With the comfortable response to the coronavirus lockdown being to sit on a coach and take it easy, and giving one’s horse a break too, equestrian legend Patrick Brown has offered an alternative.
Brown is a national coach for Eventing South Africa and a rider’s representative on its Gauteng committee.
The owner of Teranga Stables in Kyalami stated unequivocally that the best thing a dressage rider, or rider for any equestrian sport for that matter, can do during this period of go-slow is to maintain physical fitness.
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“Some people have their own yard where they can work their horses but for many people, this isn’t possible,” he said.
“I have opened my yard to my clients if they want to leave their horses here, and I am sure many other yards have done the same. It would be better, in my opinion, to let the horses exercise and maintain their fitness, whether through walks with people or mechanical walkers.”
Brown said, however, that if one does choose to let their horses have a break for at least a few weeks, then they should cut back on their hard food so the horses do not put on weight and do anything to injure themselves when they start exercising again. “Riders should also not overeat during this time and if they have exercise machines at home, they should use them.”
He said dressage riders are generally obsessed with their sport so he does not feel he will need to encourage riders to watch training videos online, or talk to each other on social media about the sport, as this will happen by itself.
That said, Brown and trainers like himself will post their own training videos online for people to watch in the coming weeks and he looks forward to seeing them.
Distinguished career
Patrick Brown is an accomplished rider who competes in eventing, showjumping and dressage.
In eventing, he has won the SA Mini Championships three times and the 1m Championships twice. He won the Transvaal Showjumping Championships in 1996 and competed in the SA Derby twice, including being the top qualifier in 1997. In dressage, Patrick won the Gauteng Advanced Championships as well as Gauteng Advanced Freestyle last year, and came second in advanced freestyle at the SA Dressage Championships.
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