Impulsion issue 3

Impulsion

E DI TION

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ZAMBOUCCA A stallion of exceptional quality

born. 2004, Stedinger – Rotspon

This athletic and elegant stallion comes from the most famous breeding lines in the world. A black jewel in the modern dressage world he is ideal for performance and breeding.

Guide price one milllion Euros.

Serious enquiries only to Horses Exclusive BV Phone: +31 (0)6 11 00 36 33 Fax: +31 (0)35 533 01 01 E-mail us: info@horsesexclusive.com

Impulsion

On the cover:

Dressage rider Lara Griffith, 19, who is on the World Class Development Programme, models Hobbs Spring/Summer collection.

Tragically her ride Warlock, known as “Wally”, was put down a few days before the shoot after the 17-year-old gelding fractured a hind leg in the field. Wally, who was owned by Veronique Andre de la Porte, was the 2008 Intermediaire I Freestyle Winter Champion and represented Great Britain at the 2008 Young Rider European Championships in Portugal. Lara, who had the ride on the 16.2hh Werther offspring since 2006, was the only Brit to go through to the freestyle, finishing 12th. A big thank you to Lara and everyone at Emile Faurie’s beautiful Oxfordshire yard for their help and kindness.

In this issue of Impulsion, we are pleased to announce the launch of Team GBR Ontr ack.

Over the coming months we want to encour age everyone in the UK that is interested in horse sport and equestrianism to join and to become part of Team GBR and the exciting adventure that will be 2012.

If you join Team GBR Ontr ack you will receive up-tothe-minute news about our riders and equine athletes, invitations to exclusive behind the scenes experiences and fund r aising events, unique member privileges and benefits and much much more. Importantly you will also be helping us to r aise the vital funds we need to successfully compete and win medals in the international equestrian arena.

Impulsion

Impulsion Magazine Issue 03/09 is produced by H4 Limited on behalf of Equestrian Team GBR. The views expressed in the publication are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the British Equestrian Federation or the editor. Copyright Hollander Limited, Company Number 6276509.

I urge you to join Team GBR Ontr ack, as we need your support in what will be a once in a lifetime experience for most of us in the UK.

Keith Taylor

by Chairman

British Equestrian Federation

ZARA PHILLIPS WORLD EVENTING CHAMPION

Contents 8

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BEF launch new supporters club Exclusive news about the launch of the

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Vic Armstrong How a love of horses helped earn an

new Team GBR Supporters Club which

amateur jockey from Berkshire a BAFTA,

aims to raise funds to help potential

an Academy Award and the respect of an

medal winners train and compete.

entire industry.

World Class Gorgeous World Class Development rider Lara Griffith steps down from the

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saddle to model the latest fashions

Horse power - Lotus Exige S More excitement than a blast around the jumps at Burghley? See what you think with

from Hobbs’ quintessentially

our review of the exciting Lotus Exige S.

English Spring/Summer collection.

Discount for Team GBR Ontrack members

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Hitting the dirt Unplanned rider-ground interfaces can be an unfortunate side effect of equestrianism - but how do we measure up against other sports? We take a look at three alternatives and find out what’s what.

Helping Team GBR deliver Gold Supporting Team GBR Ontrack Countrywide stores supplying products and advice to horse owners throughout the UK Shop online @ www.countrywidefarmers.co.uk Countrywide Farmers, Defford, Earls Croome, Worcester WR8 9DF Tel: 01386 757300

Supporting Team GBR Ontrack

66 The Pony Club

One of the very foundations of our

99 A Family Affair

Britian’s first family of dressage, the

equestrian heritage celebrates its 80th

Eilbergs, talk together for the first

birthday this year. And there’s still no better

time about horses, the future, baby

way to start a lifetime in the saddle.

bouncers and jumping boots.

112 Beach Racing

A fancy dress competition, a beauty queen and a mile of sandy beach filled with some frighteningly talented young jockeys - it could only be Ireland’s Glenbeigh Beach Races.

72 At home with Spenny & Jay

Britain’s former national dressage champion and his eventing partner welcome us to their exciting new yard in Glouchestershire.

WIN a training day with Spenny and Jay.

127 African safari

Australia’s favourite equestrian couple, Clayton & Lucinda Fredericks, share their experiences on a holiday of a lifetime.

5% discount for Team GBR Ontrack members

90 Cartier Polo on Snow

They say polo is like playing golf from a helicopter - whose idea was it to add a frozen lake into the mix?

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F O T R A P E M O BEC

R B G M A TE a

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0 2 o t y e n r u o j g n i t i c x e nd t he

F

R

012 Team GBR Ontrack, which launches this June in partnership with the equestrian Olympic and Paralympic teams via British Eventing and their Gold Medal Club, The British Show Jumping Association and British Dressage, brings together all equestrian and horse sport activity in the UK under one supporters club.

It is supported by the vital organisations that help produce our medal winners including The British Horse Society, The Riding for the Disabled Association, The Pony Club, The Association of British Riding Schools and also the equestrian sports of Reining, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting, Horseball, Polocrosse and Mounted Games.

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TEAM GBR ONTRACK AIMS TO RA IN THE UK AND TO PROVIDE FUN WINNERS TRAIN, COMPETE, AND

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AISE THE PROFILE OF OUR SPORT NDS TO HELP POTENTIAL MEDAL ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS.

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By joining Team GBR Ontrack you will be helping us to raise the vital funds we need to successfully compete and win medals in the international equestrian arena.

Although equestrian sport in the UK receives substantial

lottery

funding,

unfortunately

this

financial support is not enough to cover all the costs associated with sending individuals and teams to international competitions, especially when they are abroad.

In particular, Team GBR urgently needs to raise

additional funds in order to take a full team to Kentucky for the World Equestrian Games in 2010.

With eight sports included in the programme, totalling nearly 50 horses this is a very big and expensive logistical challenge and one for which we really need your support.

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Team GBR Ontrack is open to rid and will help to improve the owning and competing horses

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ders and non riders of all ages e enjoyment of being around, s.

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GBR Ontrack provides significant discounts on the things you need and information and guidance when you need them most.

GBR Ontrack offers significant discounts on the things you really need - feed and forage, veterinary services, saddlery, tack, clothing and tickets at selected events.

It also offers invitations to exclusive GBR

Ontrack fund raising events and access to the online publication Impulsion, which will only be available to GBR Ontrack supporters from June.

A monthly e-newsletter will keep you abreast

of what is going on across the equestrian industry, details on special offers, promotions, fund raising events and news from a variety of equestrian organisations.

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Joining Team GBR Ontrack d memberships currently on disciplines. What it does do, is are designed to improve the owning and competing horses 18

does not replace any of the offer with the individual s offer additional benefits that enjoyment of being around, s.

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Register

NOW

Basic membership is completely FREE and is designed for anyone that has an interest in equestrianism and the countryside, who does not necessarily want to ride or compete, but who wants to be part of Team GBR and show their support.

For a small additional fee, there is an option of having a Team GBR card that acts as a loyalty, discount and pre-paid debit card. This card will give access to a wide range of discounts, special offers and additional benefits.

Vitally, every time you use your card you will be

helping to raise funds to help potential medal winners train, compete and achieve their goals.

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ONE LUCKY GBR ONTRACK SUPPORTER WILL WIN A VIP TRIP FOR TWO TO THE 2010 WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES, ACCOMPANYING TEAM GBR TO KENTUCKY. ENTRY IS TOTALLY FREE, FOR MORE DETAILS CLICK HERE

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DESIGN, MARKETING AND PUBLISHING

H O L L A N D E R LT D . L A K E B A R N , M O U N T P L E A S A N T FA R M , B U CK L A N D , FA R I N G D O N , OX F O R D S H I R E , S N 7 8 P Y T E L E P H O N E : 013 6 7 8 7 0 8 6 7 E - M A I L : L I S @ H O L L A N D E R 4 . C O M W E B S I T E : W W W. H 4 V I S I O N . C O M

G O RG E O U S WO R LD C L A S S D E V E LO PM E NT R I D E R L A R A G R I FFIT H S T E P S D OW N FRO M T H E S A D D LE TO M O D E L T H E L AT E S T FA S H I O N S FRO M H O B B S’ Q U I NT E S S E NT I A LLY E N G LI S H S PR I N G /S U M M E R C O LLE CT I O N .

ORLD CLAS

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Lara is a member of the World Class Development Programme which was established in 2002, and underpins the World Class Performance Programme, sharing the overall aim of winning more medals on the World Stage. Riders are nurtured, developed and inspired to become good competitors. The focus is a balanced approach between skill acquisition and physical conditioning to ensure the skill and competencies required to compete at the highest level are developed.

For more information please visit www.bef.co.uk

Lara and Turlough with Lara’s ride, the 12 year old Dawning Hopes (Loppy), owned by Hilary Sawyer and Leonie Porter. Lara is competing Loppy at PSG small tour. Lara wears Hobbs Marlborough Dress – black/ red giant daisy print with cut-away back detail and a pleated godet at the hem. Dubarry boots, Lara’s own

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Hannah and Turlough with the gentle giant Intermediate eventer Dougal Bug owned

by Lis Hollander and ridden

by Joss Gray. Hannah wears Hobbs Chatsworth dress with ivory daisy lace bodice, built-in bustier and black skirt trimmed with grosgrain ribbon. Shoes, model’s own.

