Andrew Hoy Forum
Marcus Oldham College, Geelong, Victoria
February 26th 2002 - Page 2
Story & Pictures by Melissa Dey

They travelled from as far as Frankston, across the great Bay to share the wisdom of the man.   But he had travelled the furthest!  After arriving on a  4.30 am flight from the UK and then instructing a group of enthusiastic riders all day; Andrew Hoy did very well to stand up, let alone entertain a group of sixty keen individuals.  All of whom had traveled to Marcus Oldham College, in Geelong, Victoria  to attend this fantastic opportunity to meet and learn from one of the world's greatest event riders.

Pictured right is Andrew Hoy with the keen and enthusiastic year 9 equestrian studies students from Bayside Christian College in the outer South East Melbourne bayside suburb of Frankston.

The three day clinic was organised by Nick Roe and Cassie Houtsma to provide fifteen Marcus Oldham Diploma of Horse Business Management students with the opportunity to work under the careful eye of Andrew. Fifteen non-college participants were also able to attend these wonderful training sessions. The forum was run on the first night of the clinic and gave the participants and their support crew a chance to meet the trainer and gave Andrew a wonderful opportunity to discuss his philosophy and clarify what he would be working on with the students over the following two days.

The night proved to be very informative.  A healthy mix of stories, advice and question and answer time with the audience.  We learnt a little of the man behind the success.  Andrew began riding at the age of seven at his parents property in Culcairn, NSW.  He first competed in the Olympic Games in 1984 and has not missed one since then.  He was given the honour of carrying the Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony at the Atlanta Games. Given that a large percentage of tonight's audience had the joy of youth on their side - he joked that he has probably been competing at international level for longer than many of the them had been born.  

Tonight's forum opened with a little advice for all of us in the audience.  Andrew  was first asked to ride in an Australian team in 1978.   His first thought was "I am not good enough, but if I don't take the opportunity I will never be good enough".  As they say, the rest is history.    He acknowledged the support that he has had during his career. "Everyone needs support to achieve desires and goals".   Good sportspeople are not always more talented but are always good thinkers, and they always have a wonderful support team to help them. If we look at other sports, a competitor will always have a coach or trainer around them all the time. You need people around you who are equally as good at what they do.  Good staff, a good vet and a good phsyio.  He was very keen to point out that his groom Karen has been with him for 9 years. At Andrew's stables, every Monday morning involves a visit from the vet and the physio.  Together they assess the horses, and then he leaves it to the professionals to advise him.  He stated clearly that you cannot be everything. One thing that I found particularly interesting was that part of this assessment included the horses being weighed - every week!  

Andrew believes that one of the biggest issues with riders today is that they have the desires and the goals - but often lack a development program.  The common fault across all levels is that horses are not accepting the aids and the riders don't have an understanding of what it truly means to have a horse respond those aids.   Such as going forwards from the leg, stopping, turning right and turning left.   The rider needs to be secure in their body, both their posture and their position.  

An interesting topic raised by Andrew Hoy (pictured right) was relative strength.   Shorter lighter framed riders need to work at closer to their maximum strength than taller heavier framed riders to achieve the same result.  He compared his wife Bettina riding at 85% of her strength on a particular horse compared with Andrew riding at 75% of his to perform the same work. Obviously this is an important factor when selecting horses and assessing their compatibility with the rider.

Riders need to react to the feeling they get from the horse they are sitting on. Andrew commented that feedback from observers of his rides at Sydney said that both rounds looked balanced and in rhythm.  Yet they were two very different rides.   Swizzle In needed riding exactly to the right stride.  Whereas, Darien Powers is a more scopey horse and has more ability.  He doesn't need to be ridden as carefully.

When commenting on a dilemma faced with many riders, that different instructors will give you different exercises and different objectives; Andrew reminded us that we must evaluate what we are working on at that time with that horse.  It will change, and the program must also change to adapt to that. Of course different people will see different issues and will often have a different approach to solving a problem.   The aim of this forum and the three day clinic was to provide the students with information, giving them tools and know-how that they could take home and continue to train with.  

On the topic of horse selection Andrew had quite a bit to say.   He looks for a  combination of feeling, conformation and movement when selecting a horse.   The number one question he asks himself "is this a horse that I like to look at? If I don't like to look at it, I won't like to ride it". It must have a good eye.  Next he looks at the paces.  A good walk is very important - looking for swing and a nice overstep. Next a good canter as it is a difficult pace to improve and finally the trot - as it can be improved.

Andrew Hoy Forum - Go to Page 2

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