ADVERTISEMENT: On the weekend of his 51st birthday, McLain Ward won the High Star Hero Major League Grand Prix CSI5* in Tryon with more than a half-second lead, and tells The Horse Show how a horse with highs and lows became his partner for the big days.
It was the last Grand Prix of the Major League Show Jumping before the winter break, and course designer Nick Granat had prepared a course that demanded everything from the field of competitors. Only six pairs remained faultless, Daniel Bluman celebrated his perfect round as a victory, and then McLain Ward rode a stride over The Horse Show, in which Frederik de Backer takes a close look at the latest events in show jumping, which was still being talked about for a long time.
„I felt when we walked it, we thought it was a really challenging test“, sagte Ward. „I think in general for that level of a Grand Prix, Nick was very aware of that. And he really built what I would consider a real high standard five-star track. It was technical, there was size, a lot of solid short poles.“
Suddenly number one in the stable
High Star Hero was not put forward as the top horse from the beginning. Ward had lost Imperial at the beginning of last year, and the horse that was supposed to fill this gap itself had a checkered history.
„When I had Imperial, he was such an incredible talent that all focus was on him and everything else was secondary“, erklärte Ward. „And then he got ill and we lost him, which was pretty devastating. I think everybody has a choice in that moment.“
In doing so, he drew a direct parallel to Rothchild, with whom he once came close to winning the World Championship title. „I had had Rothchild for a number of years as a kind of journeyman Grand Prix horse. And then at one moment I woke up and said, ‚Well, this is the best horse I have.‘ And he’s a fighter and a fighter. Let’s see how far we can go.“
At High Star Hero he faced the same decision. „I didn’t receive this horse as a green horse. He was an experienced horse, but he had had some ups and downs. And there came a moment where he was the best horse I had in my stable and we were either going to choose to be average or we were going to see how far we could go. He’s an incredibly great character horse. He tries very hard. And we refined the details and have produced a great season.“
Just don't disturb
Study guest Joe Clee suggested that the same horse would not have looked so well half a year ago. Ward agreed and described a horse that reacted sensitively to any influence shortly before the jump.
„He’s actually a very sensitive horse and you can’t do much in the last three strides in front of the jump. When I first started riding him, he would occasionally pull up if you went to do a little half-halt, a little balance too close to the fence. And it wasn’t a character issue. He didn’t understand and he overreacted.“
His solution is called trust. „What you saw in the turn to number three is that I have a much better chance if I stay out of his way and trust his quality than trying to fit an extra stride in there at the last moment. But as you both know, it’s not always easy to do. Sometimes we want to meddle with it a little bit.“
Joe Clee had already written in the studio during the exam; he described it as „the definition of flow state“. In the broadcast, he explained: „Everything, every distance was there. Every T was crossed. Every I was dotted. It’s like being in a kind of dream. I know it comes down to training, it’s like muscle memory. But it really feels like it all just happened rather than you doing something.“ Niels Bruynseels added: „You saw already from one to two. He came into the ring to win that class.“
Self-criticism instead of excuses
Asked about the fall on the final jump in Silo Ridge a week earlier, Ward did not blame the horse. „Yeah, bad riding,“ he said. „When I went, there were 11 or 12 clear. We all know as riders that we should be in the jump-off. You start to get maybe a little cute, a little too careful. I overchecked, stood him off too far and I was very upset with myself. I was going to make sure that didn’t happen again Saturday night.“
For presenter Frederik de Backer, this is exactly the crucial point: „He blames himself. It’s not the horse. That is the mindset of a champion.“
Even the 1.6 second lead didn’t impress Ward much. „The reality is what I was probably trying to beat was coming behind me in the order, not what was in front of me,“ he said, referring to Shane Sweetnam’s James Kann Cruz, for whom he is „the best horse in the world“, and Mark Bluman, „who sometimes doesn’t know any better than trying to beat you“. And he admitted a characteristic trait that his students are well aware of: „I hate rollbacks. I’ll always question a rollback and tell them, I’m not sure you should turn too tight. And then at the end of the order, I go and do it myself and try to win the class.“
Motivated and calm
In the current edition of the English-language ClipMyHorse.TV show The Horse Show, where the entire conversation can be seen, Ward describes where he stands after a difficult year: „I don’t want to complain because I live a very blessed life. But I find myself actually at this moment in time incredibly motivated for a variety of reasons and at the same time with the experience to be quietly confident. It’s a nice place to be mentally and competitively.“
The new episode here