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Lara with her ride the 6 year old Don Benito, owned by Anne Hutton wearing Hobbs Daisy Blouse with fine cotton voile daisy motif and cut work embroidery around the collar and cuffs. Hobbs Sandown jodhpurs in chocolate suede.

Boots, model’s own.

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Hannah with Dougal Bug. She wears Hobbs York Halter neck top made from luxurious stretch silk satin with a pleated detail from each shoulder. Hobbs wide leg Windsor pant in 100% linen with button waist detail and turn-ups.

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Hannah wears, Hobbs Eton Blazer, a modern classic with contrast binding and made from a luxurious Italian wool. Hobbs slim leg Eton pant made from the finest Italian wool. Shoes, model’s own.

Overleaf, Lara wears Hobbs Derby dress with silk georgette in a chocolate and ivory stripe. The hem has diagonal godets and puff-ball detailing. Dubarry boots, model’s own.

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A big thank you to Lara, Turlough and Hannah and everyone at Emile Faurie’s beautiful Oxfordshire yard for making it all possible and to The Lamb Inn, Shipton 01993 830465 www.shiptonlamb.com for putting up with us.

Photographer: James Horan Stylist: Lis Hollander H4 Spring/Summer Collection: Hobbs www.hobbs.co.uk

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Are you on NED? www.nedonline.co.uk The ONLY central source of verified identity, pedigree and performance information for over a million horses with UK passports.

NED is livE. log oN to look for your horsE or poNy.

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VIC ARMSTRONG ARMSTRONG YOU WON’T HAVE SEEN VIC ARMSTRONG COVERING THE GROUND AT BADMINTON OR CLEARING THE RAILS AT OLYMPIA. NOR WILL YOU HAVE SEEN HIM PERFORMING A HALF-PASS AT STONELEIGH. THERE IS, HOWEVER, A VERY GOOD CHANCE YOU’VE NOT ONLY SEEN HIM IN ACTION BUT THAT HE’S PROVIDED YOU WITH SOME OF MOST THRILLING, AWE INSPIRING EXAMPLES OF EQUESTRIANISM YOU HAVE EVER SEEN. AND THAT’S NOT ALL… Words & Photography: Jon Stroud

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“ My first and most burning ambition was to be a jockey you know... I started race riding at the age of 14 Point to Pointing – you wouldn’t be allowed to do that now!”

Vic Armstrong, you see, is a film director and stuntman. Not just any stuntman – he’s the stuntman’s stuntman. He’s James Bond; he’s Indiana Jones; he’s Superman; he’s even Flash Gordon. In fact the Guinness Book of Records cites him as being the world’s most prolific stunt performer of all time. But, as Vic explained to Impulsion whilst relaxing at his home in Berkshire having recently returned from filming Shanghai in the Far East, with family roots firmly established in the world of horse racing his life could have been oh so different.

“My first and most burning ambition was to be a jockey you know... I started race riding at the age of 14 Point to Pointing – you wouldn’t be allowed to

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do that now! My dad was a trainer. I won my first race at the age of 14 at Pitt Manor in Winchester in a steeplechase on my horse Trebor. That’s all I ever wanted to do – ride horses. But I was obviously rather large and tall. I was 12 stone when I left school… and 6ft 1.”

“When I was 17 or 18 we had a very good horse - an eventer that had been owned by Colonel VDS Williams [one of the co-founders of the Horse of the Year Show] whose wife Mrs Williams rode Little Model in the 1960 Olympics. He had several good horses who went to the Olympics eventing but there was this one who was just a bit too headstrong – he could jump anything but there was a loose screw there somewhere. So dad bought him!”

“Anyway, there was this jockey, a stuntman, who used to come down and ride out for us and he was doing a picture called Arabesque in ’65 [staring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren]. He asked to borrow a horse to do all sorts of things – to jump over a moat and to jump a castle wall – and then came back and asked if he could borrow a rider who was brave enough to do it. And that was that! £20 a day, more than a week’s wages back then. I wasn’t earning anything with the horses, just doing it for the love of it. But horses were my entry into the film business and, luckily, when I started there was a dearth of horse pictures going around.”

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All the other jockeys were saying “Farkin ‘ell Vic! If you come off your farkin ‘ed’ll come off wiv you!”

“In 1966 I got onto doing my first Bond, You Only Live Twice, and for that I got £65 a week – great money, right after Christmas and for six whole weeks! Brilliant!

I bought my first car on that film. I earned some extra sliding down the ropes into the volcano at the end [for which Vic was gloriously credited as First Ninja] and went and got a Ford Anglia” A quick glance out of the window reveals Vic’s latest transport, a Bentley Continental GT, parked on the gravel driveway. The lad’s done quite well out of this film making lark! But what was it like for this impressionable young lad to suddenly find himself mixing with the likes of Gregory Peck and Sean Connery having grown up on the gallops?

“I had a sense of the film business earlier because one of dad’s owners back in the 1950s was Richard Todd who was the highest earning British actor and in absolutely everything at the time – Robin Hood…

Rob Roy... Anyway, dad used to winter his horses for him and he used to come and watch them on the gallops at Knowl Hill [sadly, the gallops have now gone – replaced instead by the Castle Royle Golf and Country Club]. He used to come down and bring movie friends with him and I’d see the luxurious side

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of life and get a sense of the film business. He’d tell me about the films he had been working on so I’d go off to the pictures and see the films, come straight home and start throwing myself off my pony playing cowboys and Indians on my own – it used to drive dad mad!”

But, whereas some people might have been lured straight into the heady world of the movie industry, for many years Vic successfully mixed his careers of race riding and film stunt-work; often finding remarkable parallels in the two.

“I actually went round the Grand National with a helmet camera on – jumping Beechers and everything.

People do it now with these lipstick cameras– tiny little things.” Vic points to a series of framed black and white photographs on his study wall. “But there was me, with all that metalwork around my head. All the other jockeys were saying ‘Farkin ‘ell Vic! If you come off your farkin ‘ed’ll come off wiv you!’ ” “Funnily enough, when I was doing Superman, I couldn’t loose the weight to race because I had to bulk up to double Chris Reeves. We had a couple of good horses straight over from Ireland which we wanted to enter in some amateur races so my dad had to find a good amateur. I told him I couldn’t do it as I had to bulk up for this role and he surprised me by saying ‘…erm. I’d like to do it!’ And I suddenly realised that, after all those years of riding our horses, he’d been sacrificing his will to do it. All his life he’d wanted to race but had sacrificed it all to let me do it.” The pride in Vic’s face and the emotion in his voice had become quite noticeable. “So, at the age of 69, he got his jockey’s license and he rode instead of me at Lingfield! Riding your first race at 69… I mean, that’s just phenomenal! He raced for that season and then stopped but he’d achieved his lifelong ambition. I felt pretty bad because for all those years he’d wanted to be out there – in the early days he couldn’t afford it and then later on, when I was old enough to do it, he let me.”

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LEFT - Making an 18ft jump from a galloping horse onto a moving tank is all in a days work for an action hero - but would the real Indiana Jones please stand up? ABOVE - Taking the plunge for Never Say Never Again. From Bond to Black Beauty, Vic’s repertoire reaches far and wide.

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Vic soon realised that, quite simply, to be successful in stunt work you had to be more than a one-trick pony and, whilst horse stunts would remain his true forte for many years, there were plenty of other skills that would be needed when the director cried Action!

“I was always a pretty handy guy. I had always boxed and had always been able to drive – mum taught me to drive when I was five or six years old on the gallops at Knowl Hill. Pretty lateral thinking parents!

It was an old Austin Seven and we used to even jump out of it – silly things really. So I could already fight and drive and then learned to sword fence. I realised that in a lot of these horse movies that were going on the scenes inevitably involved fighting of some sort. Then I learned how to fall properly – bigger and higher falls.”

“I was also pretty logical – something the horse side of my work had given me. When you have horses you are totally responsible – they can’t think for themselves at all. You have to think ahead about their feeding, their training, any danger or problems that might arise. You’re always planning. When training a horse for stunt work, you almost have to think with another mind and you’ve got to try and teach that mind something else. I then found that quite handy in other film work when working out how to do a stunt.”

“There’s a natural progression – working out how a stunt should look, working out how not to get hurt or killed, but make it look as though you have, and then how to photograph that. It’s all part of a learning curve which I picked up pretty quickly. I found that the same simple horse logic that I’d learned early on helped with breaking down all of this.”

Over the years Vic has directed and participated in some of the greatest action sequences ever laid to film; the car chase on the ice in Die Another Day, jumping over a helicopter on a motorcycle in The World Is Not Enough – all in a day’s work for Armstrong. Mission Impossible, Starship Troopers and the Golden Compass are also all on his CV and a BAFTA and a rare Science and Technology Academy Award are testament to his achievement. But, despite all of the high-octane, high-tech and high-explosive action, he still believes that the equine stunts are the greatest of all.

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I’ve always said that horse stuntmen are the most under-rated and underpaid.

With a horse fall it’s just you and the ground – 90% the ground!

