A Way With The Ladies

Despite the bad press surrounding mares, some top riders seem to have a magic touch with them. Julie Harding susses out the secret for a match made in heaven.

THROUGH time, mares have received bad press. They have a reputation for being feisty, tricky, stubborn, wilful and many other negatives besides. With their reputation in tatters, some riders refuse point blank to take one on. That makes those who buy them, ride them and bring in the booty at the pinnacle of their chosen sport in the minority.

But all this begs a question — why do some have a way with the ladies and others discover such a partnership is a marriage made in hell?

Lucinda Fredericks enjoyed the most successful union with a mare in eventing history. With Headley Britannia, the Wiltshire-based Australian scooped four-star wins at Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky.

“Brit” wasn’t the first mare Lucinda had competed, though, having taken on numerous equine females earlier in her career simply because she couldn’t afford to say no. She thinks this is one of the keys to her success, as when the Rolls Royce models of mares started arriving at her yard she already had plenty of insight into what made them tick.

“A lot of riders have one bad experience with a mare and give up,” says Lucinda, who believes herself to be open-minded, adaptable, up for a challenge and inventive. “Mares need variety in their work as they tend to be more intelligent than geldings.”

She figured out that a one-size-fits-all method didn’t work, but she also discovered something that surprised her: “I found that mares like being drilled when they are worked — Prada loved it.”

British dressage rider Michael Eilberg seems to enjoy that same innate understanding of mares. He admits to having developed a “feel” for riding them after watching his father, Ferdi, down the years.