Racing is the showcase for the horse as athlete. But the relationship between horse and rider is at its most intense in showjumping. In the run-up to next week's Dublin Horse Show, Eileen Battersby looks at the performing horse
Flat racer, hurdler, steeplechaser, eventer, showjumper or dressage specialist, the horse as athlete develops through natural talent and luck - and with more than a little help from the right human handling. Predestination also has a major say, particularly in the case of a horse whose parents were carefully selected for breeding. For every person who has a horse simply for the fun or love of riding out, hunting, an occasional competition, there are many more who approach their involvement with horses as seriously as a scientist entering a lab, or a businessman closing a big deal.
Racing is the showcase as it attracts the widest audience and the biggest money. The thoroughbred racing and breeding industry in Ireland currently employs about 25,000 people. Of all equine sporting disciplines, horseracing is the oldest; it has a long, colourful history beginning with royal patronage and sustained by generations of owners, trainers, fans and, of course, great horses.
While three-day eventing, showjumping and dressage are specialist pursuits with a largely specialist following, horseracing, despite its intensity at the highest levels, also manages to be a sport for the masses. The racehorse is also the mount most unlikely to be ridden by its owner (although top showjumpers are now mainly owned by sponsors not their riders) - and the good owner pays the bills, leaves the work and the decisions to the experts, and above all, has patience.
Racing is a strange game; all things to all men - a hobby for some, a way of life for those who work within it, an addiction for many punters, an enjoyable day out for mildly interested fans.
But whether a horse is a proven champion or a promising youngster with a glorious pedigree, an investment for an experienced owner, or a chance purchase by a syndicate out for some fun, an average day in the life of a racehorse is much the same: exercise, eating, resting - all of which builds condition. It costs about €12,000 a year to keep a horse in training. According to the Irish Horse Racing Authority's 2001 report, there are 3,900 owners in Ireland. And as is true of life, nothing in racing is certain. The colt or filly costing a million at the sales, might never get to a race track, never mind win a race.
On any day of the week, from early to mid-morning, a drive through the Curragh of Co Kildare - the vast midland central plain area in which some 60 trainers are based - offers the same scene: strings of horses emerging from yards to work out on the gallops. It is a wonderful sight, particularly when viewed from the distance when a line of horses appears to be part of the morning sky.
When the sun is shining and the world seems at peace, it looks a great life, a few hours spent riding beautiful, willing horses across the Curragh. But the men and women who do this regularly tend to look askance, and list off the dark winter mornings, the unpredictability of the horses, the relentless rain, the number of times a charge has either bolted or "dumped me in the muck". The standard reply is: "You think it looks like fun? Try doing it every day".
Grumbles aside, these behind-the-scene work-riders are vital players in assisting a trainer decide the best approach for each horse. Few would dispute that the fabulous David Elsworth-trained front runner, Desert Orchid, owed a huge debt to his work-rider, Rodney Boult.
Irish trainers have an international reputation and as Tony Sweeney, author of The Sweeney Guide to the Irish Turf, 1501 - 2001 points out, "great trainers make great horses". Sweeney need look no further than his own family and J.J. Parkinson, trainer of 2,577 winners for evidence of this. Paddy Prendergast, Vincent O'Brien and Tom Dreaper are legends, while Aidan O'Brien's ongoing success is approaching surreal levels. There are about 368 licensed trainers at work in the 32 counties.
In many cases horses have been in the family blood and sons succeed fathers. Former six-time top amateur jockey, Willie Mullins, trainer of Florida Pearl, Alexander Banquet and Davenport Millennium, is the son of Paddy Mullins, who trained the great mare, Dawn Run. Father and son now run training yards within six miles of each other.
Willie Mullins is an example of a good jockey who went on to become a fine trainer. It is not a natural progression, as he says "the work practices are different". He began training horses while still riding and Closutton, his busy, medium-sized yard, usually has about 74 horses in training - 70 per cent jumps horses, the rest flat.
Some of the young horses are being exercised in an outdoor sand arena; there's a two-year-old facing its first race the next day. Keeping watch from a stall door is Assessed, winner of the 2002 Arkle Chase at Leopardstown.
Florida Pearl, now 10, has just resumed training after his summer break, It's Time for a Win is already preparing for next year's Aintree Grand National. Sadler's Wings, magnificent son of In The Wings, is patrolling another sand arena.
There are as many kinds of owners as there are horses, financial resources being a distinguishing factor. For trainers, horseracing is a livelihood, but for owners, the sport ranges from an investment to a hobby.