“Yes! I’ve always said that horse stuntmen are the most under-rated and underpaid. With a horse fall it’s just you and the ground – 90% the ground! There’s an immense amount of skill and horsemanship involved in keeping a horse under control and balanced as you bring its head around and lift its leg during a fall, [Vic demonstrates clutching an imaginary set of reins and you can see the concentration in his face as he goes through the motions]. And you can’t afford to get it wrong. If you over-faze a horse at a jump in a competition you’ll always have trouble getting it to go again – it’s the same with stunt horses – you have to keep their trust.”

“Sometimes you do get it wrong though. I did this stunt where I had to fall from a horse onto a railed fence. We’d replaced a huge section with a special breakaway fence but I was a little late, missed the breakaway bit and hit the real rails – I broke two ribs doing that!”

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“When doubling for Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade I had to do this big 18ft jump from a galloping horse onto a moving tank! It took so much planning! I had to ride along above the tank – we had to make sure the tank could get close enough but that the horse was not in danger – we were worried it might slip between the rock wall and the tracks. I had to pick a horse that I knew would go in a straight line but we helped it by piling rocks up either side of where it had to run. I built a special steel band that went all the way around the horse’s chest and fixed a really high stirrup to it to jump off of – a normal girth and leather would have just flexed and stretch too much. When I did it I was right on the limit and just belly flopped onto the back of the tank.”

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“Another big horse stunt was this one we did for Bond [Never Say Never Again] where it had to look like we’d jumped off of a cliff into the sea.” Vic points to another photograph on the wall; this time exhibiting the most amazing and enormous scaffold rig you could ever imagine.”

“We taught the horse to swim for three weeks and devised an amazing chute where I could sit on the horse and it would slide down on its haunches before we dropped into the water. We spent ages scouting a location before we found this dock where the water would be deep enough from the edge but with a nearby slipway. When the horse hit the water I was still clutching onto the reins! The horse then happily surfaced, turned left, swam to the ramp and calmly walked out!”

But there are two people parting company with the falling horse in the photograph? “Oh yes, that’s Wendy [Vic’s wife] doing the fall with me!” replies Vic with a wry smile!

“When we filmed the fantasy film Krull back in the ‘80s, they asked me to make it look as if some magical horses were travelling at the speed of light.

I said I could do it by filming the horses galloping against a blue-screen. Rather than build a mile long backdrop on the gallops I said we’d use stationary treadmills. Nothing like this existed so with the help of Dave Bickers we got some small rollers and belts from a quarry.”

“Because they look so great we used Clydesdales – Clydesdales at the speed of light! It worked a treat and when we filmed it, Rocky [one of the stuntmen] was jumping from horse to horse at the full gallop!”

“I truly owe a lot to horses – horses got me where I am today.”

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Horse Power

Lotus bills the Exig

ge S as one of their most radical produ ction models to da te.

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It’s always difficult to build a perception of speed but we’ve tried. Joss Gray rides his 2** event horse (stable name Jack - owned by Lucy Henman) on the drive leading up to his beautiful yard close to the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire.

There is no doubt that the Lotus Exige S is a fearsomely quick car. The supercharged S is a fully homologated model that packs a 221bhp punch and yet tips the scales at a svelte 935kg.

Lotus bores like to point out that the original Elise was nearly 200kg lighter than this when it was first launched in 1996, but that car had 118bhp and no aerodynamic downforce. Night and day, so to speak.

The car I’m driving has been fitted with the optional Performance Pack incorporating traction control, and a whole host of other goodies. It’s not totally indicative of the experience you’ll have if you turn up at your Lotus dealer with the base asking price of around £35,000; however, the amount of go you get from that Toyota-sourced engine is exactly the same.

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The power delivery on the Exige S is astonishingly linear, making Lotus’ claim that this 1800cc engine feels like a big V6 entirely justifiable. Whereas the VTT-i power-plant of the normally aspirated version suffers from a gaping hole in its torque curve just below the critical 6,200rpm mark, the supercharged Exige S feels strong from 2,000rpm right up to its 8,500rpm redline.

There aren’t too many road cars costing less than £60,000 that could come within a sniff of the Exige’s time, the statistics for the S are impressive; It gets to 60mph in 4.1 seconds and to 100mph in a fraction less than ten. Furthermore, it’s quicker to 60mph than a Porsche 911 Turbo and within a tenth of a second of Ferrari’s F430; neither of these cars having a hope of replicating the Exige’s 31mpg combined fuel consumption figure. Fuel economy may not seem too much of a concern to target buyers but when you have a mere 435-litre fuel tank, it equates to more laps between top ups.

Identifiable by its body-coloured intakes and S badging, the Exige can also be ordered with a Performance Pack which adds an extra 19bhp and a more focused approach for a £3,000 premium. Lotus also offers two optional Touring packs, that take the edge off the cars rawest qualities in addition to two Sport packs, that enhance this cars headbanger appeal without too much of an extra outlay.

The Touring pack includes electric windows, leather and suede upholstery, carpets and additional noise insulation.

The Touring pack adds twin front airbags. The Sport pack features twin oil coolers and bespoke Lotus’ switchable traction control system. A Torsentype limited slip differential is available as an option designed for what Lotus calls “tight, low speed, high acceleration driving (such as auto tests).” Also included are sports seats and a T45 steel rollover hoop and harness bar for the aftermarket fitment of racing harnesses and adjustable front anti-roll bar.

Owning a car like the Exige with its pinpoint precision and cataclysmic acceleration can offer you a very special experience.

Starting the engine is like entering the start box for the cross country – your spine tingles, you get butterflies in your stomach and your legs feel like jelly.

Taking this beast out on the open road, or better still, the closed circuit or local racetrack, offers all the exhilaration of a flat out charge over the big fences of Burghley.

Sure, it may not be the most practical thing for your weekly shop at Waitrose but then again, the same could be said about that horse you own and that hasn’t stopped you taking him out for a gallop has it?

Car supplied by Dick Lovett Swindon www.dicklovettswindon.co.uk/lotus/swindon

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Facts At A Glance

CAR: Lotus Exige S PRICE: ÂŁ35,500 on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 20 CO2 EMISSIONS: 20 8g/km PERFORMANCE : M ax Speed 149mph / 0- 60mph 4.9s FUEL CONSUMPTIO N: (urban) 23.3mpg / (extra urban) 41.5 WILL IT FIT IN YOUR mpg GARAGE?: Length/W idth/Heightmm 37 97/1850/1159mm

Wo rds : JJ Wi llia ms Ph oto gra ph y: Ja me s Ho ran

Al de n ha s a be au tif ul cr os s co un try co ur se th at is avail ab le fo r pr iva te hir e. Fo r fu rth er inf or ma tio n ple as e co nt ac t 0123 5 85 02 48 an d qu ot e Im pu lsi on iss ue 03 to re ce ive a 10% dis co un t.

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HITTING

THE DIRT SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAKE A FALL? AT

THE VERY BEST YOU GET BACK UP, MAKE A FACE TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT IT HURT, DUST YOURSELF DOWN AND THEN CLIMB BACK IN THE SADDLE AND CONTINUE WHERE YOU LEFT OFF. ON THE OTHER HAND PERHAPS YOU’VE KNOCKED YOURSELF AROUND A LITTLE AND A TRIP TO THE FIRST-AID TENT OR THE LOCAL A&E IS IN ORDER. BUT HANG ON, IT’S ONLY A SPRAIN – NOTHING A LITTLE MAGIC SPRAY AND A BAG OF FROZEN PEAS WON’T SORT OUT.

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EQUESTRIAN If only it was always like that – the odd superficial knock or bruise that provides a limp for a week or a good excuse to type one-handed – the reality, however, can sometimes be quite different and the implications can reach further that one’s personal health and wellbeing. For a professional rider the wrong injury at the wrong time can be an economic disaster.

If you’re going to be off for a long time, owners are going to need to place their horses elsewhere. If they’ve been ridden well then it can be tough, even impossible to get them back.

It is essential to have a well organised yard with dedicated members of staff who are more than capable keeping everything running. It is also vital to have good personal accident insurance - without it the yard and the business might not survive.

But of course, it’s not just in the world of equestrianism where accidents happen and sporting injuries occur. Just a quick look through the back pages of any national newspaper will reveal a catalogue of athletes, players, riders and drivers nursing injuries of one sort or another. But the competitive nature of sport no longer stops at the door to the locker room. Whether you’re an F1 driver or goal keeper in the local five-a-side football league you can bet your bottom dollar that there’s someone else waiting in the wings to fill your boots and, as we all know, once your boots have been filled it can be very different getting them back on your feet again later.

It can, therefore, seem a little odd the way different sportsmen and women approach the subject of getting injured and their road to recovery. Toughness, drive and an inner desire to get the job done can have a lot to do with things – how often have you watched a game of rugby and seen a player take the most colossal bone crunching hit only to see them jump to their feet and get stuck into the next play?

On the other hand, how often have you witnessed a Premiership footballer receiving the most innocuous tap on the edge of the penalty area only to throw himself into the most spectacular cinematic death scene worthy of nomination for an Academy Award?

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MOTORSPORT From Michael Schumacher to Valentino Rossi, when it comes to the thrilling high-speed world of motorsport, Dr Massimo Corbascio has treated them all. Having qualified as a doctor in 1971, he started working in motorsport in 1975 and now heads up the World Superbike Clinica Mobile - a high tech facility that provides a first aid and fracture clinic for the world’s premiere production bike championship as it travels across the globe.

