Educating yearlings in Australia

[Music] [Music] holes are born here in the race for about six months to spend six months with their mum and then they they get Wayne's mom sort of heads off and spends time with it with the other and once and that Falls get weaned the Falls come across this part of the farm and it's a bit like on the high school so they wrote an entire high school of six months of age and installed the next six months just hanging around the paddocks with their with their friends and then you know get to December of their yearling year and that's when we've looked at them we look at them put them into groups of yearlings we work out who we think need to be broken in early in their normally the more precocious ones and their pedigree indicates that they're the ones that are going to race as two-year-olds and then that'll happen in January so this is a call we're pretty excited about for next year he's got a lovely head on him he's got a great gel through here you know a big strong gel and you know strong neck great that great angle on the shoulder true here and a lovely big strong for our quite a big strong forum here and the great thing then is got a lovely get Garrett's eyes here which is normally addictive of a sort of holding quite a big heart and that's sort of important to keep the blood flow going through and it also normally pretty sort of genuine to the husband so they've been with us for 18 months and assist another education and it's part of the process and just getting them ready to go into the racing stables the whole idea is that they don't get you know upset by anything it's all just a natural progression from the paddock to be broken in to the racing servers in the Sydney our whole process is just to give them all the same opportunity and that sometimes you just need them given that little bit extra time just to get it [Music] my name's Scott Hills I'm gonna breaking your manager at Godolphin I've been in this role for the past 13 years and I've overseen the breaking of 35,000 horses [Music] this season we breaking in about 146 yearlings so today is day three the program for the first week is basically just get the horses settled into the routine they'll head to the rolls first thing in the morning one by one it's a lot of lot of desensitizing a lot of repetition accepting the bridle roller and then saddle there's different ways we go about it but the difference is the minor between breakers the word breaking is it's pretty old-school it's not actually breaking anymore you're not breaking horse the word is actually education all we're doing is educating it's just like sending your kids to school you know you're not there to break their spirit you hit that educate them and that's exactly what we're doing all all in different stages throughout their life it's all about just remembering there is different as every human being and then some take more time santé less time so the ones that are more nervous they'll get that extra day that extra work that extra month it makes absolutely no difference to us the speed that we get them in we're up here at Godolphin kelvin side in the Hunter Valley this is where all the education of Sheikh Mohammed's Australian racehorses takes place what we do here at Kelvin site during their education will not only help them during their racing life but we also try and make it so it has a long-lasting effect so they have pleasurable life after racing whether it be in dressage or showjumping or just as a pleasure this is FC synthesizing him not everybody doesn't have people do it in a lot of different ways I like to do it this way because it's me to controls how much pressure goes on and often the idea is if he moves I'll keep the bag on him and if he doesn't when he stops I'll take it away let's just pressure release so this filly is just got the roller in the side reins on the mouthing gear so this is to teach you to how to carry a heed when she's running I'm how to have a bit new mouth and how to have someone moving the button or mouth so we just start off with them quite loose and gradually make them tighter until that tight enough as if her Ida would be holding the reins on their back with with the halter doing a few little things like this helps them just to be that little bit softer yeah that's why I do that this is this is a few things the reason I do this one is it's just also desensitizing like it's a weird thing that's kind of touching its bum and and they commonly don't like it for starters and so you sort of really pushing it into it when they first start doing it they sort of commonly struggle and so I'm like no I'm asking for that deflection and then and then I step away and I want them to move so it what it does is it makes them softer for when you get on their back so they don't just turn and their next a stiff as a board they like give to you and then turn so and between changing directions I like to give them a good pet and a bang all over just to desensitize them a bit for when I've got someone on top of them moving around makes it a bit easier when you ride them for the first day some others are more relaxed and the more relaxed horses progress a bit quicker because they're more comfortable with what you're doing um if they're a little bit more nervous a little bit more hot to you for a minute then you sort of take everything just a step slower just put a little bit less pressure on them until they're ready to cope with more pressure any good horse person will pick it up just working with horses daily and it's all it's it's just hello their appearance to you yet they're very easy to read mostly through a head carriage like obviously a horse with a sieve is