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Sydney 2000

Simon Bain
Veterinarian
Volunteer at Sydney
PSG Rider

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   Sydney Training
by Simon Bain

Simon Bain is a veterinarian in Australia living about 4 hours south of Sydney. He also rides dressage with his thoroughbred at Prix St. Georges having worked a long time to move up to this level.  Simon volunteered as a vet at the Horse Park for the Olympics from September 1 - 15 and then,  of course, returned for the dressage. We finally met in person on Friday, Grand Prix Special day.  .

In the previous communique I mentioned specifically some training observations relevant to Isabell and Anky. What of the others? An interesting observation was that around 80% of the European horses mostly worked in a deep and round frame in training. Invariably the key to the use of this seemed to be active hind legs, stepping well under. The two Spanish Andalusians and Lusitano worked in a poll highest point position and the Danish team on their warmbloods also seemed to principally train in a competitive test frame.

Previously I mentioned the Spanish horse, Beauvalais, catching my eye. Actually Alexandra Simone de Ridder's Chacomo took my eye even more so because there appeared to be absolute harmony with minimal movement and minimal display of the aids by the rider. The canter pirouettes I saw them do one day in training seemed so close to my idea of perfect that I had tears in my eyes. This combination finished fourth equal after the GP special, and they didn't make the cut for the kur because any country can only have a max of three in what is the medal decider. Some depth, those Germans! Contrastingly in training Nadine Capellman's Farbenfroh didn't look as impressive but what a series of tests she pulled out and what superb riding close to the edge. As testimony to the fact that in no way are these horses incapable of independent expression, I saw Rusty with Ulla
Salzgeber asking him for piaffe one day and with Klaus Balkenhol advising when he let strip with a series of impressive bucks that I would have given at least 8's for and I felt she was being polite in the asking. 

The only real regret I had was not to have learned some German before working there. Some of the riders where one would not have normally expected the training to be in German in fact did so. In succession one morning I saw a Spanish rider, an Irish rider, and a US rider (Christine Traurig - originally from Germany and spent much of 1999 training with Jo Hinneman) all being trained by German speaking trainers. An understanding of German would have enabled me to learn a bit more.

Everybody was so friendly. The Italian rider Pia Laus and I had a great conversation one day which included the fact that although she lives and practices law in Germany, she rides for Italy because she has part Italian parentage. The conversation extended to discussions of the men's cooking in the house that the Italian team were renting, and further to Australian wines. The international dressage riders do seem in the main to be a happy family and you saw, for example Robert Dover and Guenter Seidel greeting the Dutch in friendly fashion in the mornings and riders of one nation helping out those of another, though perhaps not those who were major medal threats.

If I had to pick the team from the nations not winning medals who most impressed me, it would be the Spanish team who did pretty well overall with the breeds of 3 of their four horses flying somewhat in the face of traditional international dressage breeding, but never the less getting 3 through to the GP special and 2 through to the kur. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat had fairly regular instruction in German but the guys seem to principally work their horses on their own, invariably without someone on the ground. Juan Antonio Jiminez really impressed me. Such a quiet undemonstrative rider yet very effective and I thought a good one to emulate. He was one to get very appreciative applause from the crowd after his GP special. Rafael Soto really won the hearts of the crowd with his kur and I have to say the showmanship as evidenced in the Spanish walk after the kur does, in my humble opinion, have a part to play in the promotion of dressage, particularly to the lay public. 

Writing almost two weeks after the last dressage test I have to say the celestial heights of the event are still with me, as are the emotions. Long may they last!!

Simon

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