“The world of Formula 1 is now very safe. The most common injuries used to be those to the feet but the drivers are now housed in an ultra-safe cocoon.

These days it is the pit crew who are more at risk and are the more common customers. Most of the time it’s just knocks and grazes but you would be amazed how often they come in with broken toes after their feet have been driven over!”

“In Superbike it can be different. Shoulders, collar bones, knees and ankles are all at risk. Last month (a very wet weekend at Great Britain’s Donington Park) we logged 115 crashes in the last two days, that was before the race started!!!”

Even to the uneducated eye, the set up within the Clinica Mobile is very impressive. Dr Corbascio’s expert team includes two surgeons, one of whom is an orthopaedic specialist, an anaesthetist, a radiographer and five physiotherapists.

“The riders have a will to race and a will to win.

They will do anything to get back out on the track.

Troy [Corser] crashed eight times but kept coming back for more treatment and we do our best to keep him in one piece.”

At that moment a cry goes up from the doctors and physios who are huddled around one of the TV monitors mounted on the wall watching the first race of the day. In the wet conditions there has already been a crash on the first lap. Massimo rubs his hands together in preparation for the task ahead.

“Customers!” he says with a smile.

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PREVIOUS | NEXT feature FOOTBALL The Football Association takes its medical responsibilities towards its players very seriously – and with some of them earning in excess of £100,000 per week one can understand why.

Everyone remembers the fabled David Beckham metatarsal injury that occurred in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup and filled the front and back pages of the national press for week after week. But, considering the fact that equestrian athletes, motorcycle racers and the like are known to regularly compete with breaks, sprains and strains, why should the seemingly innocuous fracture to a tiny bone in the foot cause so much trouble?

The answer lies in the way the bone is utilised.

One’s ribs might be extremely painful if broken but essentially serve as little more than a protective cage for the lungs and heart whilst a wrist injury can often be contained by effective strapping or a lightweight cast. The metatarsal, on the other hand (or should that be foot?) is a key contributor to the body’s ability to support its own weight – break it and the weight is still there bearing down, causing pain and delaying recovery.

It’s always a difficult injury to manage and has seen many a player drawn away from the field for an extended period – Michael Owen, for example, was predicted to take six to eight weeks to recover from his metatarsal injury in 2006 but did not return to the pitch for seventeen weeks. Forget football clubs for a moment – for any business to have one of its key assets out of action for that amount of time would be seen as a disaster.

Of course the football pitch is as much a theatre for poorly played amateur dramatics as it is a theatre of dreams but, when injuries do occur, they shouldn’t be seen as any less serious than those incurred in eventing, show jumping or racing.

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SKIING “The high-end of the sport is a world away from leisure skiing we enjoy on our annual holidays” explains Donna Tofield – a professional ski instructor with many years of competitive experience on the piste of Europe. “Usually for the once-a-year amateurs it’s simple breaks that are usually caused by poor fitting equipment, poor knowledge or just being taken out by someone else. If people actually knew how to adjust the straps on their poles it would probably cut out most of the hand injuries for a start!”

But, when you get further up the competitive scale, the nature of the injuries change and, as with equestrianism, its effect on the competitor’s season and their ongoing career can be devastating – so much so that the International Ski Federation, the sports governing body, has developed the Injury Surveillance System (FIS-ISS) in collaboration with the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre.

In the first two seasons of operation, data obtained by the system showed that almost one-third of elite World Cup athletes had sustained a time-loss injury and, of these, a third were serious enough to cause a loss of more than 28 days of training and competition.

Of these, cruciate (knee) ligament injuries were the most common problem followed closely by head injuries and concussion.

With attrition rates of this level it is not surprising that the FIS is taking matters seriously. Actively seeking ways and means to further understand the nature of the cause of injury, the risk factors involved and how equipment and training methods can be improved, the sport is truly at the forefront of sports injury prevention. A good defence is, after all, often the best offence.

Words: Jon Stroud Photography: Jon Stroud & Getty Images

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y r a s r e v i n n A h t 0 8 9 0 20 This year The Pony Club moves to its new offices on Stoneleigh Park, launches Endurance riding as an official Pony Club disciplines and celebrates its 80th Anniversary....so what’s next?

Whether you own a pony or not, The Pony Club is ‘the’ starting point for any young person who wants to learn how to ride and care for equines and an astonishing number of top equine athletes in Great Britain started their career in The Pony Club. Membership is open to girls and boys under the age of 25 years and offers a range of benefits alongside excellence in equine training. Members can compete, take tests and most importantly make friends and have fun.

The Pony Club has become many things to many people since its conception 1929. First and foremost it is an institution providing solid grassroots training in the correct way to care for and ride a pony. It is an organisation, constantly evolving, headed by an active and enthusiastic body of volunteers and workers of all ages and from all walks of life. To so many it acts as a family, in which generations are involved and lifelong friendships are formed. Finally, it has become a way of life for so many who started out in Pony Club years, and now give their time so that others can learn, have fun and make friends.

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Now in its 80th Anniversary year, The Pony Club is a pillar of strength in the equine community and industry, playing an active role within the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) and their Member Bodies who look to The Pony Club to provide them with their future membership.The Pony Clubs objectives have remained the same for 80 years; • To encourage young people to ride and to learn to enjoy all kinds of sport connected with ponies and riding.

• To give instruction in riding and horsemastership and to educate Members to look after and to take proper care of their animals.

• To promote the highest ideals of sportsmanship, citizenship and loyalty and to create strength of character and self-discipline.

The last objective increasingly seems more relevant when youth culture is under intense scrutiny, with anti social behavior, health and fitness issues, The Pony Club is still providing not only guidance in terms of equine excellence but also teaching young people how to behave correctly and how to look after and respect those around them.

The sportsmanship and competitive element of The Pony Club is clear to see with statistics such as the entire bronze medal winning Beijing Olympic Eventing team being Pony Club graduates. Mary King, Olympic Eventing team bronze medalist, spoke at The Pony Club’s Annual Conference on her fond memories of the beginnings not just her career in The Pony Club but escaping ponies, stern District Commissioners and bucketfuls of fun! Her sentiments were whole heartedly echoed by Heather Fell, Olympic Modern Pentathlon Silver medalist, on her memories of Pony Club Camp, sleeping in a barn with hot chocolate as well as the beginnings of her Olympic career in Pony Club Tetrathlon.

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Such success is a fantastic shop window for The Pony Club, but the organisation itself remains essentially for the grassroots rider; not only the Branch Member with the woolly ‘jack of all trades’ pony who are the backbone of The Pony Club, but now also the Centre Member for whom The Pony Club has opened up the opportunity to participate. Introducing Endurance riding as a Pony Club Discipline cements this grassroots ethos and opens yet another door for the average pony and rider with good degree of fitness, knowledge of equine welfare and the countryside.

In order to keeps the momentum in training excellence The Pony Club finds itself constantly reviewing its investment in its instructors both current and budding.

The annual Instructors Conferences have seen dramatic growth in stature over the years, now attracting audiences of over 600 across the venues which move around the country. Still feeling that so many people miss the chance to attend these days the Training Committee has launched a Road Show taking the key messages from the main Conferences around the country. The Young Instructors Advanced Course (YIAC), was re-launched in 2008, and will act as a safe guard to ensure the quality and consistent flow of up and coming Pony Club instructors.

Many of the candidates attending are up and coming stars in their own competitive disciplines, but the course gives them a reason to return to Pony Club to continue to better themselves and give back to the organisation.

What is always so astounding about The Pony Club is its relentless volunteer base, as without them The Pony Club and its activities would not happen. Rather alarmingly a basic Pony Club Branch Committee, consisting of seven Members, (DC, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Treasurer, Chief Instructor, Health and Safety Officer) across the 347 Branches creates 2429 volunteers alone. In 2008 the National Championships demanded 588 volunteers over five days, not including the Polo, Tetrathlon and Novice Championships; or for that matter the incredible number of people who give freely their time to run Branch Rallies, Camps and competitions. The Pony Club’s volunteers are without doubt the organisations lynchpin, and it is sometimes difficult to feel that they receive the rewards they so justly deserve but receiving the ‘Lexington Insurance Voluntary Service Award 2008’ presented by HRH The Princess Royal did provide a fitting tribute to the thousands of volunteers who have played their part in the past 80 years.

As the nation becomes increasingly aware of the current economic insecurity, The Pony Club still sees an opportunity to capitalise and where fuel bills and the cost of keeping an equine rise The Pony Club is providing a range of activities at a fraction of the normal cost. Most importantly, should the competitions slow due to rising costs, The Pony Club pledges that the option to train will always be the last element to be lost, so that when the economy begins to recover there will be a group of enthusiastic Members, correctly trained and rearing to come out and show what they can achieve.

The Pony Club is without doubt proud of what it has achieved over the past 80 years, but it is far from resting on its laurels, and with a recent move to more prominent offices on Stoneleigh Park, is feeling more of a part of the equine industry than ever before.

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For more information about The Pony Club please visit www.pcuk.org.

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Thank you to Emily Pope, 14, and her pony Biz. Emily has been in The Pony Club since she was 5 and enjoys all disciplines with Biz and has been on The Pony Club Teams on a regular basis since she was 10.

