Jaco Fourie is the stud manager and trainer at Callaho Warmblood Sport Horse Stud in Christiana, near Kimberley. According to the Sanef rankings, Jaco was the highest ranked dressage rider in South Africa in both 2006 and 2007. He holds full Protea colours for dressage and, apart from winning the FEI Group IX World Dressage Challenge in 2005, he has represented South Africa twice in New Zealand.

With Callaho’s For Joy and Callaho’s Granulit he has, with few exceptions, won every major dressage competition in South Africa. He is also one of the founding members of the very pro-active South African Dressage Rider's Club. SA Horseman spoke to the 32-year-old Jaco about his love of horses and his achievements over the years.

SAH: How many years have you been working with horses in this field?
JF: I have been competing in dressage for the past 15 years, and have been managing the Callaho stud for five years.

SAH: Give a brief encounter of what led up to you being where you are? How did life get you where you are?
JF: Horses have been part of my life ever since I can remember. My first years were spent in Pretoria with the family business of backing horses and training them to be used as stock horses. When I was ten years old, my dad started a small riding school and my two brothers and I trained horses for use in the school. My older brothers gained equestrian knowledge from being stationed at the mounted unit in the police force. Under their and my dad's guidance, I started competing in western gymkhana, showjumping and dressage at training shows.

A Dutch lady, Ms Ellen van Wijk, who was employed to help run the riding school, was my first instructor. In my junior years, I had some riding lessons from a friend of my brother and sister-in-law, Prof Hans Loots, who was instrumental in helping me develop a good seat.

Around this time I had to make a very tough choice between furthering my education in music or spending more time on horseback. I chose horses, and started training horses for other people. This led me to the local tack shop owner, Rolf Petersen, an ex-German cavalry officer who had trained some horses up to grand prix dressage level, and he gave me a ride on his extremely temperamental Thoroughbred stallion, Ballroom Dancer.

I also competed successfully in many breed classes, from Boerperde, Nooitgedachters and Arabian horses, to open showing and showjumping classes, mostly on horses owned by other people. Mrs Monica Marcus and her daughter, Clare, were instrumental in teaching me the finer aspects of showing and attention to detail.

At the age of 18, I bought my first Warmblood, In Dubio, a chestnut gelding of Hanoverian descent, imported from Namibia. It was at a novice show with In Dubio that I saw Springbok rider, Natalie Hobday, riding for the first time, and I can remember being extremely impressed by the way she sat on the horse and her quiet aids.

My brother and his wife sponsored a clinic for me as an early birthday present with Natalie in 1993, and after this there was no turning back. When Natalie left for Germany, I had some lessons with FEI dressage judge, Caroline Potts, and then with Candice Hobday, who has been helping me at shows ever since.

During my university years, I taught and rode in order to sustain myself, and was very involved with the Rasheeq Arabian Stud. I then went off to America to work with all sorts of horses, including Saddlebreds, Arabians, Quarter Horses and Hunter/Jumpers.

On my return to South Africa, I joined the Lipizzaner Centre, where I met many people who influenced my riding and training techniques, including Eva Sydow, Marianne Conlyn, Karen Keller, Lillian Moller and, from the Spanish Riding School, Andreas Hausberger. Through them, I also had the fantastic opportunity to watch the senior riders of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna in action, training both at the school and at home.

Off to Germany
When Natalie Hobday approached me to go and work for her in Germany for some weeks, I jumped at the opportunity. It was really there, watching Natalie and her trainer, Jonny Hilberath, that my riding shifted gears. Daily lessons from Natalie and Jonny increased my knowledge and skill tenfold, and riding Natalie's horses showed me what it should feel like.

After watching Jonny ride, I was amazed at how much a rider can influence the way a horse can move, and I worked very hard to try and grasp his training philosophies: To be a good rider, you should be humane, humble, focused and always striving for perfection in everything you do. A horse, which is strong in the mouth, is actually weak in his hindlegs.

A shy, nervous horse is likely to be holding and cramping in his back. The position of the neck either allows or prevents the hindlegs from carrying and stepping under, and therefore the rider should always try to take his hands forwards – not backwards.

At first I was very sad to leave Germany, but fortunately another fantastic opportunity came my way: In 2003 I accepted the post of stud manager at Ian and Vanessa Callender-Easby's Callaho Warmblood Sport Horse Stud in the Free State. Here I am in charge of the daily care of over 250 horses and supervising more than 50 staff.

I am responsible for the daily training of 35+ riding horses for the annual auction (with the help of four work-riders), the planning and execution of breeding plans, collecting semen from the stallions, artificial inseminations and the foaling-down process. I spend a lot of time researching bloodlines and sourcing potential broodmares in Europe, with regular travel overseas to learn more about the sport and the industry.

