During the 5* Show Jumping competition in La Baule, France, Equnews France sat down with one of the most successful riders in the world, Kevin Staut. This talented French rider became the European Champion in 2009 before winning team silver in Kentucky (WEG) in 2010 and in Madrid (EC) in 2011. He was World no. 1 for ten consecutive months and has not let the world's top 12 in over three years. In this interview he talks about his horses, his system and the new proposals by the FEI
Can you tell us about your current string of horses ?
"I have plenty of experienced horses: Silvana * HDC , who I have had for a long time, Reveur de Hurtebise * HDC who participated in the World Equestrian Games last year and Estoy Aqui de Muze * HDC, who has participated in several Nations Cups. Behind these, I have some lesser experienced horses like Ayade de Septon * HDC , who completed her first Nations Cup in Lummen early May. She is 9 years old so she is in a somewhat transitional age. I also have a mare Armand and Emmanuelle Perron-Pette just bought, Elky van het Indihof * HDC, who is very promising. Horses like Quismy des Vaux * HDC or Sunday Top HDC* are very useful for intermediate events. Estoy was injured during the training session prior to the World Cup Final so he is recovering and will resume work within two weeks.
Regarding For Joy van't Zorgvliet * HDC, he has been out for a long time because his injury required a lot of care and attention, he needed a lot of time to recover and to relax. He will go to Deauville next week (May 23 and 24) but he has a long road ahead of him so it will probably take two or three months to see him at his best. For the European Championships, I want to keep both Reveur and Ayade in contention so they will go to the Rolex Grand Slam of Aachen (30-31 May ) to become familiar with the arena. Both horses will then continue to do the Nations Cups, at least in St. Gallen and Rotterdam. I will also continue to bring Elky to the 5* shows, we are lucky enough to have so many top shows to go to. Qurack de Falaise * HDC is a horse that really has great potential, he's a bit of a surprise at this level and he needs to continue to evolve yet. I think it will be a little early for the European Championships for him but he is continuing to gain experience so why not give him a chance next year. With everything that can happen in a horse's career, and subsequently its rider's, it is important to have several rides for major competitions, luckily I have that chance because of my owners.
[caption id="attachment_74656" align="aligncenter" width="666"]
Ayade de Septon HDC[/caption]
How would you describe your system?
For a long time I tried to focus on a system that was essentially for high-level sport. In our sport as a business, we can do so many activities like producing young horses, coaching, buying and selling, etc. For my part, I always tried to focus on the top-level sport side, organizing partners, owners and sponsors. Now that we are fairly united with Emmanuele and Armand Perron-Pette, who as owners fully capitalize on the sport with one association, Jump Five, we get to expand our business with people like Frank Schillewaert, who will focus primarily on coaching and the training of young horses, Delphine Perez who will take care of locating and buying / selling horses and Patrice Delaveau and, who focus on the sport. It is very important for us all to work together to allow this association to take shape, this solidarity allows us to be more efficient.
The choice of new horses: The sharing of expertise, exchange between different riders is precisely in this case. It should already target the type of horse that will suit the high level. The sport has evolved very quickly, you have strong horses, blood horses, but strength and abilities are not the only quality required which makes the process of finding good young horses quite difficult. For horses with a bit more experience it can be judged based on its results. Once we spot some horses, what we are trying to establish is if the owners can entrust them with us for a while so we can try them out in different competition scenarios. For example with Elky, others may have sold him by now but I think either way it's a win-win for both parties.
[caption id="attachment_74657" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
Elky[/caption]
Coaching: Regarding students I think I would not be where I am if I had been alone, but now that I am really well supported, I train some students that I am able to follow three days a week. There is always someone there that has an interesting dynamic and I think it is good that one gets to work on a bit of everything because everyone has their own specialty and everyone gets to take over when there is a lack of time or if someone is away. This is a system that is attractive enough for potential customers whether for coaching, trading, horse training etc. Normally we manage to cover almost all areas equally and offer them in the highest quality.
[caption id="attachment_74660" align="aligncenter" width="660"]
Silvana HDC[/caption]
The team: I have someone in the office that handles all logistics, someone who takes care of all the media/ communications and I have six people who work in the stables with the horses: two competition grooms because the competition schedule is so hectic that I must have hard working people who are motivated at all the shows, the staff at home manage to maintain the horses when I'm away, which is very important. Each person has his/her special qualities and it's really important to have the best people in those positions.
