Chasing the Dream with Grace Kay

This article is from the October 2019 Horse Deals magazine.

Where have you been based overseas and how did the opportunity arise? I was based with Sophie Leube in Süddinker which is around half an hour South West of Münster. I have wanted to train with Ingrid Klimke since I was very young so was talking about how I'd love to go overseas and do that with one of my lovely owners when low and behold, she has a friend who works there! My fantastic owner Sam Burdett asked her friend to chat to Ingrid for me and whilst Ingrid didn't take on short term students they suggested that I get in contact with Sophie who very kindly took me in! I also spent a few days working with Stefan Wolff who I train with here in Australia which was super.

Describe a day’s work. Feed up would be 7am where we'd do hay, hard feeds and take a set of horses out to the paddocks, then we would all have breakfast together and make a plan for the day. Riding would start at around 9am once the stables were finished after breakfast. Sophie had nine lovely horses in work, we would often ride a few together, Sophie would help us with what we were doing for the day which alternated between dressage sessions, cavaletti sessions, jumping sessions, cross country sessions and hacking out.

Lunch would often be around 12pm for the horses, where all the horses in work would come back into the stables, have lunch before being put back out for the afternoon, we would have lunch around 1pm for an hour. After lunch, we would do any horses that still needed to be worked, then feed hay at 4pm. To finish the day off we would clean all of our gear, bring the horses in, tidy the stables up and hard feed to finish off with at 6pm.

How does the equestrian scene differ to Australia? I think it differs to Australia in that there are a lot more competition experiences and structures for developing young horses. There are so many classes in Germany to take your young event horses in as well as single-day cross country events that we just don't have here. There are quite a lot of single round cross country days which are judged on scope, technique and potential which are very similar to dressage tests in that you can do two consecutive levels. The smaller classes at these days even have a time period where you are able to do a "horse course walk" where the young horses are able to see and approach the fences at the walk to gain confidence. This was such a great aid in developing the young horses and whilst I understand logistically in Australia this is difficult, I still think more opportunities for these kinds of events would be fantastic.

Was the reality of your new job different to your expectations? No, this is my third training trip overseas so I have a good understanding of the work to riding ratio now! I was very lucky this time in that Sophie was so kind and generous with her time. She ran her stable very well but was down to earth and we had great fun together.

Did you make any mistakes while learning the ropes? Always! As hard as you try there will always be something that you get wrong. I think in these instances it's best just to own up straight away, keep your head down and definitely learn from it!

What have you changed about your riding and management back home? I think after seeing how effective an extended 'stretching' period at the start of a warm-up can be that I've definitely incorporated that into my horse's routines. As well as more cavaletti work, of course. Sophie did her apprenticeship with Ingrid so had so many great exercises that we worked through and have been really beneficial.

How has the experience changed you as a person and as a rider? I think as a person I have been more motivated, I was lucky enough to sit on a few of Stefan's horses whilst over there and they were super. For me, I find sitting and feeling hugely beneficial so getting that experience and riding such a high calibre of horse was wonderful and really made me look for that feeling in my horses at home.

What are three things you learnt during your time abroad?
• Riding with a purpose is important, setting small training goals to achieving larger training goals is simple but very effective.
• Riding with a neck rope can be a great tool to improve your horse attentiveness to your ‘body half halts’
• Christopher Bartle’s explanation on the eventing seat is fantastic!

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