I try to ride three to six of my "own" horses daily, but when I am unable to, due to managerial constraints, my horses are lunged, hacked out and lightly ridden by the work-riders. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the inexhaustible support from Ian, Vanessa and the whole team at Callaho, and the healthy and positive atmosphere we all experience here.

SAH: Give me a summary of high season leading up to a major event. What takes up your time?
JF: The advanced horses have three major shows on the calendar: FEI World Challenge, South African championships and the Sanef competition. Preparing for these championships does not differ much from routine schooling, except that I will cut down on hacking out, jumping and lungeing, and will spend more time working on a feeling of constant harmony when riding.

In the back of my mind are always the scales of training: "Rhythm, looseness, contact, impulsion, straightness and collection", in that order. However, each horse is different, and although they have to create the same picture at the end of training, one has to adapt slightly to what the particular horse needs. For instance, For Joy is a hot and sensitive horse, which means that he often over-reacts to the aids. Because of his training history, he also finds it difficult to stay properly over the back and relaxed.

In itself it makes training him rather difficult, but his sensitivity and wonderful natural balance makes the end result so much more exciting. I hardly ever train the movements such as half-pass, canter pirouette, tempi changes, etc. It is more important to get the horse's muscles stronger, his balance better and his reaction to the aids quicker and more genuine.

Unless shortly before a show, I always ride all my horses in a KK-snaffle with a flash noseband, and in total no more than 45 minutes. I do lots of very short & quick transitions (trot-walk-trot, canter-trot-canter, trot-passage-trot, walk-piaffe-walk, etc) and lots of "half-transitions" (working trot-collected trot-working trot, working canter-collected canter-working canter). This helps to get For Joy to wait for my slowing-down-aids, and to truly accept my leg in a good way (not running away or stiffening his back).

Once he is waiting, balanced and relaxed, I try some forward-riding, but always coming back to making him wait for my aids. Once that feels good (and only when it feels good), I might try some movements such as shoulder-in, single flying changes and quarters in, piaffe-passage transitions, etc. I hardly ever ride with a whip (because in the FEI tests you have to compete without a whip) but use my voice a lot throughout (both to wake him up and to calm him down).

I train some of the movements that are used in the test, but mostly depend on visualisation exercises to practice the competition test: The exact rhythm, the exact frame, the exact balance, the exact contact with the mouth and the feeling of total harmony.

SAH: What would the most important qualities be for an aspiring person to be in your position?
JF: If you want to compete, learn to focus on your goals regardless of surrounding negativity. There is an old saying that to be successful in equestrian sport, you need any two of the following qualities: Dedication, talent and/or money. My opinion is that dedication is key: You have to live, breathe, eat and sleep horses, and stay extremely positive, yet humble throughout, and never be cruel to horses.

SAH: What draws you to working with horses/horse people/horse sport?
JF: I think most people have a basic affinity for horses (watch their reaction when a horse gallops through a field on a TV commercial) and this "special something" drew me in the beginning as well. Competing brought about a whole new dimension, and a certain hunger to continually better my own riding got me into full-time riding.

Competitions in different disciplines have always been a way to measure the understanding I have with my horses. I respect and admire GOOD riding in all equestrian disciplines, but focusing on dressage was my aim for the last 15 years, because of the aesthetics, the extreme concentration required and the wonderful feeling you get when you and the horse are moving together in total harmony.

The "dressage to music freestyle" classes are especially pleasing and satisfies my urge to "make music", as it not only enhances the aesthetic look, but has a very real chance of drawing more people to this wonderful sport.

SAH: What is a main highlight in your career?
JF: Hearing the South African anthem play in New Zealand when we, the South African dressage team, won the Tri-Nations competition! Another exhilarating moment was winning the 2007 South African individual freestyle championship on Callaho's Granulit, after I had one of the lowest moments in my career the previous day, when we came stone last!

SAH: If you could have your life over, what would you have chosen to do instead of this?
JF: I have a very wide spectrum of interests, but I always wanted to work with horses, so I would probably do it all over again. If I have to change, I'd say I like the creative side of advertising and marketing, and the meticulousness of events planning, together with the joy of making music, so maybe I would have dedicated myself to bringing the equestrian sport as a whole to the people, by means of hosting a series of shows country-wide, incorporating beautiful horses, beautiful girls and terrific rock bands?!

SAH: A note of encouragement to the readers?
JF: My advice to other riders on how to succeed in dressage: Lunge lessons, lunge lessons, lunge lessons! Without a good seat, one cannot get the correct feeling, nor influence the horse correctly. Go and watch the top riders at every single show, read books and watch videos. Keep on dreaming of how you want to ride and what you want to achieve, but when you taste success, stay humble and try even harder to be an even better rider. And most importantly: Be kind and fair to all horses!