“It’s a simple sport, but it’s hard to do,” mused Brett Parbery as he wrapped up the Jewel Court Stud USA’s Masterclass Thursday evening during Dressage at Devon, after giving short lessons to five riders involved in everything from western dressage to Grand Prix as the crowd in the grandstand watched intently.
He offered many other valuable bits of insight. Among them: noting that if you’re taking short cuts and training a horse with pressure, “the test will catch you out,” describing the way the passage in the Grand Prix test “links it all together” and noting it is better to ride toward the corner rather than the letter when stepping out on the diagonal.
Friday morning, it got more personal as Brett helped Silva Martin, the wife of eventer Boyd Martin, prepare for her Fourth Level Test 1 with Federman B. Bruno, as the horse is known, was Boyd’s mount at the Paris Olympics, where had a little kerfuffle with the flying changes in the dressage portion of the competition.
Bruno is heading for the Pau, France 5-star event next month and Silva is riding the horse in dressage shows to get him more relaxed and producing better changes.
Brett is an Australian (Boyd grew up in Australia and is a dual Australian/US. citizen) so the two not surprisingly are friends. Brett is staying at Boyd’s farm near Devon, where sleep is at a premium because Boyd and Silva have three very active young boys.
Brett Parbery and Boyd Martin. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
Bruno showed a little tension when he entered the ring, but he went on to get more relaxed by the time he got to the tempi changes and finished fifth on 66.315 percent.
Silva also rode Commando 3, Boyd’s Olympic reserve horse, to fourth place on 66.942 percent. Commando will be competing with Boyd aboard at the Maryland 5-star in October
With a smile, I asked Silva whether she was getting paid extra for showing Boyd’s two event horses.
“Well, that’s the thing,” she replied with a good-natured grin, “He’s actually a bad pay.”
Bruno is staying another night so he can do the same test on Saturday.
Silva Maratin focuses on Federman B. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
“In Paris, he was so good and then he just lost it a little bit we’re just get him to relax and take a breath in the ring. Doing this kind of thing is awesome for them” to steady the nerves, without having to handle a cross-country test afterwards.
Brett offered eyes on the ground in the warm-up and support from ringside.
Asked to share his impression of Dressage at Devon, which is presented by Kingsview Partners, he said, “I’m blown away.”
“This is my first American show, other than the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky (2010) and the World Equestrian Games in Tryon (2018). Its just got a great vibe, the atmosphere is great, the show organizers are great, this particular show has that heritage feel about it. I really, really enjoy it.”
He had his work cut out for him with the Masterclass, because not only did he have to deal with horses at different levels of training, he also had to click with a crowd that included experts, as well as those just getting introduced to the discipline.”
Jewel Court Stud USA’s Montenegro, by Toto Jr. and a grandson of Totilas, ridden by Kamden Perno as Brett Parbery offers pointers. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
“My theory is that if I speak to the audience as if they have never seen dressage before, even the most experienced rider in the crowd will get something from it. The more experience we get, sometimes the more we forget about the basics and the fundamentals. The most difficult problems in dressage are always solved through creating better fundamentals. If you explain the fundamentals. The great rider always picks up something.
“Maybe because I’m in Australia and maybe because we’re a long way away from the action, we often try and work by ourselves. We have to break it down. That’s why you see a lot of Australians out there in the education space…we have to figure it out ourselves. To be able to be repeating it every day, I have to make every concept very simple.”
Western dressage rider Lorna Nagel, who was aboard Janine Callen’s quarter horse Nigh Deposit Nic, declared, “Brett was awesome. He’s just right on target with everything I use to train.I was glad to get the same opportunities as the other riders and be treated the same.”
Brett had a goal he wanted to reach, not only for the riders who participated, but also for his audience.
“I want everyone to walk out of here and go, `You know what? That’s actually very simple. Maybe I can do it.’ That’s what you want people to go home with, that feeling.”
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