Hester - Making it Happen : the Autobiography

CARL HESTER

MAKING IT HAPPEN

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Some people want it to happen, some wish it
would happen, and others make it happen.

Michael Jordan

Contents

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The idea of writing a book about whats happened in my life? It didnt seem worth a read, that is until Bernie and I sat down and started to talk about what had happened. Due to the number of people and horses that have come through my life, it seemed as if we might have some fun and interesting subjects. Of course, the fun part of this story is in how it developed the norm would be to have born into a horsey family, become horsey, stay horsey, marry a horse, be a horse, have great big teeth and neigh. However, the fact that my parents were non-horsey, yet I was given the right direction by many people, that is hopefully an inspiration to those kids out there today who feel they cant afford to make it to the top professionally. I want to give them hope that they too can make it happen.

To my parents and my grandmother from Sark, thank you for giving me free rein to go and do what I wanted to do. To the Fortune Centre for actually recognising what I wanted to do and, of course, to Jannie and Christopher for helping me understand what a horseman should be it is that, I feel, which has made me what I am today. To Dr Bechtolsheimer who gave me the break of a lifetime. Where would I have been without that I wonder? And to Kate and Stuart for giving me that base when I spread my wings.

Today, thank you to and thank God for Claudine who looks after all my bits and pieces, and Baz, Fiona and Alan who make this place work together with Katie and Amy. Thank you to Ben for continually printing out whatever Bernie and I came up with to review afterwards, and a huge thanks to all the people who have contributed to make the stories fit in place, especially Winnie, Dickie, Will and Trickie, and to Jude, Dane, Claire, Mum and Jess for comments on sections of earlier drafts.

At Orion, having known Susan Lamb for many years has made this journey an easier, smoother passage. Alan Samson and Lucinda McNeile have been amazingly supportive throughout and fabulous for Bernie to work with. Thank you to Anne OBrien for her sympathetic copy-edit were glad you liked the ending and to our publicist Alex Hippisley-Cox.

Bernie and I have been friends for longer than we care to remember. Many of these stories have been shared together and the laughs weve had remembering them and realising everything that did happen has been a wonderful experience. Im sure her husband Richard must have been delighted to have those free evenings once a week over many months while weve recounted these stories, and now he gets the dining table back. How lucky was I? As my career grew as a rider so did hers as a journalist. What better unison could we have wished for my stories and her writing skills that have given me my voice in print. I hope everyone enjoys the collaboration.

And finally, a big thank you to all the friends and horses who made these stories, and therefore this book, happen.

When Carl asked me to write a foreword to his book I was very surprised shocked, actually as my kind of riding is plodding around the Dorset countryside on a Clydesdale and is as far away from the world of Olympic Class Dressage as you can get. What we do have in common, however, is an innate love and fascination for horses. Having found myself more and more immersed in the world of the horse in all its guises, I have come to realise that Carl is an inspiration not only to the top riders around the world but also to grass roots horse people at all levels. Hes not just an immensely gifted rider, he also has a gift for communicating his skills and knowledge in a way that everyone can understand, inspiring us all. I have often watched my wifes and daughters riding lessons and heard time and again, Imagine you are Carl Hester its easier said than done!

There is something about Carls journey from the back of a donkey on his home island of Sark to an Olympic Gold at Greenwich that will grab the attention of all horse lovers, regardless of their age or ability. The horse and its training is at the heart of everything Carl does. He understands the responsibility of finding the key to each horse to enable it to perform to its best, but also to flourish and be happy in itself. Carl loves his horses, he loves them enough to allow them to be horses. Olympic horses turned out to gallop, romp and buck in the fields to their hearts content, not wrapped in cotton wool as precious and pampered pieces of sports equipment.

As Carl says, It often doesnt make sense where an all-consuming fascination with horses comes from, some people just have it. As youre about to read this book, I know youll understand that feeling.

One week to go before the London Olympics were upon us and my nerves were totally frayed. Uthopia had given me a scare; hed had bruising in a foot, which sometimes he can get with shoeing, and he decided to limp. Were about to go, everythings set and both the vet and the farrier tell me everythings going to be OK. But Im terrified Im not going to make it and I know how reliant we the British team are on these three horses: Uthopia, Valegro and Mistral Hjris.

The day before leaving the television is full of Olympics, full of dramatic music, full of adverts and previews, full of when to watch the stars. Televisions all over it and every time anything Olympic comes on I find myself bursting into tears. I dont know why. I dont know whats wrong with me. Im just on edge about the whole thing.

Then I find out that my accreditation cant be delivered. Were all due to travel together on a bus up to the Olympics. The tack and equipment has been sent on ahead, the horses are ready to go and suddenly that vital piece of laminated photo ID without which you cant get anywhere no matter who you are or how important blagging does not work at Olympic Games is not in order and I have to pick it up in person. It was something to do with my passport needing the bespoke treatment, but thank heavens for Richard Dickie Waygood, our chef dequipe.

Dickie was absolutely brilliant. The idea was that we could all go in at the same time and Dickie had it all under control. He arrives, picks me up and off we set, separate from everyone else, crossing everything that this blasted accreditation would be ready. The whole thing was such a drama before I even got to Greenwich. The pressure of being a competitor, a trainer and an owner was catching up on me.

I have enjoyed my competing all my life, and yet here I was, looking forward to none of it, not one single bit. I was in an emotional place I had never been in before and it was especially difficult for me as I had never experienced before what I was experiencing then. There was nothing to draw on to help me out.

But the team support structure led by Will Connell, equestrian sport director at Team GBR and director of our World Class Performance programme, was geared up to what we as a team needed. It was about what the support team and the support structure could do to help so that we could be, as far as possible, our normal selves. There was a house where we could relax in the evenings, where we could sit outside and, in my case, have a drink and a smoke, so that did contribute to normalising the situation, which obviously helped me hugely. Anyway, with my accreditation sorted, we moved into the Novotel in Greenwich and the competition started.

The year before, at the Europeans, Charlotte [Dujardin] had been very buoyant. Shed set world records and this was her first Olympics with all the excitement that entails. I was lucky that she had the gloss of newness over the whole experience far more shiny than a dull ache of pressure. I knew that as her trainer and mentor I could not show in any way what I was really feeling. There was I, at a major competition, visualising not the positive psychological imagery of everything going right but instead all the things that could go wrong. I dont do that, I never have done, but it is what I did in London and consequently I put myself under huge stress.