#Hack1000miles
A tricky horse who doesn’t like crowds isn’t a natural fit for top level eventing. Sarah Bullimore shares why hacking has been a turning point for her horse Blou
The four-star eventer transformed by hacking
EVENTER SARAH BULLIMORE is fourth in the FEI World Rankings and, along with her magnificent horse Reve Du Rouet (aka Blou), came fourth at Burghley Horse Trials in September — it seems four is currently her lucky number. Although Sarah, along with many of the top riders, makes tackling the big tracks look (mostly) like a walk in the park, behind the scenes, all is not always as it seems. Sarahah takes up the story: “I’ve had 14-year-old Blou since he was three, and he’s never been straightforward. He was bred in Germany and I bought him from Holland. On the continent young horses are often kept in barns, which means they become bonded with each other, but don’t always get the chance to develop relationships with humans. I put his initial aloofness down to that. “Blou was easy to produce and if we had any issues, I just assumed it was his greenness showing. But as he got older, his issue around people didn’t go away. By the time he was eight he was so difficult, but had also become amazingly talented. He wasn’t over-sharp and looked calm on the outside, but it was all going on in his head. He just didn’t like being around lots of people.” Sarah has worked on Blou with many different trainers, but they often wanted to crack the issues with dominance, which didn’t work with this horse or for Sarah. “He just doesn’t do well under pressure and I had to work out how to train him without stressing him out. This is when I turned to hacking, as that’s something he can cope with — even the pressure of being in the arena at home can be too much for him.” You can ride just about any movement on a hack and Sarah makes the most of every opportunity. “I do flying changes down tracks, practise shoulder-in across quiet lanes, halt at every junction, making sure he’s square, anything that progresses his training,” she explains. Sarah has adapted what she does with Blou over the years and her latest technique, employed at Burghley, really paid off. “He didn’t go near an arena after the Friday before Burghley,” explains Sarah. “I’d schooled him that day and he’d gone fantastically well, so I decided not to take him in the arena again before the big day. Instead we hacked out, practising our schooling at the same time.” “Then, on dressage day, I took him to the warm-up field but kept him away from the arena. This way he thought we were just hacking again and he stayed nice and calm. From there, we went straight to the main arena — he was so relaxed and did a great test. When everyone clapped at the end, he held it together until he was just outside of the boards, then it was head up and off. He’d had enough.” “This is just how Blou is. He will give 20 minutes or so and then say ‘that’s it’ and wants to be back in his safe zone. It’s like an agoraphobic reaction. And once he’s moved into this zone, I can’t get anything from him — he needs to be put away. He can sulk for weeks at a time too, so I’ve had to learn how to deal with that as well.” Sarah often likens Blou’s behaviour to autism in humans. “He has a routine and needs to stick to it. If anything changes he gets in a state,” explains Sarah. “For instance, he now knows that when he’s done the trot up at an event, he can go back to his stable — quickly usually. This year he had to hang around, as his groom had won second place for his turnout and he needed to pose with her for pictures. But he was having none of it and wouldn’t stand. He can’t even deal with being led into his stable in a different way.” The crowds have got the better of Blou on occasion. At Badminton in 2016, he bolted down the centre line and nearly took out the judge. Then, in 2017, he fell at the third fence because a big crowd had gathered and he couldn’t concentrate — it’s the only cross-country mistake he’s ever made. “Hacking is the solution for now and I’ll use it for warming up at all competitions until it stops working. He should be at the top of many more four stars, but then something silly happens and we ruin our chances. But he’s amazing and definitely worth persevering with.” We agree Sarah, such a talented man.
“I do flying changes down tracks and practise shoulder-in across quiet lanes”