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Malan in the Press Parade Magazine Article
Malan in the Press Parade Magazine Article | Article for Parade Magazine |
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It was with extreme excitement that I watched Pocket Power going into the starting stalls for the 2008 J & B Met. I knew he was the favourite and probably hard to beat. It was however still the greatest of privilege to see him coming through the field making the honours his own. The second horse in the history of racing in SA that could do it twice in a row after Politician in 1978 and 1979 but the first one winning the Queen’s Plate and the J & B Met in one year. I can remember the commentator’s words very clearly: “and here comes the champion, walking through the field!” When congratulating Mike Bass and Mae Shirtliff later that night their words was, “take note, this horse can run’’. It was only in 1992 when a horse called Zarp (which I bought for endurance riding purposes) sparked my real interest in horse behaviour and changed my life forever. This poor horse had numerous behavioural issues. I started asking questions that had to be answered. Why was he like that? Was he just a stupid animal or were there certain behavioural factors that caused him to act the way he was. What is a horse in essence and what can science tell us about their behaviour. And the most important one: how can I communicate a message to him that he would understand and would cause him to think and act in an acceptable way. I embarked on a program of research, reading as many books on horse behaviour I could get hold of and watching videos from world renowned horse behaviourists even into the wee hours of the night. And so I started to develop an inner sense, something I believe that was always latent in me, to communicate with horses on a level they could understand, grasping what is expected of them in a human environment. Gradually my life started changing. More and more I started “preaching” to horses instead of human beings! This was still a far cry from working with racehorses. Most people get accepted into the racing environment because of their dad’s, mom’s or some or other friends involvement. I was a complete outsider. Despite numerous successes with problem horses in the sport horse environment I was regarded in racing circles as a bit of a freak using methods and techniques that would not work. I still have very fresh memories of my first race horse, a horse with the name of “Big Appetite”. It was just by fluke that his trainers, while they saw me working with a Cape Hunt and Polo horse, asked me to work with him. Well, they could not lose anything as he was perceived as an unloadable horse. I can remember the spectators making jokes and laughing about what I was doing. Some of them still repeated the well known saying: “you cannot teach an old horse new tricks.” Two months after that he resumed his racing career coming second. “Big Appetite” also taught me a very valuable lesson. There is the saying: “horses keep you humble”. A month after his resuming his racing career he was again suspended, at Kenilworth. I will never forget the day. If I could have vanished into the grass of Kenilworth I would have done that with ease. I learned through that experience never to boast about your achievements. On top of that I forgot the most valuable principle that science teaches in animal behaviour: “practice makes perfect”. Behaviour is improved through repetition. I learned the hard way. After a suspension of six months he again resumed his career, unfortunately never able to win but always going into the stalls and running a good race. I never had the opportunity to attend any equestrian school or college. This could have been a drawback but it benefitted me in a very peculiar way. I had to learn through trial and error and by learning through my mistakes I picked up the valuable experience that is needed to make a success of the work I am doing today. It is this experience that is of extreme value for each trainer I am working for and of benefit for each horse I am working with. Over the years I have been privileged to be of service to many trainers and their horses. I can remember my humble beginnings with a horse called George (his racing name was Soul in Flight), trained by Erica Beck. After him there was Malinga a ten time winner and recently Personal Fantasy. A difficult horse with lots of talent which has already won five races. There was Technique, a well known long distance horse trained by Steven Page. The first horse I worked for Joey Ramsden was a filly called Suncluster. She was send down to Cape Town for starting stall training. Very soon Joey asked me to break in all his youngsters. First at Millinium Stud and for the past seven years at Arc en Ciel. I have worked with many of his winners but one I will always remember is Winter Solstice. A winner of numerous Grade 1 races. Very soon Mike Bass asked me to break in all his youngsters, also at Arc en Ciel, and to re train his problem horses. I remember Accelerate, a dark bay gelding trained by Dean Kannemeyer and later exported to Mauritius. After numerous accidents in and around the stalls he started his racing career with three consecutive wins. And then there was Dynasty owned by Fieldspring racing and now standing at stud. He was a strong, gutsy and powerful racehorse. He had loading issues and it was my responsibility to re train him in the stalls. Apart from being a winner of Grade 1 races he also won the prestigious Durban July in that year. I will never forget Empress Caress. A very talented but sensitive Jallad colt trained by Glen Kotzen. One of the first horses in Cape Town to be loaded into the starting stalls with the Monty Roberts Blanket. Over the past couple of years I also became involved in the yard of Basil Marcus, helping the ones that have problems and also doing all the starting stall training of the youngsters. My journey with Jay Pegg, now running in Dubai, was an unforgettable experience. Lucky Boy, trained by James Lighthart was a serious challenge. Over the past years I have been invited to work at different racing centres with most horses winning soon after I have finished working with them. One of them, a Mike Azzie trained filly with the name of Mochachino, has won again In Johannesburg just a few weeks ago. In the beginning of 2007 Sean Tarry asked me to work with and prepare a filly, Miss Dillan, in Argentina to be flown back to South Africa. This you can read about elsewhere in this magazine or it is a story for another time. Well, now that you know a little about me, my work and where I am coming from it probably is time to tell you what this column is going to be about. In future issues I am going to address (die regte woord?) certain behavioural and psychological issues that might have an influence on a race horse’s behaviour and performance. Questions like: what is a horse in essence? Can a horse think or is it just an instinctive animal? How do they learn and how clever are they? Does the breaking in process makes any difference to a horse’s performance? Can a horse under control perform better than an uncontrolled one? Etc. In the process we might just uncover a couple of myths. So, watch this space! Cheers Malan |
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Language of the Equus
"I believe it is necessary to get the horses co-operation. I do that by speaking to them in the type of body language that they can understand - the language they use to speak to each other in nature," - Malan du Toit.This weeks favourite
"It’s about creating opportunities for people to relate to each other; to join-up, to build relationships based on trust and respect, knowing the importance of body language, especially… and having a lot of patience," - Malan du Toit.
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