Gary Withford is often referred to as a horse whisperer, others call him ‘the magic man’, but Gary Witheford, the man who breaks horses in less than half an hour, prefers to call himself a ‘horseman’. Gary’s expertise in dealing with horses spans over 30 years and he has dealt with many eventers and competition horses.
Nicola Fitzgibbon has achieved many successes with a variety of equine partners, from Pony National Champion two years running on Miami Bound to Senior National Champion and Aga Khan team-member on Puissance in more recent years. Nicola produces talented younger show jumpers to sell on as well as keeping some older horses to compete at top senior level both nationally and internationally.
Liam O'Meara has had much success with his horse Cisero. In 2012 O’Meara and Cisero shared first place in the RDS. This year they made it four in a row, winning the RDS qualifier in Mullingar and then won the first leg of Jumping in the City at Limerick and was joint first in the remaining two rounds.
What advice would you give riders who have a particularly excitable or easily unsettled horse?
Gary Witheford
If you look at the very good jockeys they remain very still. They are not constantly getting after the horse. By asking something of the horse and giving them a chance to respond they get a far better result. My advice is to keep what you ask of the horse as simple and straight-forward as possible.
Remember horses want to work with you and trust you. People overcomplicate training and use so many different accessories and aids. you don’t need all these gadgets. Simplicity gets better and faster results.
Nicola Fitzgibbon
A piece of advice that applies when dealing with all horses: be patient and always give yourself plenty of time to prepare before a class. When you allow plenty of time you are less likely to stress and you can give the horse more time to settle before preparing them for the competition. I have noticed that excitability is not just associated with young horses. A number of the older horses I ride have little quirks that require patience and understanding. If you are not patient and understanding with them they will not be patient with you.
Liam O'Meara
You have to get to know your horse. Find out what works for them and be prepared to adapt to their way of going. You need to trust them.
How do you manage this type of horse at home?
Gary Witheford
The majority of horses I deal with come to me at Westcourt Stables. For approximately a week to 10 days I work on building the horse’s trust and confidence. I do this by providing them with a safe and relaxed environment and by becoming the horse’s leader. All horses look for a leader. People often think in nature that this is the stallion when in actual fact it is the mare. Essentially I become the leader mare.
I lead the horse with them a metre or so behind me. If you think about it, from birth horses learn to follow their mother, and then we teach them to walk in front of us while we stand slightly behind at the shoulder. This is not natural for the horse and in this way they don’t see you as the leader. This is where problems start. Allowing the horse to follow is key.
Nicola Fitzgibbon
To avoid horses becoming overly excitable when I take them out to ride, I give them as much turn-out as possible. I frequently hack the horses at home so that they are not put under pressure every day and to ensure they stay interested and are enjoying their work.
Liam O'Meara
At home I try to keep life as varied as possible. Cisero is turned-out for a couple of hours every day. I will alternate between riding in the field, hacking on the roads and working in the arena. I try to avoid repeatedly working in the same environment.
On the morning of a competition what is your routine for preparing these horses?
Gary Witheford
After I finish working with a horse the trainer or owner gets a comprehensive report detailing what the horse’s issues were, what we have done to remedy them and how the horse should be managed thereafter. It varies for each individual horse but advice may include at what stage the horse should be brought down to the start, whether the horse should wear a hood or a rug when entering the stalls, and so on. How they cope at the start of a race is determined by at what point their adrenaline starts to kick in. Some horses can go into the stalls early and others need to wait until the end. You have to work with the horse’s adrenaline.
Nicola Fitzgibbon
Where possible, I will try to lunge a particularly excitable horse at the show before my class. This gives the horse time to get all the excitement out of their system without the risk of something happening to the rider. Between rounds I jump off the horse and allow them to just relax. The rider should do the same. This allows both horse and rider time to calm down and regain focus before the next task.
Liam O'Meara
I try to keep my horses as relaxed as possible at shows. I will often ride my horses early that morning so that they get used to the new environment. With Cisero I incorporate a lot of slow trot work into my warm-up routine. I find this settles him and I teach him to go slowly down to his fences. He loves his job but he has to concentrate on what is in front of him.
Have you ever used any artificial aids to help manage this type of horse?
Gary Witheford
My advice is always to keep things simple. I don’t agree with the use of spurs in any case. The horse has very sensitive nerve endings and by using spurs you can damage them and desensitise the horse causing more problems in the long term. I would use hoods. I find them to be especially helpful on fillies. Again horses are very sensitive. The hood helps to reduce sounds that worry and interfere with a horse’s concentration a full hood helps put the horse in their own world and settles them so that they aren’t worried or feeling the need to fight and or flee.
Nicola Fitzgibbon
In my experience I have found that ear plugs can make a big difference to a horse that becomes upset or excitable by the noise at competitions. I had another horse who became quite upset when working in the indoor arena due to the echo inside. The ear plugs really helped him to relax and focus.
Liam O'Meara
I have used cheekpiece blinkers and ear plugs in the past and I do find they help. The cheekpieces reduce and concentrate the field of vision, limiting distractions and keeping the horse more focused on their work so they don’t get as excited.