Thank you to Tim and 9 year old Anna Worthington and 18 year old Pixie. Anna has been a member of the Pony Club for 3 years.

Words: JJ Williams Photography: James Horan

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At home with

SPENNY & JAY

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Spencer - Gersemi: DZ Functional Unisex Shirt ÂŁ38.00

Despite growing up within 20 miles of each other on the Suffolk-Essex border and having cut their equestrian teeth at the same competitions and on the same show grounds, it was not until 2007 that dressage rider Spencer Wilton and international eventer Jay Halim met for the first time. Jay was running a small but successful yard in the rolling Oxfordshire countryside a few miles from the town of Lechlade-on-Thames. Spenny, meanwhile, was making regular trips to nearby Southrop where he was teaching Barbury and Blenheim winning eventer Chris King a thing or two about flatwork. Although the two knew little about each other, an introduction was made, something very special clicked and the pair have been committed partners ever since.

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Spencer - Gersemi Capable Jacket £110.00, Gersemi DZ Functional Unisex Shirt £38.00, Gersemi Balder Breeches £120.00, Boots Konig riders own, Saddle & Bridle Amerigo riders own.

Jay - Kentucky Waifano, Men’s Blousen £117.00, Kentucky Bhul, Men’s Polo Shirt £48.00, Kentucky Miami City Breeches £179.00, Boots Konig riders own, Saddle & Bridle Antarès Sellier riders own.

“ An introduction was made, something very special clicked and the pair have been committed partners ever since.”

Spenny shot to fame in 2007 after putting in a stellar Grand Prix performance at Stoneleigh to become National Dressage Champion. Little has been seen of him on the competition circuit over the past 18 months. However, with his superlative teaching skills in great demand, his time has been far from wasted; even in the three days between standing in front of the camera for Impulsion’s exclusive Gersemi fashion shoot and sitting down for an informal chat in his and Jay’s gorgeous new country cottage near Westonbirt, he had flown to Scotland and back to give no less than eight clinics and private lessons.

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PREVIOUS | NEXT feature Jay - Kentucky Waifano, Men’s Blousen £117.00, Kentucky Bhul, Men’s Polo Shirt £48.00, Kentucky Miami City Breeches £179.00.

“ It’s Homes & Gardens for horses!

We’ve got a fantastic cross-country course, great local hacking…”

For both riders it had been obvious for some time that the Lechlade yard was a far from ideal base and a move to something bigger and better had always been on the cards. But finding the perfect yard capable of supporting top level competition in both dressage and eventing was not an easy task. Countless properties were investigated but, for one reason or another, they all fell by the wayside – that was until January of this year when the pair spotted an advertisement for a property that seemed to answer all of their prayers.

“As soon as we saw the place I just thought, oh my God, this is amazing! After spending so long looking we made the decision almost immediately. I couldn’t believe it!” Although grinning from ear to ear in delight, Jay still manages to shake his head in obvious disbelief of the situation.

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Spencer - Gersemi DZ Functional Unisex Shirt £38.00, Gersemi Knit Unisex Sweater £70.00.

“A superb 60x60 school”, interrupts Spenny showing obvious signs of boyish excitement. “It’s got a really good surface – that’s such an important thing. There’s also the usual stuff – a walker and so on. We’ve got plenty of room and even the possibility of more stables if we need them. And we’re got a great landlord! It’s the first time the yard’s been rented out, so it’s a new thing for them but they’ve been amazing in helping us get everything sorted. Our landlady events herself so we’re both going to be able to help her progress too.”

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Spencer - Gersemi Capable Jacket £110.00, Gersemi DZ Functional Unisex Shirt £38.00.

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PREVIOUS | NEXT feature Spencer - Gersemi Capable Jacket £110.00, Gersemi Knit Unisex Sweater £70.00.

Jay - Kentucky Bhul, Men’s Polo Shirt £48.00.

“ I have secured a really enthusiastic private backer - now I just have to find the right horse.”

Jay jumps back into the conversation; “It was such a rare thing to find a yard that accommodated both of our needs.

It’s really going to have a big effect on the opportunities open to us in the future.”

And what of the future? Does this move herald a return to the top flight for Spencer?

“I’m not getting excited about horses just yet! I have, however, secured a really enthusiastic private backer – now I just have to take my time looking for the right horse.”

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Spencer - Gersemi Capable Jacket £110.00, Gersemi DZ Functional Unisex Shirt £38.00.

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Jay - Kentucky Waifano, Men’s Blousen £117.00, Kentucky Bhul, Men’s Polo Shirt £48.00, Miami City Breeches £179.00, Belt riders own.

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Spenny and Jay have very kindly donated a training day with them at their beautiful yard. One lucky Team GBR Ontrack member will enjoy a flat lesson with Spenny and then a jump lesson with Jay before schooling round their XC course. For information please go to www.spencerwilton.co.uk “We don’t really want to take on loads of horses. Having just a few allows you to spend less time competing, more time training and more time enjoying what you do.” Spencer lets slip a telling smile. It’s in his nature to be very cool, calm and collected but there is no doubting the fact that inside there’s a good measure of excitement fizzing away like the fuse on a stick of dynamite.

“This is a great chance for us to set up an amazing yard just the way we want it. Although we both want the most out of our careers and to be at the top of our game we both realise that we also want to enjoy and experience a great home life together.”

Words: Jon Stroud Photography: James Horan For further information about Spenny and Jay or to book lessons please go to www.spencerwilton.co.uk

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The New Equestrian Fashion Brand. www.gersemi.se

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Behind the scenes ...

As luck would have it, on the day of the shoot the Beaufort Hunt met on the lawn of the beautiful South Cotswold Estate where Spenny and Jay are based.

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Cartier Polo

World Cup

St Moritz

Celebr ating its 25th anniversary in 2009, the Cartier World Snow Polo Cup has, in recent years, earned a rightful place as one of the “must do” happenings for Europe’s well heeled and glitter ati.

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on

Snow

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Forget Nadal and Federer at the Australian Open or Brad and Angelina in London at the BAFTAs – there’s only one place to be when the thermometer mercury plummets and that’s St Moritz! Established fifty years ago, the St Moritz Polo Club had long desired to hold a special tournament of international standing but when the town’s polo field was redeveloped into a sports centre all hope seemed lost.

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Despite the lack of a home field to call its own, the club survived and continued to play matches across Europe until, in 1983 whilst at a competition in Munich, two members happened upon the idea of a winter tournament played on snow – or more precisely on the snow that lay on the frozen St Moritz Lake.

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During the early months of the year the ice on the lake can be 45cm thick – more than enough to support not only the weight of a polo pony and its rider but also the ten-thousand spectators, the cavernous 600m2 VIP hospitality tents, the catering establishments and the vast car parks!

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With its fabled “dry, sparkling Champagne climate” and an average of 322 days of sunshine every year, there could be no better place to hold such a wonderful event than this exclusive mountain resort nestled at 1856m in Switzerland’s Upper Engadine Valley.

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If you want to investigate the game and see if you really do have a passion for polo, try taking a few lessons with an established instructor. Most polo clubs can refer you to a polo school. Introductory lessons generally cost £50 - £150 per hour, which includes all tack and equipment plus the use of a trusty school pony. There are very few prerequisites, you do not necessarily have to have sat on a horse before. Like any equestrian sport, polo requires a certain amount of natural ability combined with determination and dedication. By taking a few lessons, you may discover that, yes indeed, you do have a passion for polo!

For more information about polo clubs in the UK please visit www.polocenter.com.

www.polostmoritz.com Words: Jon Stroud Photography: David Sinclair www.shootshorses.com

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the new forester diesel. enGineered for todAY’s enVironMent.

Whatever you use an SUV for, you need to know that its all-round versatility is matched by drivability, safety technology and first-class green credentials. The new Forester’s All-Wheel Drive is permanent (unlike some lesser SUVs), and with a totally symmetrical drive train, it matches stunning off road grip with the best possible on road balance. Its unique Boxer Diesel engine sits lower, giving Forester a low centre of gravity, reducing body roll and improving handling. A class-leading 44.8 mpg economy, 167 g/km CO2 and road tax of just £170 means the Forester also makes real economic sense. With an unbeatable design and superlative build-quality, the Forester is truly built the way all SUVs should be. And from only £20,870 even the price is engineered for today’s environment.

Call 0844 662 6616 or visit foresterdiesel.Co.uk

Forester Diesel range fuel consumption in mpg (L/100km): Urban from 38.2 (7.4) to 39.2 (7.2). Extra urban from 47.9 (5.9) to 48.7 (5.8). Combined from 44.1 (6.4) to 44.8 (6.3). CO2 emissions from 167 to 170 (g/km). Every Forester marketed by Subaru (UK) Ltd is covered by a 3 year/60,000 mile (whichever is sooner) warranty. On the road price correct at time of going to press.

A FAMILY

AFFAIR AN INTERVIEW WITH THE EILBERGS

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ravel south from the hustle and bustle of Birmingham’s metropolitan busy centre and you soon enter the quiet, rural Worcestershire countryside where, tucked away at the

end of a quiet lane just to the north of Redditch, you will find Pink Green Farm: the wonderful home of those who are fast becoming the British dressage scene’s foremost family – the Eilbergs. Whilst not quite up to the football-team numbers fielded in the world of show jumping by the almighty Whitaker clan, Ferdi and Geraldine Eilberg and their children Maria and Michael have become a force majeure.

