Mark Todd :
"The challenge is to try and understand each horse, to get the best out of him"^(I)

Cheval Savoir : What would you say about eventing to people who don’t know much about the discipline ?

Mark Todd : For me, I guess, eventing is, and certainly was, a complete horsemanship thing, because you have the dressage, you have the show-jumping phase, and you also have the cross-country: we have to do it all, and it takes a special skill to the rider, I think, and you need a special horse that can do all three, and although we don’t do it to the same high level, that the pure sports do, it’s still a challenge to be able to do it all, and we still must do everything well. And before, when we had the long format as well, as we had the roads and tracks, and the steeple-chase, it was another skill again to have a horse fit enough to do the whole endurance thing. And also you need I think a special stock of horse : the thoroughbred was more widely used in those days, but now, with the short format, we’re using a slightly different type of horse.

M.T. The standard of the dressage, I think, has gone up, the level of difficulty has gone up, the show jumping has become more difficult, and the cross –country has also changed a little bit : it becomes slightly… well, they say they call it more technical, but I think it has become a little bit circussy, with all the skinny fences, and the angles, and anything else, rather than it used to be, sort of big bold attacking sort of fences.

C.S. How did you come to eventing?

M.T. The reason I got attracted into it, I guess, is that I always loved the idea of going fast, and jumping obstacles fast across the country when I was small growing up in New Zealand. I used to ride all around my grandparents’ farm, so it was very much an on-going to riding across country rather than being brought up in a dressage arena or show-jumping arena or whatever. And also, when I was a small one, I wanted to be a race jockey, as I have always loved going fast, and sort of got into eventing through the Pony-Club, stuck with it, and found that I enjoyed the challenge, initially of only the cross-country. The dressage was a thing you had to put up with, because you had better fun to go across the country. But after a while, and being competitive, I realized that if you want to be successful, you have to do the other bits well as well, so then I started working more on the dressage and more on the show-jumping, and found that I actually really enjoyed doing the dressage. I enjoyed show-jumping, anyway, so you see, it became a challenge to be able to do all three things very well.

C.S. Have you had masters, or did you practice on your own, and learn by yourself ?

M.T. I have always had, when I was young in New-Zealand, a couple of trainers there, who were very good : the first one was a man called Ted Harrison, he was English and was very much brought up in a traditional way, maybe even I think he trained in the Spanish Riding School; so everything was very traditional, and then, later in N Z another man called Locky Richards also very classical in his training; so… in dressage, you know, there is nothing gimmicky, it’s all about something classical, correct way of training, and I think I was lucky as I have had good basis to start. Since then, I have had various different trainers, and I have always gone for somebody who works along certain marks of classical lines. At the moment, I am having help from a girl called Charlotte Dujardin who is English; she is on the British dressage team, and she got 79.357% yesterday in the European championship, and she is doing very well. She rides with Carl Hester who is sort of a senior dressage person in Britain at the moment and who also has a training method of the past.

C.S. You are a New Zealander, and you live in Britain…

M.T. Well, I left New Zealand in 1978 to compete in the World Championships in Kentucky, but I was offered a job in England, so I moved to England in 1979, sold the horse I had in Kentucky, and bought another one, and more or less lived in England, except for a couple of years in New Zealand all the way up to 2000, when I retired after the Sidney Olympics. Initially, I never thought of really living in England, but the reality is that England is the home of eventing, and there is more eventing in England than anywhere else in the world. And the beauty is also that England is so close to the rest of Europe: it is very easy to pop across to France, or to go to Holland, to Belgium or Germany, and the organization and facilities in England for eventing are great. New-Zealand is too far to do it on an international scale… there are a lot of people in New-Zealand and Australia who ride eventing, but a lot of them have moved to England in preparation for the Olympics next year. You know, we have a population of only four million people, so there are not too many people doing it.

C.S. Do lots of people ride in New Zealand ?

