The
making of a champion
How Ashley Holzer selects equine talent
by Lisa Kostandoff
Athens Olympic
dressage team member Ashley Holzer has been at the forefront of Canadian
dressage for over 20 years. Since her debut on the international dressage
scene, representing Canada at the North American Young Riders’
Championships in 1981, she has assembled a lengthy list of accomplishments,
with an equally remarkable list of equine partners beneath her topped
by an Olympic team bronze medal with Reipo in 1988.
To amass such success, with such a varied list of equine counterparts,
demonstrating her ability to recognize great talent, and to train
it to the top. Here, she shares with Horse Sport some important pointers
in selecting and developing a true dressage champion.
The development of a young horse through the defined levels of performance,
with the ultimate production of a competitive international horse
takes years of experience, focused training and an innate ability
to recognize the animal’s athletic talent. When prospecting for
new talent, Holzer says she looks for three things:
Temperament
Having a horse that “wants to work” is the most important
component
in developing any champion. “Regardless of talent, if the horse
is not willing to do it for you, then it’s not a good horse for
you,” says Holzer. She looks for a horse to have a keen desire
to go forward, and move quickly and easily off of the leg aids without
forfeiting the natural collection of the gaits. When trying a new
horse, she ‘tests’ the temperament by pushing the horse
physically just beyond its comfort zone, and assessing it’s reaction.
“A good horse will try to do more without resistance. It may
become slightly unbalanced at first, or may get quicker in the movement
or change of gait, but a good horse won’t resist with negative
behaviour, (bucking, rearing, backing off the forward movement, etc.)
when it’s pushed just a little harder.”
Movement
Holzer emphasizes the importance of a very active hind leg over a
fancy front leg and acknowledges that although the horse needs a free
moving shoulder, it is the powerful and active hind leg that really
makes a horse a good mover. She cautions that “long and suspended
movers can be very fancy, but often difficult to package under saddle.”
In reference to gait, she prefers to focus on the quality of the canter
and of the walk over that of the trot. “It’s much easier
to improve the trot with good riding and training than to ever improve
the canter or the walk,” she claims.
Adaptability
“When I try a new horse, I play with the head carriage, taking
it really deep and round, and then bringing it higher and more upright
at all three gaits,” says Holzer. This test assesses the animal’s
flexibility and suppleness over its back, and significant resistance
could indicate either a physical restriction, or again, an issue with
temperament. She also evaluates the horse’s natural balance with
frequent and quick transitions between gaits, paying particular attention
to horse’s natural tendency to move forward through all of the
transitions. “A great horse, given the proper aids, will naturally
maintain forward movement of its hind legs, even in a downward transition.
This is really important in ultimately establishing true collection,
and at the advanced levels, in achieving a really good piaffe and
passage.” And in every instance, she moves the horse laterally
to evaluate its suppleness and elasticity.
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