FOLLOWING his appearance at the recent CAFRE equine training conference, Ireland’s leading Rio Olympic event rider, Jonty Evans, took time out to expand about his training regimes and every day running of his Gloucestershire yard.

Evans’ partner in Rio was the classy young horse Cooley Rorkes Drift, and the pair are soon lining up for their first attempt at Badminton. Evans last rode at the Gloucestershire showcase 10 years ago, but this year’s ride on the son of Courage undoubtedly offers him his best chance to date.

The Irish-bred Cooley Rorkes Drift fortuitously found his way to Evans’ 10-horse yard as a lightly competed seven-year-old. Asked about his ideal type of event horse, Evans said: “The older I get, the less I like kicking, so firstly I like my horses to want to go!” The brain is undoubtedly the most important credential long term. It has to be good, but sometimes it is not always initially evident.”

There has been much written and discussed about the importance of the amount of thoroughbred blood in pedigrees of event horses, and indeed when buying, many top riders now have a minimum quota they will accept. The thoroughbred influence on cruising speed, durability and soundness are all vital contributory factors for a successful high-level horse, leading Evans to add, “It’s difficult to lay down a hard and fast rule, but nowadays, I ideally prefer them to have a minimum of 50% of thoroughbred blood. I have just bought an exciting young horse by Pacino out of a Puissance dam, and I love my novice horse John The Bull (by Luidam out of a thoroughbred dam).”

When assessing a young horse with a view to purchase, Evans cites the absolute necessity of a good loose walk and an athletic canter, and is far more forgiving with the trot. “John The Bull and Cooley Rorkes Drift are prime examples of horses with a weak trot,” he explains. “However, as long as they are straight enough, regular and trainable, the lift will come – John The Bull recently led the Gatcombe dressage by three clear marks, whereas you can’t make either a canter or a walk.”

TRAINING & COMPETION

Daily life on a non-competition basis focuses around flatwork and jumping sessions. “Flatwork sessions are normally about 40 minutes, depending on the horse, the weather and the time of year,” Evans states. “I’m not a great one for drilling them. If they’re fresh, I tend to take them for a hack or in the field rather than drill them. Jumping sessions are normally the same duration. I do loads of pole exercises on all manner of different distances, on the straight and on curves. The horses need to be supple, athletic and have quick feet. We also school and lunge over raised trot, canter and walk poles, and my horses have to walk over a line of railway sleepers as they go out hacking and on the way back – really good for their core strength and to teach them to look where they are putting their feet.

“As they get older, I don’t really feel you need to jump them that often, the pole work really keeps their eye in, and mine. They would generally always have a jump two days before an event and I go to proper show jumping shows quite a lot.”

Canter work is purposely varied. “In terms of canter work, we do two different kinds in three different places. The first type is slower sets of canter around a huge (80 acre) field that has rolling hills to it. Horses learn to hold themselves and canter around here in an easy manner for up to three 10-minute sessions.

“Then we have a grass gallop and we are also lucky enough to use trainer Kim Bailey’s all-weather gallop, both of these are three and a half furlongs and we go up them at a decent rate. I feel it’s important that horses learn to work, and are used to the feeling of being a bit tired. It’s no good if they never encounter that until you are at an event. However, keeping them sweet by cantering them in groups and behind others is also important.

“The event horses are always hacked to the gallops and again back, purely to allow them to wind down slowly, and to keep them happy and sweet. Once back in the yard, the older horses stand in whirly boots, which have ice and water in and are attached to a motor. The older horses also go to the equine hydrotherapy spa once a week and also to the water treadmill at Hartpury.”

This year Evans revealed that he has been utilising a heart monitor. “This is just to assess which is the most effective type of work we do with Cooley Rorkes Drift. We have had his heart rate up into the red zone regularly – which is when they are really working hard. However, we tend to use the heart rate monitor to confirm and back up what we already thought - rather than to tell us stuff we didn’t already know.”

In competition, Evans tends to event the five-year-olds only at BE100 level where they might do half a dozen classes. “I like them to win one, so that I feel they are progressing, then if they are strong enough, they could do a couple of novice events at the end of season when the ground has softened. However, I’m pretty lukewarm about the age group classes, and never event or compete in the young horse classes with a four-year-old. They are nice for owners to go to and enjoy, and good if you are going to sell a horse, but they have absolutely no bearing on producing an event horse for a future career - NONE!”

Evans puts no less importance on his own fitness and runs, cycles and goes to the gym every week. “When I went Rio, I was 8% body fat – Djokovic’s is 5%! The racing boys say a pound a length, I have an aim that my horses will be fit and I will be fitter.”

FEEDING & TRAVELLING

Feeding regimes vary, but one constant is that his wife Jane is in charge. “We work closely with Gain Equine Nutrition and also with the team at NAF. We feed electrolytes, oil, and a joint supplement as standard, as well as various other things to enhance each horse’s needs. All young horses get limestone flour, and I love sugar beet!

“Every horse is fed Alfa A, a balancer and sugar beet as standard, and then we supplement their diets with various different products to suit. All the horses working towards three-day events get Infinity – which has a high fat content so is really valuable when they are working hard. While I feel the horses must be fit, most of all they must be strong. Cooley Rorkes Drift showed this in Rio – you need a strong horse to come out and jump well on the third day.”

Event horses spend a long time on the road, and are then expected to perform in three different phases, sometimes in a single day. “I will never drive them longer than four hours without getting them off to get their heads down and stretch their legs. Travelling is really tiring and if it’s a decent journey, we always go the night before as I think it’s easy to ruin your competition by travelling on the same day and tiring the horse. If they need it, some get a stress relief liquid before travel and also electrolytes. It’s important to keep the horses temperature comfortable, and not too hot. My horses always travel with hay nets, and if longer than two hours, with water buckets too.”

COACHES & VETERINARY

As part of the Irish squad, Evans has access to the team trainers, but also uses long term coaches Gareth Hughes for dressage and Ros Morgan (nee Bevan) for show jumping.

“We probably see them three times a month and Ros comes to quite a few of the events as well. We are lucky enough to have Ian Woodhead as our team dressage coach, and he has been fantastic – and at Badminton, his presence will give us huge confidence.”

Another credited as being a vital cog in the wheel is sports psychologist Niamh Fitzpatrick. “She has really helped me to control my thought patterns, gives huge support and was instrumental in Cooley Rorkes Drift going so well at Rio.”

“My wife Jane is always there and is the hardest working person I have ever met. She was a huge factor in last year’s success, and hopefully in this year being good too! My head girl Jane Felton is the best I have worked with: she can work most grown men under the table and has a real eye for detail. All you need in life is two Janes!”

While Hatty Lawrence is the yard veterinary surgeon, care of stable star Cooley Rorkes Drift falls to his owner Fiona Elliott, a veterinary surgeon, chiropractor and acupuncturist.

Blood is tested fairly regularly, but Evans like to rely on the old-fashioned values of really knowing your horse.

“Jane feeds every day so we know immediately if feed, hay or water intake is wrong, quite a lot of our horses will live out at night when weather allows – nothing like Dr Green!”