[caption id="attachment_74658" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
Emmanuel Perron-Pette and Laurence Gazel, two important people in Staut's career[/caption]
There is now a new President of the FEI and a Sport Forum was held there recently, what is your view on the new advanced ideas?
The Nations Cups and Championships that have three riders per team to globalize our sport: I am against. That one can open up the sport for when teams are level, as has already been done with Qatar for example.The level of competition that you need to be able to participate in a championship like the Olympics is quite simple, just make it eight faults or less in a 1.50m so it is accessible. If you want to open up the sport care must be taken to keep the selection criteria to a strict minimum. The advantage of four riders on a team event is to have a discount score and that is what makes it interesting, it is part of the history of a Nations Cup plus it gives a lot of suspense. Most riders are rather against the idea of the three rider idea for a Nations Cup ...
Another idea that is being debated is to try to stop the "wild card" system. We know that the world ranking is really important and some people would like to control this system. The difficult aspect is knowing how many people are actually being invited ... I think it's very difficult to manage that, for a long time the FEI have tried to control the number of wild cards which is good so that the sport remains open to everyone and it is not reserved for people who are able to pay, but now there is still work to be done on how to get there. For Championships, I think it's good to have different formulas. The Olympic Games are the Olympic Games, it has a final where you start on zero on the final day over two rounds and in my opinion it is essential that it remains specific to the Olympic Games. Championships that span over a week like the WEG and European Championships do very well. For us, the Olympics are very important and I think we should leave this event aside. For me, today, we don't need to change everything, but just improve on what already exists. We already have a very strong base including the Nations Cups that are now evolving well with a Final in Barcelona; it's a circuit that appeals to everyone.
Finally, who is the rider who has impressed you the most in your career?
There are many because I watch a lot of the other riders, I think of Marcus Ehning for technicality and aesthetics, Scott Brash for simplicity of riding and regularity, or to Ludger Beerbaum for putting together a strong system. I really try to look at all the riders to draw inspiration from their strengths. Our sport is changing so fast that we must continue to watch and learn from what works really well with others and try to adapt other ideas into our own system."
During the 5* Show Jumping competition in La Baule, France, Equnews France sat down with one of the most successful riders in the world, Kevin Staut. This talented French rider became the European Champion in 2009 before winning team silver in Kentucky (WEG) in 2010 and in Madrid (EC) in 2011. He was World no. 1 for ten consecutive months and has not let the world's top 12 in over three years. In this interview he talks about his horses, his system and the new proposals by the FEI
Can you tell us about your current string of horses ?
"I have plenty of experienced horses: Silvana * HDC , who I have had for a long time, Reveur de Hurtebise * HDC who participated in the World Equestrian Games last year and Estoy Aqui de Muze * HDC, who has participated in several Nations Cups. Behind these, I have some lesser experienced horses like Ayade de Septon * HDC , who completed her first Nations Cup in Lummen early May. She is 9 years old so she is in a somewhat transitional age. I also have a mare Armand and Emmanuelle Perron-Pette just bought, Elky van het Indihof * HDC, who is very promising. Horses like Quismy des Vaux * HDC or Sunday Top HDC* are very useful for intermediate events. Estoy was injured during the training session prior to the World Cup Final so he is recovering and will resume work within two weeks.
Regarding For Joy van't Zorgvliet * HDC, he has been out for a long time because his injury required a lot of care and attention, he needed a lot of time to recover and to relax. He will go to Deauville next week (May 23 and 24) but he has a long road ahead of him so it will probably take two or three months to see him at his best. For the European Championships, I want to keep both Reveur and Ayade in contention so they will go to the Rolex Grand Slam of Aachen (30-31 May ) to become familiar with the arena. Both horses will then continue to do the Nations Cups, at least in St. Gallen and Rotterdam. I will also continue to bring Elky to the 5* shows, we are lucky enough to have so many top shows to go to. Qurack de Falaise * HDC is a horse that really has great potential, he's a bit of a surprise at this level and he needs to continue to evolve yet. I think it will be a little early for the European Championships for him but he is continuing to gain experience so why not give him a chance next year. With everything that can happen in a horse's career, and subsequently its rider's, it is important to have several rides for major competitions, luckily I have that chance because of my owners.
