him. I watched many videos of different exercises, particularly from Team Ireland, that I’d then build every few days and work the horses over. All in all, lockdown gave me more time to be more diligent, without any pressure, and that makes every result much more replicable.

HQ: How do you prepare for shows?

Lisa: The show calendar at the moment is jam-packed and we’re competing every two to three weeks, which is really a lot for the horses. To allow my horses to cope with this gruelling schedule, I don’t do an awful lot of jumping between shows. In the first week after a show, we don’t do much at all jumping wise, if anything. We hack and focus on flat-work and pole work. In the second week, we’ll do some different types of gymnastics. If the show is at the end of the second week, we’ll have a jumping lesson. If we have a third week to prepare, we’ll continue with the different gymnastics and have a lesson with a course of bigger jumps before going to the show. All three of my horses have very similar preparation for the shows. The training is mostly structured around what my young horse Perouges needs at the time, however. Campbell doesn't need new types of training. He knows his job, so it's more about keeping him fit and strong - he's happy to do the work the others need.

HQ: Has going overseas affected how you compete?

Lisa: Overseas, I really learned the importance of a faster tempo. Taking one extra stride or covering one extra metre by going wide to a jump will cost you time faults over there, and here now too, so you learn to ride at a faster pace. It’s something I’m training in my young horses too. I regularly get them into an almost gallop on a 20-30metre circle and let them find their balance. Overseas I learned that you don’t have time to balance your horse’s body, so they must balance themselves. Therefore, I do the 20m circles and even the short sides of the arena as fast as possible to teach them to look after themselves and move at that speed while maintaining their own balance. Obviously the more experienced the horse, the easier and faster they manage it. The young horses can’t manage many fast canter strides by themselves before they need re-balancing.

Overseas they also walk every distance in an indoor course (and most distances in an outdoor course). They don’t just walk the related distances. They literally walk every single distance and I’m the same. I’ll even walk some of the long distances at Derby - ridiculous! I didn’t learn this overseas, but when I was there, the importance of it was reiterated for me. Early in my riding career, I was coached by Jonathan Clarke, and he was fastidious about counting strides, and that was actually where I learnt to do it. Nobody had taught him about the counting of strides when he was young, so he wanted to make sure that his pupils I knew the importance of it. He would make me count endless distances, and eventually, it becomes a habit. It is so valuable. If you mess up the take off stride by being too close or far off a jump, within reason you can still adjust your stride by knowing how many strides you have already done and how much space is left to do the remaining strides in the distance. Counting helps me feel where I am in the distance.

HQ: How do you think the South African circuit stands up to the overseas circuit?

Lisa: The sport here is exponentially better than it was even five years ago. We have more and more riders in the upper amateur levels and more horses jumping at the top. The horses we are sitting on are of higher quality, and we have lots of combinations jumping at the top levels proficiently. We’re also riding much faster than we used to be. If we could take a team of 10 of our top riders and horses overseas now, I think we’d be good in the 2-star level immediately and would quickly be ready for 3-star. Unfortunately, however, the limiting factors are our currency; the distance to Europe and the USA, as well as the quarantine restrictions, which make it almost impossible for most of us.

HQ: Do you miss competing indoors? Do you think it’s something we miss out on here?

Lisa: Overseas, the indoor shows are just so much fun. They have vibrant music and great announcers; they are incredibly creative with how they decorate the venue. The atmosphere is wonderful. The indoor shows feel like big events!

I think we do miss out on not having an indoor circuit in South Africa. When I went over there, I didn’t think I’d manage the indoor competitions. I wasn’t sure I was rhythmical enough, but you learn very quickly to ride accurately in that setting, while keeping a good pace.

HQ: Tell us about your other horses?

Lisa: Perouges is out of the same mother as Campbell, and he’s very similar to his brother. He’s economical and doesn’t overjump, which is just like Campbell. He’s also cheeky; and he is a bit arrogant, and bizarrely, just like Campbell, he doesn’t like back boots. It took me a long time to figure that out with Campbell, but when I got it with Perouges, I felt the signs and immediately knew what the issue was. He’s 8 years old now and is in the 1.35s. I’m excited about my partnership with him.

Pilgrim is my 12-year-old. I wasn’t sure that I would ever manage to ride him because he is so tall and quite long in his body. Dominey was riding him and doing a great job while I was overseas, which was very difficult for me to come close to. Lockdown was good for us as it gave me time with him for him to understand me and me to understand him, without the pressure of preparing for shows. I had the time to build exercises that developed our relationship and trust, and now we’re really on the same page. I’m enjoying riding him and looking forwards to seeing what we can achieve together.

HQ: What sort of maintenance do you do for your horses?

Lisa: For maintenance, I use the Rudd Solar Solarium, and I put the Bemer on my horses every day before I ride them. I then use my medical grade laser machine about three days a week. Campbell gets stiff in his pectoral muscles and his abdominals, so I laser those and rub them with pure arnica. Most showjumping horses, in my opinion, benefit from laser treatments on of their stifles, sacroiliac joints and lumbar spine, as well as the poll and the temporomandibular joints, which and I also include those in the treatment regime. In conjunction with the above I regularly use supplements for the maintenance of joints and ligaments e.g. Pentosan, Hyaluronic Acid and Multiglycan. I believe ‘prevention is better than cure’.

HQ: What are your goals for the next 12 months?

Lisa: [Laughs] To win everything! No, my aim is to compete in the rest of the World Cup Qualifiers and then take part in SA Champs and the Derby. All being well, I’ll be taking the horses to all the big shows, and we’ll just see how we do!

THANK YOUS

I must thank Equestrian Affair, who dresses me so beautifully and generously. Lara (Neill) really is amazing. And then I want to thank my other sponsors Serengeti Eyewear, Equisleeves, Back on Track for my helmet, Anthony Ward (Highlander Farriers), Campbell’s farrier, for his work and dedication and the use of the WERKMANN BLACK on all my horses, and Dr Jeanne Botha from Equimotion for all her help and TLC.

I must express my enormous gratitude to my coach Dominey Alexander. He has walked a long road with me and always been so unbelievably supportive of me, especially while I was overseas campaigning. He continued to be my coach during this time, regularly travelling to Europe for shows or lessons. He really believed in Campbell and me, and saw our potential – even before I did

And last, but definitely not least, I have to mention my wonderful husband, who never doubts me. He never tells me I’m overambitious. He’s there every step of the way - and was overseas with me too – carrying buckets, packing trunks, towing long distances…… whatever it takes. I couldn’t do it without him.