William Micklem

A story of a special connection between three of the greatest coaches of all time that can help us all today.

It would be difficult to find anyone to disagree with the conclusion, reached in Part 2 of this series, that the common basis for the training success of Bertalan de Néméthy, Jack Le Goff and Herbert Rehbein was Acceptance.

A story of special connection between three of the greatest coaches of all time that can help us all today.

In the early 1970’s Bertalan de Némethy came to Ireland to coach at Iris Kellett’s show jumping mecca at Kill in Co. Kildare. Iris was very proud of her young star pupil Eddie Macken, and at the end of the course could not resist asking Bert what he thought of Eddie.

“He is good,” said Bert, “but I think I would put him on the longe for three months.”

A story of special connection between three of the greatest coaches of all time that can help us all today.

It was only as recently as the 1990s when the attachment of “Bert,” “Jack” and “Herbert” to any statement still gave an immediate credibility and authority to an equestrian statement.

There are some riders who huff and puff like the big bad wolf and bully and dominate their horses. These riders are often aggressive and use force to achieve their aims, particularly an unnatural position of the horse’s head and neck.

On Feb. 8, England’s Hartpury College will host an International Eventing Conference entitled “Training for Safety.”

This is an admirable aim, without a doubt, and some great sessions are scheduled, so the organizers are to be congratulated. However, the description of one of the presentations worries me greatly. The title is “Dressage—The Relationship With Jumping.”

The description notes that Pammy Hutton FBHS will dispel the “myth” that the higher level of dressage can be detrimental to jumping. I hasten to add that Pammy Hutton did not choose this description herself.