[caption id="attachment_74656" align="aligncenter" width="666"] Ayade de Septon HDC[/caption]
How would you describe your system?
For a long time I tried to focus on a system that was essentially for high-level sport. In our sport as a business, we can do so many activities like producing young horses, coaching, buying and selling, etc. For my part, I always tried to focus on the top-level sport side, organizing partners, owners and sponsors. Now that we are fairly united with Emmanuele and Armand Perron-Pette, who as owners fully capitalize on the sport with one association, Jump Five, we get to expand our business with people like Frank Schillewaert, who will focus primarily on coaching and the training of young horses, Delphine Perez who will take care of locating and buying / selling horses and Patrice Delaveau and, who focus on the sport. It is very important for us all to work together to allow this association to take shape, this solidarity allows us to be more efficient.
The choice of new horses: The sharing of expertise, exchange between different riders is precisely in this case. It should already target the type of horse that will suit the high level. The sport has evolved very quickly, you have strong horses, blood horses, but strength and abilities are not the only quality required which makes the process of finding good young horses quite difficult. For horses with a bit more experience it can be judged based on its results. Once we spot some horses, what we are trying to establish is if the owners can entrust them with us for a while so we can try them out in different competition scenarios. For example with Elky, others may have sold him by now but I think either way it's a win-win for both parties.
[caption id="attachment_74657" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Elky[/caption]
Coaching: Regarding students I think I would not be where I am if I had been alone, but now that I am really well supported, I train some students that I am able to follow three days a week. There is always someone there that has an interesting dynamic and I think it is good that one gets to work on a bit of everything because everyone has their own specialty and everyone gets to take over when there is a lack of time or if someone is away. This is a system that is attractive enough for potential customers whether for coaching, trading, horse training etc. Normally we manage to cover almost all areas equally and offer them in the highest quality.
[caption id="attachment_74660" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Silvana HDC[/caption]
The team: I have someone in the office that handles all logistics, someone who takes care of all the media/ communications and I have six people who work in the stables with the horses: two competition grooms because the competition schedule is so hectic that I must have hard working people who are motivated at all the shows, the staff at home manage to maintain the horses when I'm away, which is very important. Each person has his/her special qualities and it's really important to have the best people in those positions.
[caption id="attachment_74658" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Emmanuel Perron-Pette and Laurence Gazel, two important people in Staut's career[/caption]
There is now a new President of the FEI and a Sport Forum was held there recently, what is your view on the new advanced ideas?
The Nations Cups and Championships that have three riders per team to globalize our sport: I am against. That one can open up the sport for when teams are level, as has already been done with Qatar for example.The level of competition that you need to be able to participate in a championship like the Olympics is quite simple, just make it eight faults or less in a 1.50m so it is accessible. If you want to open up the sport care must be taken to keep the selection criteria to a strict minimum. The advantage of four riders on a team event is to have a discount score and that is what makes it interesting, it is part of the history of a Nations Cup plus it gives a lot of suspense. Most riders are rather against the idea of the three rider idea for a Nations Cup ...
Another idea that is being debated is to try to stop the "wild card" system. We know that the world ranking is really important and some people would like to control this system. The difficult aspect is knowing how many people are actually being invited ... I think it's very difficult to manage that, for a long time the FEI have tried to control the number of wild cards which is good so that the sport remains open to everyone and it is not reserved for people who are able to pay, but now there is still work to be done on how to get there. For Championships, I think it's good to have different formulas. The Olympic Games are the Olympic Games, it has a final where you start on zero on the final day over two rounds and in my opinion it is essential that it remains specific to the Olympic Games. Championships that span over a week like the WEG and European Championships do very well. For us, the Olympics are very important and I think we should leave this event aside. For me, today, we don't need to change everything, but just improve on what already exists. We already have a very strong base including the Nations Cups that are now evolving well with a Final in Barcelona; it's a circuit that appeals to everyone.
Finally, who is the rider who has impressed you the most in your career?
There are many because I watch a lot of the other riders, I think of Marcus Ehning for technicality and aesthetics, Scott Brash for simplicity of riding and regularity, or to Ludger Beerbaum for putting together a strong system. I really try to look at all the riders to draw inspiration from their strengths. Our sport is changing so fast that we must continue to watch and learn from what works really well with others and try to adapt other ideas into our own system."