As for the popular appeal of racing among the general public, Mullins refers to the natural "elegance and grace of the horse" and adds, "in Ireland, there is also the social aspect".
He stresses racing is a high-risk game and that nothing is certain; a good result is a bonus, a win is to be savoured. "As soon as the horse arrives in the yard," he says, "I tell owners 'your money is gone'."
He buys many of the horses he trains for his clients. Pedigree and conformation are vital factors but, as he says in the case of Florida Pearl, there was more. "I loved his size and scope and the way he walked, he is very athletic." The big bay has remained easy to train and has a good temperament at home while becoming very aggressive once he is on the track - the perfect athlete.
Mullins also points out that there are horses who train very well but don't respond in a race situation. Others are hit-and-miss in training but come into their own at the track. What makes a great horse? "Heart and the will to win," says Mullins.
Though training both jumpers and flat racers, steeplechasing has a special appeal for him. National Hunt horses have longer careers than their lighter, flat counterparts, who cram most of their races into a two or three-year period. While the successful flat racer is invariably retired by four, with the elite stallions becoming studs, the hurdler or fence specialist may be only peaking at seven or eight. The showjumper, cross-bred for power, matures later. While a relatively young horse, aged seven or eight, may compete well at showjumping, the best tend to be closer to 12 or older. Training begins at five or six ideally after some hunting or showing experience.
Showjumping fitness for a horse is very different from race fitness but the showjumper is as athletic as its National Hunt counterpart. Showjumping, as with eventing and dressage, is one of the few sports in which men and women compete against each other.
EQUESTRIAN events were introduced to the Olympic programme in 1900 but were then dropped until 1912 and have since featured in every games. Along with longjumper Bob Beamon's incredible 8.9 metres world record jump (that was to stand for 23 years) and the US sprinters' Black Power demonstrations, my first Olympic memories are dominated by American showjumper Bill Steinkraus's Grand Prix individual gold in Mexico in 1968. Showjumping has many Olympic heroes, such as the Italian brothers Raimondo and Piero d'Inzeo and Germany's Hans Gunter Winkler, who won five gold medals over five Olympics. All three riders were frequent visitors to Dublin during yearsthat witnessed the contrasting styles of two superb British riders, Welshman David Broome and Yorkshire's Harvey Smith.
Ireland has a fine record in showjumping thanks to a hunting tradition. The Irish showjumper is traditionally a thoroughbred/Irish draught cross and, in some outstanding instances, Connemara pony cross-breds, such as Tommy Wade's Dundrum.
For years the Irish national squad was dominated by Army riders. A pioneering woman, Iris Kellet, whose career highlights included winning the Queen Elizabeth Trophy in 1949 and 1951, as well as the European title in 1969, shaped a later generation such as Eddie Macken and Paul Darragh. The present generation of top Irish showjumpers won the European team title last season.
Members of that winning team - Peter Charles, Dermott Lennon, Kevin Babington and Jessica Kurten - will be competing next week at the Kerrygold Dublin Horse Show. The show's highlight will be the Nations Cup in which seven international teams compete for the famous Aga Khan trophy. Formed in 1942, the Show Jumping Association of Ireland currently has in excess of 6,500 members. At an amateur level, the sport is highly competitive, but international riders depend on sponsorship. There is also a lack of good Irish-bred showjumpers.
"Unless a formal breeding programme for showjumpers is introduced similar to the system in Germany," cautions Alison Thorne, of Kill International Equestrian Centre, Co Kildare, "European warmbloods will dominate at the expense of Irish-bred showjumpers." She says there are good young horses, "just not enough of them".
In the more dangerous sport of eventing, Irish riders do well at the cross country, again thanks to the hunting and point-to-point tradition. But dressage remains the weakest element for Irish eventers. The relationship between rider and horse is nowhere more intense than in showjumping where a horse is trained and the rider instructed to read and ride any jumps course, virtually as one. But in the highly complex, balletic art of dressage, a similar harmony and understanding is demanded.
However Irish Olympian Heike Holstein has done well internationally recently winning a Grand Prix, and will compete in this September's World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, with fellow Irish dressage exponents Yvette Trusdale and German-based Anna Merveldt. Throughout this week, three under-21 riders, Gerald Bloomer, Judy Reynolds and Eileen Kapp were competing in the European Championships.
So why do we ride horses now that flight and transport are no longer an issue? For sport, for fun, for excitement, for a challenge - the same reasons for which steeplechasing was first devised in Co Cork 250 years ago.
We may know why we ride but, far more importantly, how well do we ride? True horsemanship is a complex, subtle skill, attempted by many, and truly mastered by few.
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