PrintIn this monthly series leading up to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September and October, we watch a different competitor prepare for competition each month.
Lauren Hough has known that Quick Study has the talent to jump with the best in the world since she started riding him four years ago. But it wasn’t until this year that he’s been truly ready for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
“I’ve always believed in the horse; it was just a matter of putting all the pieces together. Last year it was all going in the right direction. I felt quite confident throughout all of last year that I would have a shot if I played my cards right,” Hough said.
Quick Study, an 11-year-old Selle Français (Quick Star—Sirene De Plantro), spent the first few years of his career negotiating courses with a joyful enthusiasm that made technical questions difficult for him. As he’s aged and gotten more experience, he’s begun to temper his method of attack.
“He’s always going to be a bit feisty, but I think that’s what makes him good. I think we meet in the middle—I don’t mind him a little out of control. I think that’s what makes him so careful and the horse that he is,” Hough said. “Now, if there’s a line where you have to add a stride, I’m capable of doing it. Before, I would hold my breath and hope it could be accomplished.”
Quick Study’s Equipment
Hough shows Quick Study in an unusual combination of a loose-ring snaffle bit and a long-shanked hackamore. The reins are attached to a converter that links the ring of the snaffle to the end of the shank of the hackamore.
“He’s not a really strong horse, but he’s a bit fussy, and I really can’t put a lot of pressure on his mouth. But I couldn’t hold him in only a snaffle,” Hough said.
“The hackamore together with the snaffle looks probably a lot more severe than it is. It just puts pressure on two different places instead of only the mouth. It makes my control and rideability a whole lot easier,” she added. “It doesn’t make him think that I have total control over him. He’s special that way—it has to be a little bit his idea to do something.”
Hough tries to save the hackamore-snaffle combination for bigger classes. She hacks him in either a loose-ring snaffle or a Myler pelham, and when she shows in smaller classes during the week, she does so in the Myler pelham.
Quick Study wears Verdus front and hind boots and has his own, custom-fitted Antares saddle. Hough uses the OnTyte magnetic stirrups, too.
“I have to say, I wasn’t a believer until I rode in them. I couldn’t grasp the concept until I put them on, and now I wouldn’t live without them. It’s one less worry—you don’t worry about losing your stirrup,” Hough said.
An Unexpected Reprieve
Hough, 33, a veteran of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2007 Pan American Games, is eagerly anticipating her first WEG appearance.
“Since the moment I heard it was going to be in America, I knew I wanted to be there,” she said. “Quick Study came into my life at the right time, and he’s the perfect age. All the stars had to line up in the right direction, and luckily they did. And that’s so hard to have happen.”
Hough rode Quick Study in the selection trials for the 2008 Olympic Games, but she knew making that team wouldn’t have been the best thing for Quick Study, then 9.
“I went into it wanting to get mileage more than anything else. Realistically, I knew it was too soon for him,” she said.
