Bali’s Horse Whisperer
Carol Sharpe is known as the ‘horse whisperer of Nihi’. She retrained the island’s racehorses for incredible beach and trail rides around the remote island of Nihi Sumba, a spot described as ‘the edge of wilderness’, an hour off the coast of Bali.
WHEREVER catches up with this extraordinary expat living a dream life in paradise.
How long have you been in Indonesia?
I have been in Nihi for seven-and-a-half years. I was in the business of property development for most of my working life, but horses have been the best part of my pleasure life since the age of seven.
I love living here and have no plan to leave!
Your initial brief was to source horses for beach rides. Why ex-racehorses?
Basically size! Most of the horses on Sumba are not suitable in size to carry an averagesize westerner; their origins are from Mongolian and Arabian ponies traded for Sandalwood on the Islands. When I learned of the popularity of racing on Sumba and the local ponies were being crossbred with the Australian Thoroughbred to produce a bigger, faster racehorse, this provided the avenue to source horses locally. With the pickings quite limited, my criteria really narrowed to horses at least 140cm in size, as young as possible with minimal racing experience, and generally good in health.
How long did the training take? What’s a horse whisperer’s secret?
Gaining trust and communication through groundwork was well received by most of the horses, some would respond in a matter of hours, whilst with others it could take days, or longer. It was up to me to work out their language of co-operation.
It really helped attending some Sumba Horse Races to see how they are handled and where their fear triggers were and how they might perceive me.
Most often, horses are trained to race from the fear-flight response and I did see this at the Sumba Horse Races. At the start line the horses are often given raps over the rump with a plastic bottle to build their adrenalin before the jockey is thrown aboard, bareback, to race. With the jockey clinging to their backs in an elevated, competitive state it effectively evokes their prey-animalflight-from-a-predator response.
“Local ponies were being crossbred with the Australian Thoroughbred to produce a bigger, faster racehorse.”
As with most horses, their greatest reward was to feel relief from fear. I learned to always give them a choice. In training, if I could feel them under fear-response pressure I’d give them a way out, so they could find a safer space before momentum built and resistance would disengage the part of their brain that is curious and co-operative.
Introducing a saddle was a good object for them to feel on their back without a competitive vibe. Training them to take a
rider that had a different agenda than racing was a little more challenging, especially when asking for upward transitions – changes from one slower pace to a faster one. Lots of small circle work and direction changes to keep them thinking, disrupting, and distracting from the fast forward motion they were so strong at. I also had to resist pulling back on their mouths as they were accustomed to being pulled on with harsher bits for control; their mouths are very desensitised as a result and they were stronger at pulling back. These horses have taught me well that the greatest key is awareness of your own energy and focus. If you can’t hold a state of presence and calm, get off and try again later!
We began taking guests for beach rides within a couple of months of opening, though the majority of our guests at this time were novices and being led at a walking pace, which was great for the horses to learn their new role. Today, we still recommend that beginners be guided under lead. However, we now have an incredible herd that can cater to an intermediate-level rider wanting to enjoy a relaxed canter down the beach! I am very proud of every single one of them – and, of course, our incredible staff, who are local villagers.
Are some horses harder to work with than others, and if so why?
I have found the more challenging is often the purer strain of Sumba village racing pony, they are naturally feistier, clever and definitely cheekier and bossier than their crossbred paddock buddies!”
“These horses have taught me well that the greatest key is awareness of your own energy and focus.”
What else are the horses used for?
“Nihi has some of the most beautiful riding trails in the world. On our rides it’s very
much about the journey! You’ll venture through virgin rainforest-covered mountains, cross valley streams and rivers, passing through coconut groves and fields of rice that resemble a great patchwork quilt. Winding through the traditional villages along the way you are greeted with friendly smiles and the only traffic jams you’ll encounter here is a herd or two of buffalo or goats being guided home by an attentive herdsman. There is also the amazing destination ride to Nihi’s famous Nihioka Spa which is very popular. This is reached with all of the above descriptions on the trail after about an hour in the saddle.
The horses are also popular stars in wedding ceremonies at Nihi. Wedding photos are made uniquely memorable with bride and groom being ushered to the alter by a Sumba horse and horsemen in colourful traditional Sumba dress!
We are also planning on having the horses play a major role in Nihi’s expanding wellness programme. Along with the classes I currently offer under my Equine Connection Experiences (ECE), which is energy and self-awareness through learning equine communication, guests will have the opportunity to try yoga with and on a horse as well as meditation practice with horses. The uniqueness of ECE is that it was developed working the uniquely spirited ‘on the edge of wildness’ Sumba horses.
Once-a-year these horses also become polo ponies! How do they go from racetrack to beach rides to polo ponies?
We were asked to host the first British Polo Day (BPD) within 18 months of start-up, and I still hadn’t acquired enough larger crossbreds. It was a relief to learn that the BPD team were not expecting serious polo ponies and that they are always up to play polo on the out-of-the-ordinary, like camels, elephants, push bikes and now the rough and slightly wild Sumba race ponies.
The training focus remained on calming for guest rides but we introduced mallet and balls into the desensitising training. We only could supply six horses for the game so three players a side on a quarter-size beach field with a larger arena ball. The game is not fast as it’s being played in the sand. It can be hot and hard going for the horses, so we make the chukkers only 3 x 3 mins long with one final. The breaks between are gaged on the recovery of the horses and this is usually taken with a dip in the ocean… saddle and all!
It’s a whole lot of stick and ball fun in trying to get control of the ball in the sand and watch pro polo players try to manage unruly Sumba ponies against my local horsemen that do it so much better! We still have spectator participation between chukkers in raking the pitch rather that stomping the divots on a grass polo ground.
“The only traffic jams you’ll encounter here is a herd or two of buffalo or goats.”
So, it seems you can you teach ‘an old horse new tricks’?
I heard a quote once which I think was said by a dog trainer: ‘There are no untrainable dogs, just ignorant owners’. I think this is true for just about everything in life, including training or retraining horses. If you ground yourself on your beliefs, you will more than likely get what you focus on. Horses take incredible comfort from our confidence.