Belle Couture was narrowly beaten when $1.50 favourite at Bendigo, then was set to run at Geelong on 8th of January, but was scratched and hasn't raced since.
There is much to take away from this as mentioned in the prior post.
Natural horsemanship is slowly trickling, albeit very slowly, into the racing world.
It's no secret that I train many horses using natural horsemanship myself and have seen the impact these methods have made to a horse's psychological welfare. Currently breaking in a 2yo stock horse that was unruly and slow to learn. Taking probably five times the amount of time a general horse breaker would take and advising the client that the horse needs time to be broken has paid dividends. Finally have the horse long reigning and moving forward and stopping purely by voice command. This is with only one two hour session per fortnight.
By using this technique, the horse still has not had a bit in his mouth and is extremely light and soft to rein commands.When we move to the bit, the horse will not fight the commands and will understand the signals, therefore his mouth will remain extremely soft and require the lightest of pressure by the rider.
The point of this, is to demonstrate the mental and physical benefits of natural horsemanship. Looking at head position, body posture, gait, eyes, ears. One can ascertain where the horse is at mentally. More importantly a happy horse does not expend energy pre race, loading, during the race, fighting rider and handlers. This wasted energy can make a huge difference between winning and losing when the margins are so tight.
If Belle Couture's head were in the right place, there's no doubt she would have won at Bendigo. Here is a very short video of her workout at Flemington followed by a look at her prior to breaking in
http://video.news.com.au/v/145557/B...tdyuxXkN_L3jWXA
You might notice, that by comparing her demeanor in both videos there is a marked difference. The breaking in process has made her extremely nervous and anxious.
Many race trainers have rubbished these ideas and stick by time honoured "hard" breaking techniques. However, there are a few owners and trainers that are starting to take notice. Most notable are the Queen, Gai Waterhouse and agent John Foote.
Storm Fabulador was originally trained in Melbourne, but Peter Moody soon advised he wouldn’t make the grade down south and sent him north to Ballina trainer John Everson.
He was sourced by Foote before being broken in by the “horse whisperer” Monty Roberts in California.
After switching trainers, Storm Fabulador won a BM55, a BM52, was only 1.6L away in a Lismore Cup, won a BM69, BM56, BM60, was a neck away in a BM75 and more recently won a Tatt's Club Handicap at Eagle Farm.
The horse required light handling and was better over distance. Something that Moody seemed to miss.
Foote spoke before the run at Eagle Farm:
"I've had Monty Roberts work with him [Storm Fabulador], and he's turned the corner. He's right mentally and weight-wise, he's so well placed today. I will be disappointed if he loses.''
Another example is the Queen's horse Carlton House trained by Gai and our last Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente. Both horses were worked with by Monty Roberts.
Waterhouse admitted she would be similarly non-plussed if Melbourne Cup hero Fiorente does not make a winning return in the Group 2 $220,000 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield. Fiorente was also worked with by Monty before his Melbourne Cup win.
Fiorente won that race as 10/9 Favourite.
Carlton House is still struggling.
The impact of a horse's mental condition and the way he is treated is a paramount part of his success, if he has the physical ability.