Words & Photography: Jon Stroud www.jonstroudmedia.com

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sked about the career that has earned him a BHS Fellowship, brought him to the forefront of dressage training and put him in the role of coach to the Great Britain national team at the 2008 Olympic Games his reply is simple; “I’ve been at it for a while!”

“I started at a trekking yard in my home village [in Germany] where I found out quite quickly that, once I got their heads down, I could have so much more control. This gave me the idea that the horse needed to be put into a shape. I knew this was what I wanted to do but then had the task of convincing my parents that I should not go to university and waste more time but should start straight away.”

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Although unsaid, the expression on Ferdi’s furrowed brow confirms that this might not have been the easiest of negotiations he has undertaken in his long career. He was, however, successful in his petitioning and, in 1970, started his apprenticeship with Dr Reine Klimke. For a young ambitious pupil like him, it was a unique opportunity and he soon found himself riding classic schoolmasters like Dux, with whom Reine had taken individual bronze and team Gold at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 and Remus – the mighty Westphalian that had seen Harry Boldt to an individual silver and team gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Ferdi stayed with Klimke until 1974 when, at 20-yearsold, he was called up for his national service in the German army. There followed a spell in the yard of German team rider Eva-Maria Pracht where he rode and trained both her dressage and jumping horses.

“Four very busy years!” exclaims Ferdi.

When asked if these were what he would consider his breakthrough years he displays a knowing smile.

“Up until this time I had only ever ridden to Advanced Medium, and then they sprang it on me that I was to ride in the pre-Olympics at Grossmont in the year before Montreal”.

“Grand Prix?” asks Maria who has been sitting captivated by her father’s story.

‘Yes, Intermediaire 2, Grand Prix and Grand Prix freestyle’, laughs Ferdi. ‘I had to borrow a tailcoat and then off we went. It was a great experience!’

Returning to his times on the Pracht yard he explains; “They bought many young horses which I trained up to as high a level as possible. I was able to compete at Grand Prix dressage and also at level-S Jumping which earned me my gold Reiterabzeichen which you get for successes in competition. You either have to win ten bigger dressage classes or twenty jumping classes – I got mine for winning dressage and jumping.

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‘I WAS INVITED TO ENGLAND TO DO A NATIONAL CONVENTION IN 1979 AT STONELEIGHT WHICH WENT VERY WELL. I HAD PEOPLE SEE ME WHO WERE CONNECTED WITH THE COMPANY DALGETY SPILLERS WHICH WAS INTERESTED IN GIVING DRESSAGE A BOOST. They had seen the National Championships out there in a field with about six riders in the Grand Prix – Sarah Whitmore, Jenny [Loriston-Clarke], Diana [Mason] and a few others who perhaps struggled a bit. Eventing and Show jumping already had a good reputation in Britain and with Dressage they wanted to do the same. They were looking for a trainer to take this on.’

At this time, his employers, the Practs, were planning to make a move and resettle in Canada, wanting the talented Ferdi to go with them. “I wasn’t prepared to make such a big move… so I ended up in England instead!” Their loss has most certainly been our gain.

And so it was; in October 1980 Ferdi Eilberg made England his home bringing with him his English wife, Geri, and six horses first to Salisbury; first to Lord and Lady Hugh Russell’s eventing Mecca at Wylie before building their own nearby the village of Cholderton.

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“Money to build was no object to the company [Dalgety Spillers] and Ferdi was able to choose scholars from the Dressage Foundation, as it was called – Stephen Clarke, Jane Kidd and Kate Hamilton.” All of whom have become highly respected names at the heart of the current national and international dressage scenes.

For Ferdi, the move to Wiltshire had offered a wonderful opportunity to finally compete his own horses. “I had partly trained a horse out in Germany, a horse called Oakland Yeoman who I then managed to win the HOYS Dressage Horse of the Year with in 1981, at Grand Prix. In ’82 I won four national championships from Novice to Intermediaire 1. The work was going very well!”

“I then got involved with the eventers, and started training Mary King in ’81 and went with the event team from ’82 until ’92 after the Barcelona Games when the professional status changed and I could at last ride in a team myself. I rode in the dressage team in 1993 where we managed to get a team silver – that was almost a shock!”

This was followed with superb performances in the World Equestrian Games at The Hague in 1994, at Mondorf in 1995 and once more at the World Championships held in Rome’s Flaminio Stadium in 1998.

But while there was a star shining on Ferdi’s burgeoning competitive career, all was not gleaming in the cold hard world of sponsorship. Changes at Dalgety Spillers had seen the company restructured and sold off in chunks All of a sudden the money that had supported the dressage foundation was no more. This saw the sale of the Cholderton property to a party more interested in converting its rather grand house into a nursing home. Ferdi continued to rent the yard for six months but it was clear to him that this could not continue.

After a concerted search and a period spent living in a caravan, a new property was found – Pink Green Farm – the same house, home and working environment the family enjoy today.

At the time it was in a poor state of repair, the previous owner being inclined to buy and sell fire and flood damaged goods leaving the unsold items scattered about the property. Not quite the equestrian idyll that we see today.

For Ferdi and Geri it was, however, a perfect blank canvas from which to create their perfect yard and they set about moving in – accompanied by a sixmonth old Maria.

“We couldn’t find anywhere to put her so we left her dangling from a tree in a baby-bouncer. She looked very happy.” The mortified look on Maria’s face suggests she is not quite as happy having her early childhood exploits exposed in such an open way but this soon gives way to smiles and laughter.

How, then, did Ferdi interact with the young Maria and then Michael as they spent their formative years in the saddle? Before either of the junior family members have a chance to respond Ferdi is already there with the answer; “I sort of ignored them! Geri was responsible for their riding. We had a young Shetland and she used to take them to Pony Club and so on.”

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“ MARIA WAS MORE OF AN EVENTER AT FIRST. I GOT SOME INDICATION THAT SHE MIGHT HAVE A DRESSAGE INTEREST WHEN I CAME INTO THE SCHOOL ONE DAY AND FOUND HER ON THE KICKING BOARDS WITH THE SHETLAND TRYING TO TEACH HIM PIAFFE!”

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“But Maria started working with dad earlier than I did” Michael interjects.

“Yes,” confirmed Ferdi. “He didn’t want to be helped! We couldn’t get him on the Shetland until he was big enough to get on him himself and then he would just ride off on his own; if Michael was hungry and wanted to get himself a sandwich or something, he would just ride him into the back hall and leave him there!”

“I remember when I was trying to learn half-pass for the first time,” Maria recalled. “I was only about seven and we had Jodie Lister in at the school once and she was doing half-passes and shoulder-in and I couldn’t believe what I was watching! I thought, ‘ponies can do this kind of stuff? Wow!’ I used to try it all on my eventing pony and dad used to think ‘what are you doing Maria?’ ” Perseverance paid off with Maria being selected for the Pony Europeans in 1998 however, bad luck struck just before the championships when her pony went lame. It was not all bad news though; undeterred, Geri took Maria and Michael to Le Touquet to watch and it was there that they spotted a talented Danish pony called Manitu N. With a bit of a push, Ferdi was convinced to invest in “this expensive pony”.

Maria could hardly believe here eyes when this impressive stallion arrived on the yard.

Ferdi then reminds her “You could hardly believe it when he bucked you off the first time you rode him either”.

“Yes he was rather fun,” said Maria. “He was good when I got to know him because he would just buck in a straight line! I had seen him at those Europeans when he was only six, quite young, very green but very smart. He was quite naughty though!

At Stromsholm when we got the team silver I was only 5 marks (0.26%) off getting bronze – he’d done a good test but he moved in the immobility halt which cost him. The next year he was going well again, this time at Hagen in Germany, where we again got the team silver…”

“And we said, ‘Maria, you must go for it!’ ” interrupted Ferdi looking excited.

Maria continued. “He was great in the warm up and was looking really well and then these Shetlands came past – off on their way to a parade or something.

He had to come out of the practice area and into the main arena… he just stopped, looked and then bucked and bucked his way all the way down the centre line. I couldn’t even salute!”

“In 2001 I started riding Two Sox and also Prinz Heinrich but as the championships approached I had a call from Ian Woodhead who said that he had this horse called Don Perry at home who was doing nothing. Would I like to take him on for the Europeans?”

Maria did, after qualifying at Hickstead whilst holding her breath! On this occasion she didn’t get a team medal but did win the consolation – receiving a new saddle and rugs and all manner of goodies exciting enough to satisfy a young rider.

Success was, however, forthcoming at the National Championships that year, when she took the Medium Restricted title in grand fashion with Prinz Heinrich; a second senior national title coming three years later in the Advanced Medium in partnership with Topscore – a horse won by Ferdi at the 1996 National Championships at Addington.

Ferdi remembers the tale well. “Dressage Horse International had given a prize for the highest percentage in the championship. I had two horses in the Grand Prix and I had Warianka, a great grey mare who was a fantastic horse but just a little difficult, in the medium. I knew she could go well and just got on with it. Then I was told “You know you’ve won the horse?” I had got 70% and nobody had done better so I was presented with this three-year-old!