M.T. Yes, a lot of people do ride in new-Zealand, because we are sort of an outdoor nation. There is a lot of racing, there is polo, there is show-jumping, dressage, eventing, rodeo, everything. Growing up in New-Zealand, it’s very easy and unexpensive to have a horse there. So a lot of kids have the opportunity of doing it.

C.S. But then they have to move for competition.

M.T. Yes, and then, it becomes really expensive… (laugh)

C.S. I was worried about the New Zealander accent, but yours is quite British !

M.T. The British don’t think I have an English accent, but I guess my accent has become a little bit more English.

C.S. You retired in 2000. May I ask why ?

M.T. Yes ! I mean, it was after the Olympics in Sydney and I had always planned to retire after that, because I had been doing it at top level for over twenty years, since 1979. I had won pretty much everything I wanted to win, and, although I was still enjoying the competing, I had lost the motivation to do all the work and everything, and also as I was reaching an age when I thought : “well, if I am going to change, and do something else, I had better do it now before I get too old”. So, we went back to New Zealand, and I started training race-horses, which has always been a passion of mine, and I had quite a bit of success in that. I enjoyed it, and also breeding race-horses as well. And then, by chance, really, I got an opportunity to ride in Beijing, and it was a challenge to see, having not competed since I retired, (even if obviously, I had been riding races, but very little jumping), there was a challenge to see if I could get myself, and a horse, in six months and get the Olympic Games in Beijing, which I did. And then I found that I was actually really enjoying it again, and the motivation was back. Then I had a very good sponsor, and they were keen to back me to London and see how I could do it properly, and bought me some very nice horses. So, here I am…

C.S. And everybody is happy to have you back.

M.T. So yes ! It has been great ! Since I have come back I have had a very very good reception everywhere which has been great !

C.S. As you said before, there had been lots of technical changes in between.

M.T. Yes, as I said the main thing is, that when I left the sport, we were doing the long format : roads and tracks and steeple-chase.

C.S. Did you like that ?

M.T. (a big sigh) Did I like it ? Well, I liked the fact that there was the ultimate challenge: to get your horse fit to do all the thing. It was tough on the horses, and now with the shorter format, I think the horses last longer, you can get more competitions out of them… it is not as hard, but I think we have lost a certain element of horsemanship in the process from long format to short format. Now you can go flat out from the beginning. It’s very different. In the old days you had to rate your horse a lot more, and then also because they had done all before the cross country, you had to think much more about show-jumping on the last day too, whereas now, with the short format, you come out with a horse a lot fresher on the last day for the show-jumping. Unless you had them really fit, and you had looked after them round the cross country, you could have a big difference on the last day on the show jumping.

C.S. They all try to have very good jumpers for the show-jumping now.

M.T. Yes, you always need to have good jumpers for eventing, and now dressage has also become more elaborate. We have to do flying changes, which we did not have to do 20 years ago, and the standard has got much higher. Before, there were maybe 10 at the top who could do really good dressage. Now, you can have 20, 30, 40 good tests, and the young ones coming through, they can all ride so well ! To be at the top, you have to be really on your game : have good horses, well trained and everything has to be ok, because as I say… Now look at Badminton, this year : we were 12 horses and riders within one fence going into the show-jumping. It is that close, 0,2 pt maybe that parted them. So, every little mark counts. Now you have to be in the top 3 or 4 if you want to be the winner, I think. Look at Michael Jung, he is the current World Champion, he scores 80% in the dressage, and then he goes clear cross-country, clear show-jumping. So, that is what we have got to beat…

C.S. You did it !

M.T. (Big laugh) Yes !

C.S. And what about the obstacles on the cross-country ?

M.T. Like I said, before, it tended to be big ditches, big fences, and you needed to really gallop and be brave. Now, certainly in the ten last years, you are jumping obstacles not so wide, and various angles, you really have to have the horse listen… Well, for me, it’s good, to a certain extent, but it’s also a bit circussy. There has been a move certainly in Britain, to make the couses a little bit like they were in the old days, introducing more natural features. It is good.