Unbroken!”

“I took him home and put him in the field out the front. Two hours later I looked again and he had jumped out and disappeared already. He had Dutch jumping lines! I thought he might make an eventer but somehow we managed to persuade him to become a dressage horse.’

Maria is obviously excited at Topper’s prospects for the future. ‘We’ve got him to Grand Prix level and took him to Spain for his first Big Tour at the start of 2008. I’ve never sat on a horse more powerful. When he gets going he’s just amazing to ride.”

But what is it that flicks that switch to make him go? “He hates it if you try and take control from on top – he thinks, ‘you’re going to try and tell me what to do’ but if dad gives him a shock from the ground he’s off!”

A fast learner, Two Sox was taught one-time changes in just two weeks whilst Maria was holidaying in Brazil with a friend!

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Shown here at the National Championships performing with Marakov in the Intermediaire 1, Michael proved to be a worthy winner of the Advanced Medium Open partnering Janeiro VI.

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The look of concentration says it all as Maria and Two Sox work their way towards the 2008 national title.

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MARIA ALSO SEES HOW TWO SOX HAS COME ON OVER RECENT YEARS AND IT’S OBVIOUS THAT SHE AND THIS WONDERFUL GERMAN-BRED GELDING

BY EHRENTUSCH HAVE DEVELOPED TOGETHER.

“At first I wasn’t confident enough to show him around the arena but with time and experience it has come.

He’s capable and really has the eagerness to do it.”

And do it he has! Following Aachen she received a call telling her that the pair had been selected as travelling reserve for Team GB at the Hong Kong Olympics. Chaos ensued as she had never really believed she would be going and hadn’t paid too much attention to the all important accreditation process.

“Michael was down to be my groom but he had horses that needed to go to regional qualifiers.” In the end one of the eventer’s grooms was co-opted.

And what of the Olympic experience? With the team able to substitute a ride up to one hour before each of the allotted start times Maria was required to be dressed, worked in and ready to go at a moments notice. A gruelling routine by anybody’s standards!

“It was great to go but a shame not to ride” concedes Maria. “The eventers called all their reserves in, the show jumpers needed another reserve… even the Paras used reserves. Then I look at the dressage and think… God dammit!”

Then there were the National Championships. A superb Grand Prix and an outstanding kür for Maria and Two Sox earned them a worthy Blue Water’s National Champion title.

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“After doing so well in the Grand Prix with three of us in with a shout people just kept coming up to me asking ‘so are you going to go for it?’ It was a really strange situation! I just tried to do what I always do and it worked out.”

And then there is Michael – winner of the Advanced Medium Open at the National Championships with Janeiro VI having already taken the National 6-year-old title with the Hannoverian Woodlander Dornroschen at the BD Young Horse and Breeding Championships. But for many, this young man is better known as a prolific show jumper – a fact underlined by his selection for the World Class Start Show Jumping squad. What has prompted the change in discipline?

“Circumstances really!” explains Michael. “It all came about when my jumping horses went lame. I’d always worked with dad’s horses here…”

“You ask him to work a horse and find he’s thrown his jumping saddle on it!” Ferdi interjects with a roll of the eyes.

With a laugh, Michael continued. “I’d sometimes give them a jump every now and then, just to give them something different to do that’s true!”

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I WAS GOING TO TAKE A JOB RIDING FOR A STUD BUT THAT FELL THROUGH AND I’D TRIED PRODUCING JUMPERS BUT IT’S REALLY QUITE DIFFICULT UNLESS YOU HAVE A SUPERSTAR RIGHT IN YOUR SHOP WINDOW. You end up just spending more and more money. Then we had a rider leave here and we still had horses that needed working and a lot of youngsters that could be a bit bolshie and needed a stronger hand.

“I never have believed for one minute that I would enter a dressage arena though!”

“Once we got the dressage saddle on and got the stirrup leather a bit longer he learned quite quickly – that was the major breakthrough” commented Ferdi.

“It took me a while to get used to the dressage saddle though because I’d spent so many years riding short. Riding extended trot with Marko was a bit of an experience for a start. He’s a bouncy fellow and I thought ‘I’m just never going to sit this!’ I’m gradually getting there though and am now more comfortable in a dressage saddle.”

After seeing him winning a title at the Nationals in jumping boots perhaps we’ll see Michael in a proper pair of dressage boots next? We should hope so! Michael has recently graduated to the Potential Squad of the UK Sport funded Equestrian BEF World Class Programme.

But what is it that makes the Eilberg progeny such prolific riders?

As always, Ferdi has the perfect answer. “Both Michael and Maria have an exceptional feeling for the horse and an ability to go with the horse in any situation – to keep your weight and centre of balance.

With riding if you are stable with your balance it allows you to do the right things with the hand and ride independently.”

Michael was eager to agree with these principals.

“All my jumping horses went in the same way. You do the same basic things to get through to them.

We both have paid a lot of attention to watching dad riding!”

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“It’s what people forget, even with Grand Prix horses – working on the basics” adds Maria. “You need to ride on an independent line, being able to ask for any transition up and down the paces and for the horse not to feel restricted on one side or the other.”

Perhaps the most succinct comment comes once again from Ferdi. “It is a constant maintenance that is the responsibility of the rider. They are living creatures and like you and me they have issues.

Just like a human being who wants to be an athlete you have to do strength training, you have to do gymnastic training. And that’s what we do. We keep the horses supple and engaged. This is the best way to avoid any real issue with a horse either mentally or physically – to keep them maintained well. And then whatever they are talented for you can just point them towards it.”

The Eilberg family are a remarkable phenomenon.

Ferdi is the perfect trainer, Maria loves the buzz of competition and Michael is showing the talent and performance to follow deep in his father’s footsteps.

All three would be first to admit that none of it would be possible without the constant support of Geri.

There will most certainly be many more national titles to follow, and as for 2012? Are we likely to see three Eilbergs at the London Olympics? As always, Ferdi should have the last word.

“We’re open to it and we’re working towards it.

If Michael can sit enough in the extended trot and Maria maintains the good work and we all have the right horse then why not? From the talent there is nothing in the way.”

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Words: James Horan Photography: James Horan www.jameshoran.com.au

THE GLENBEIGH BEACH RACES ARE HELD EVERY SEPTEMBER SINCE 1924 ON ROSSBEIGH STRAND, COUNTY KERRY, IN THE SOUTH WEST OF IRELAND. LOCAL TEENAGE RIDERS RACE THE ONE MILE COURSE ALONG THE SANDY BEACH WHICH STRETCHES FOR OVER 6.5 KM NESTLED AT THE FOOT OF A WOODED MOUNTAIN AND CLOSE TO THE HEAD OF DINGLE BAY. THE RACES ARE THE CENTREPIECE OF A WEEKEND FESTIVAL THAT ALSO INCLUDE A BEAUTY QUEEN, FANCY DRESS COMPETITION AND DONKEY DERBY. LEGEND HAS IT THIS IS THE LOCATION WHERE OISIN AND NIAMH TOOK TO THE SEA ON THEIR WHITE HORSE TO LIVE IN THE LAND OF YOUTH - TIR NA NOG.

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Davido f f

International dressage horse of the future

Born 2000 Davignon I - Rothschild J An extremely powerful and talented World class performer for the ambitious international dressage rider. Davidoff is currently performing at

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AFRICAN

SAFARI THE CONCEPT OF ‘SAFARI’ CONJURES UP IMAGES OF ADVENTURE, DRAMATIC LANDSCAPES AND EXCITING WILDLIFE. CLAYTON AND LUCINDA FREDERICKS TAKE US TO ‘WAIT A LITTLE’ RUN BY GERTI AND PHILIP KUSSELER FOR A HORSEBACK ADVENTURE WHERE ABSOLUTELY NO BEGINNERS OR NOVICES ARE ALLOWED.

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WILDLIFE ADVENTURE

Words and photography: Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks

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GERTI AND PHILIP ARE TOTALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA, ITS NATURE, ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION. THEY USE NATIVE SOUTH AFRICAN BOERPERDS WITH SOME THOROUGHBREDS AND CROSSES, WARMBLOODS AND ARABS. YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING ENABLES THEIR HORSES TO BE CALM ONLY METERS AWAY FROM BIG GAME. IT’S A MOVING SAFARI, WITH THREE DIFFERENT LUXURIOUS CAMPS CATERING FOR SMALL GROUPS OF ONLY SIX RIDING GUESTS UNDER THE PERMANENT PERSONAL ATTENTION OF GERTI AND PHILIP AND THEIR STAFF. ALTHOUGH IT’S REMOTE, IT IS RELATIVELY EASY TO GET TO WAIT A LITTLE - INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT TO JOBURG, AND THEN A SHORT INTERNAL FLIGHT TO PHALABORWA OR HOEDSPRUIT WITH SAA AIRLINK.

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Saturday 1st December Lucinda: After a six and a half hour drive from Joburg our minibus finally drew into Wait A Little. The journey there had taken us from the city across the country with wide, empty, tarmac roads running past fruit farms and out towards the Kruger National Park. A small sign indicated a turning onto a dirt track, scarred from water erosion in the rainy season and, as we bumped along for the final 14km, it felt like we really were on the road to nowhere. So welcome, then, was the riverside camp comprising several well camouflaged tree-houses – canvas tents erected on wooden stilts comprising a balcony, double bedroom, loo and a shower – the latter open to the skies.