C.S. What about your horses ?

M.T. My best horse, the one I had in Badminton this year, NZB Land Vision, is a very very good horse. He is probably one of the best horses I have ever had, and I think that if I can get him to London in absolutely top form, he has got a reasonable chance of getting a medal. He is ten, so he is still quite young, and Badminton was his first four stars, but he has been a winner all along. He began at six, with Oliver Townend, who had bought him from somebody else, and then I bought him and he won an immediate championship at Hightclere in England, and then in the 3* 8 and 9 year old in Blenheim and he was second in Boekelo, and then he won Badminton.

C.S. You do buy your horses, don’t you ? They are your horses.

M.T. With my sponsor NZ Bloodstock, yes. I choose them.

C.S. Where do you find them ?

M.T. All over. I look everywhere, and I have people who look out for me and say "here’s a nice horse” and now, with your mobile and e-mail, you can have a look first, and if you like the look of him, you can go and sit on him.
I bought some in England, I bought some in Germany, in Ireland, I look everywhere. I havent’ got a French one at the moment, but you never know…

C.S. What breed are they ?

M.T. I try and go for something that has got quite a lot of thoroughbred in it. At least 50% of thoroughbred. Having said that, Land Vision does not have 50% of thoroughbred, but he is a real quality sort of horse. His father is a Danish warmblood, the mother… I am not sure what she is, but, I mean, he has got a lot of quality. But the rest have at least 50% thoroughbred with maybe Holstein, Irish breeding, Irish sporthorse… My other horse, NZB Grass Valley who was 11th in the World Games, is probably ¾ thoroughbred. His father is thoroughbred, his mother is by an Irish Sporthorse. The horse I have got here in the 3 stars, is German bred, and probably 60 or 70% thoroughbred as well. I have also another little Irish horse called NZB Regent Lad who is very good. The one I have got here in the One Star, he was bred in Italy, but his father was Irish, and his mother was an American thoroughbred. So… To me, breeding is important, but they still need to have enough quality to do the job. It is an individual, more than anything else.

C.S. Are the good horses always expensive, or can you sometimes find one nobody had thought of as a good and expensive one ?

M.T. It is hard, now, to find that sort of horse, because everybody is looking for that sort of thing. The younger ones, who have not done so much, you can buy them cheaper, of course. But if you want a horse that has done something and is good, it has to be expensive. Sometimes you are lucky…

C.S. What do you think of Anglo-Arabs ?

M.T. I have never had one… sorry, that is a lie… because I won a horse when I won Le Lion d’Angers one year. First prize was one, but probably there was a good reason why he was the prize, because he was not very good, but Sydney (team rider Sidney Dufresne) has a very good one, Looping de Buissy. There are good ones in all the breeds. And you can probably find anglo arab in mares and stallions…

C.S. What is your approach of horses ?

M.T. I did that job because I love horses. For me, it does not matter what I do with horses. I am equally happy when I am riding, racing, breeding, when I am with foals or young horses... You know, I show-jumped to Olympic level, pure show-jumping, but the sport I love most is eventing because I love the cross-country. For me, it is all about horses, and I love them as horses, and the challenge is also to try and understand each horse.

C.S. Could you say why you love horses?

M.T. Well, you know, some people like dogs, some like cats, some like horses… and I am one of those ! Having said that, I like working with their minds : you can do so many things with a horse. I enjoy the training, training them to do different things ! I just like working with horses, as they are all so different, they have their own personality : some are shy, some are bold, some are excited, some are calm… and it is part of the talent to figure out how to get the best out of them. They have to respect you and you have to respect them… it is a bit like a child : you have to mould them, to give them discipline boundaries, encouragement... I guess, we all have a training method, a training system, but within that system, you have to try and understand each different horse, and what is going to make that horse perform the best, and that, for me, is the real challenge.

Read more of the interview next month in the october issue of Cheval Savoir.