Gerti and Philip met us and our friends and owners, Vicki Miller,

Frances and Rhod Smart, Donald Reid and Michael ‘Bomber’ Dagostino. We were shown the swimming pool, the communal converted barn complete with bar and then to our respective abodes. After a quick change it was straight into the saddle and a safety briefing from Philip and instructions to stay behind him in single file; close up when the game are nearby; ride on a loose rein, stay relaxed, and let the horses graze when standing. Within five minutes of leaving camp we were riding 50 metres from three young giraffe.

Philip then heard a bull elephant nearby and so we quietly

followed him to see it tucked into some trees, moving silently and only audible when it ate! We then moved on with Philip giving his first offering of what was to be his catchphrase of the trip, “Shall we warm the horses up?” This was to mean galloping along stony tracks, through rough bush, pushing past overhanging branches and leaning out over sharp turns as impala and baboons galloped or jumped out of the way. We then stopped to let the horses rest and graze while we enjoyed a ‘sundowner’ of beer, wine or G&T. Then back in the saddle for the gentle walk ‘home’. When we got back we handed our horses over to the grooms and headed for our respective huts, showered and changed for what was to be the first of many delicious meals together under oil lamps and with the sounds of the bush – particularly the frogs and the baboons - all about us.

South Africa captivates everyone who is lucky enough to experience its power and magic.

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Sunday 2nd December Clayton: We had expected to hear things in the middle of the night but at 2am I woke up in my bed with the mosquito net all around and heard the most overwhelming sound of lions on a kill. Their roar was so loud that in the pitch black it felt like they were almost under our tent and, when they began to eat, they were purring so loudly that I wasn’t just hearing it, I could feel the purr vibrating in my chest. I was a bit dubious about getting up but when Cinda woke we listened for a long while before exhaustion overtook us. It was an awesome experience and set the scene for the whole week and I was relieved when Philip said that the lions wouldn’t come close to our tents as they’d think it would be a trap and be fearful of it.

No one else had heard the lions but as we set off for our morning ride at 6.30am, Philip spotted a 220Kg lion just 100m from our hut on the far side of the riverbank. We edged our way nearer down through the thick bush and watched the contented lion with his three lionesses sleeping off their night’s supper.

Turning away we saw the giraffe again and then when Philip saw some cheetah tracks we began to follow them, finding the stinking carcass of a giraffe killed possibly a day or two before. Philip and Gerti pointed out signs of animals like the trees de-barked or pushed over by elephants and taught us to listen to different bird calls. We came across warthogs and more baboons before returning for brunch, a swim and snooze by the pool and the preparing for our next three hour ride in the evening during which we photographed Nyala and galloped alongside the giraffe. It was astonishing seeing how the faster they travel the more in slow motion it seems.

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Monday 3rd December Lucinda: We were fortunate that our morning ride brought us close to a stallion zebra and in-foal mare.

Traditionally spooked by horses they let us watch for about 10 minutes before scarpering and hiding in the dense bush. We too then warmed up the horses until reaching the biggest watering hole on the reserve where we watched and listened to the conversations of a pod of hippos wallowing in the water 30m away.

Slowly, from the far side of the water, a 3 metre crocodile swam alongside Philip on his chestnut mare but she didn’t move a muscle. We were told to be quiet but I could hardly breath.After four hours in the saddle and many more now familiar sightings – giraffe, impala and warthogs – we opted for an afternoon drive around the nearby park, home to a buffalo project. In our open-topped Land Rover we watched them up close and on the drive home saw porcupine and the lions again who took little interest in us driving up close.

Tuesday 4th December

Wednesday 5th December

Clayton: Philip found the overnight work of an

Lucinda: Even with a cobweb-blowing, five kilometer

elephant in the camp – a fallen tree and broken fence

gallop and various canters including jumping over

– so we decided to track it. Finally after 3 hours, we

fallen trees and racing the wildebeest through the

found it protecting a cow with her wobbly newborn

bush, it still took us four hours to reach our mid-

calf – about three hours old judging by the afterbirth.

week riverside camp at Makalali. Deep in the bush,

Mum flared her ears in warning so we retreated and,

the camp, consisting of various mud huts complete

once a safe distance away, opened the horses up

with air-conditioning, is an oasis and, no sooner had

for the return to camp where, after a quick brunch,

we settled under the thatched shelter by the pool

we bundled into the Land Rover in search of some

than 28 elephants joined us, relaxing in the river just

cheetah cubs seen by the gamekeeper that morning.

75metres away. I had goose bumps watching them -

This time we were not successful but, back in the

and it was 35C! Giving the horses a well-earned rest

saddle, we began a fast ride to an overnight camp

we enjoyed a drive around the park meeting a young

before the light failed. On route we encountered a

rhino who bopped around the Land Rover while his

remarkable experience – one which even Gerti in

mother looked on. Being a hilly region, the scenery

her 10 years in the bush had never enjoyed – a two

during sunset was astonishing and as we drove

and a half year old Rhino suckling from her mother

back we came across two lionesses - we turned the

and making the most amazing, and rare, squeaking

spotlight off and five more cats approached the Land

noises. Our overnight camp was to be of mattresses

Rover and began to lead us down the road towards

laid across rock under a corrugated iron roof, nestled

home. As we broke off into a side route we took up

under an outcrop of rock that we climbed to the top

speed but astonishingly our tracker, sitting on the

of to see mile upon mile of uninhabited bush. We

bonnet of the Land Rover, still spotted a chameleon

climbed down to find a huge bonfire and a table laid

in the half-light so we reversed up to see it!

for yet another amazing meal, cooked on the fire with the horses tied up beside us and our loo being any bush you dared choose by moonlight!

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Thursday 6th December

Friday 7th December

Clayton: A quiet ride along the rocky riverbank was

Lucinda: The ride back to Wait A Little took us

in order and, although we had to walk back the final

across open veldt, and we enjoyed cantering through

2km due to Philip’s lead horse throwing a shoe, we

the more open country, jumping logs and bushes

still encountered zebra, giraffe, baboon, hippo, kudu,

along the way as well as repeating our 5km flat-out

waterbuck, hyena and saw birds of prey like vultures,

gallop along the wide dirt road with Clayton and I up

eagles and kites.

front with Philip and the others a little way back! To

The day was not to be without drama and I was to

ride into Wait A Little felt like we were returning home

use my whistle to alert the camp staff that I was in

and we all fell asleep after lunch but were back on

danger before our second ride. Quietly downloading

the horses by 4pm – Philip determined to turn this

some video footage alone in my bedroom I became

one into a serious tracking experience. Our efforts

aware of a presence, and looking to my right there

were rewarded when we found a herd of 16 elephants

was a light brown snake. I thought it might be a

and enjoyed watching them for some time but when

dangerous bastard so carefully I began to move and

Gerti whistled we retreated as a big bull elephant

back out towards the door but it reared up and flared

warned us it was about to take charge. Back to camp

out its neck. I blew the whistle 10 times and the camp

and we enjoyed celebrating Frances’ birthday before

leader came running, and hooked it up with a big

collapsing in to bed.

stick, flicking it into the bush though it still struck out at him a couple of times. Returning to the resting group who hadn’t even bothered to stir from beside the pool I told them of my encounter with the “hissing cobra”. No doubt they were a bit more vigilant after that - especially when told that it had probably been nesting in among the logs in our hut’s open fireplace all along!

That was enough excitement for one day so it was

welcome to have a quiet ride, chatting and laughing, although we did inadvertently interrupt a bit of hippohumping when we came across a couple mating in the river that afternoon!

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Saturday 8th December Clayton: Even before our final ride, elephants were to be the order of the day again with Bomber and Donald having had a nocturnal visit at 3am and Frances and Rhod waking to feeling something rub against a tree just six feet from their tent shortly afterwards. A fresh dropping was just eight feet from Vicki’s tent but she hadn’t heard it at all! So we set to tracking the culprits and found a small herd and the newborn calf we’d seen on Sunday now much stronger at six days old. It was a super way to round off a phenomenal experience – one which will stay with us forever. We were made so welcome by Philip, Gerti, the grooms and all the tracking staff and grew very fond of our amazing horses – Lucinda even likening her favourite, Steiner, to that of the late Bally Leck Boy such was the lovely ride he gave her. They were so surefooted, capable and comfortable and without them we’d never have been able to get up so close to the wild animals.

We’d managed to call Ellie during our stay and

told her she’d have to wait until she was 12 to join us again but she’s assured us that she’ll be capable by the time she’s five so it may not be too long before we return again to our new friends, Gerti and Philip, whom we must thank for making this such a memorable trip.

Lucinda organised

and by

Clayton’s Zara’s

unique

Planet

safari

08444

870

was 300

www.zarasplanet.co.uk.

Guide price for 8 days and 7 nights, running from Saturday to Saturday £1,960 per person which includes all riding, meals, and drinks but excludes, flights, transfers and tips.

Zara’s Planet is offering Team GBR Ontrack members a 5% discount on all holidays booked through them. For more information please visit www.zarasplanet.com

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