back is unhappy you you just want that horse especially if you're doing something with the berries or the gear on for the first time just to drop its head you know and have a chill on the bit and that's them saying that I'm great with everything and I'm happy [Music] the biggest challenges of breaking probably having a lot of patience every now and then you get a horse that's really just pushing your buttons and things aren't going the way you want it to go the horse doesn't know what's going on because it's never done any of this before basically you just can't lose your patience with them because they don't know what's going on so it doesn't solve any problems but you just have to sort of work with what you've got and try and get the best out of them so that they're you know safe and comfortable and can turn into racehorses [Music] [Music] we're on the eighth day having the horses in now everything's been well under saddle for the past majority of them for the past three days [Music] the stage right now is they're just going straight to the role doing a couple of laps of lunging and then straight on them thank you so at the moment all we're really trying to teach you to do is how to move forward off your leg and how to stop and stare and just be comfortable with a rider on a bet they're pretty fast learners especially at this age I only give them sort of two maybe three rides in the round yard before I move them out to the arena which is just a bigger area I've been stuck in the round yard for over a week which as you can imagine look at these black walls here it's pretty boring pretty quickly [Music] half of them of progress to be out here in the arena and it just gives them a little bit more a little bit more freedom and you can get them starting out just a little bit better and this just gets him to focus on different things and you can sort of work out a horse's personality a little bit more before they hit the track so straight away she's more fooled out here happier to trot it out and she's actually enjoying it too can see from areas that pricked she's not scared it tails nice and loose and relaxed so for this stage she's doing everything really well and I'll pop her in Detroit and we'll just keep repeating the things that we've been doing in the round yard and a big open area thank you [Music] quite hard work for them in here this sounds quite deep they get tied quite quickly so you never wanna overdo it and push them too far we're not tired they just don't have the mentality at this age to cope with too much hard work so cuz she's doing everything right kind of give her a little can turn here thank you obviously only back muscles a week she's going to carry weight on your back and they get quite unbalanced very easily so the trick is to do lots of smaller Cantor's not tire out she'll gradually find her legs and get it balanced properly any decent Horseman will learn it it's just the horses hold composure that's just like raising kids yes it's exactly the same they're just as different as we are and you know you can see this horse now she's just putting the head down and she's having to chew she's probably a little bit tired but she's also happy considering that she's you know she is only a baby it's the first time in there in the arena she's away from any other halls she's just accepted that frigid sauna and she's definitely going the right direction [Music] so when I'm rewarding here right from the very first day that I start working them they always get told to stand and then when they stand they get a really big pet it's just really calming for them and they eventually get to learn that that's a good thing we're now being petted everything around them stops it's quiet nothing's fast or rushing radio so on your way home I will take her over and walk you through the practice barriers so this will be your first time going through with a rider on your back [Music] we just like to get them used to walking into a confined space but it's not as challenging as the official starting gates obviously it's a bit wider there's less going on it's nice and quiet it's no footsteps on the sides so we can scrape off the wooden edges I like to make a bit of noise in here just kind of simulate what they may experience down at the actual starting gates the main thing is that they walk straight in and stand here in their relaxed it's a pretty important step of their breaking in because horses that perhaps can't jump out of the gates properly and can't behave in the barriers can to actually get banned from racing which is pretty happy with that so we'll just leave her on a good note just done everything right today she's pretty tired take your home and tidy up [Music] you [Music] these babies that we have in now this is their towards the end of the third week so their first jump out today they'll splash pools at this afternoon while the end of their fourth way they've had three jump outs three swims the end of the fourth week then they'll progress to Sydney and then I try and all just assess how they cope how they look and they'll go back to the paddock for using anywhere between three to six weeks one two three [Music] the last few days that been on the track and just walking in the gates this is their first jump out race day they've got to stay in sometimes minutes so the more jump out to do they do the longer we'll leave them in here if we if we if we just put them in and jump out I'll expect next time just to go in and jump out and not stand so the more relaxed we can get on the better at the barriers especially the first time we just wanted to walk down here calmly walk in close them up behind when they're happy let them feel the back gates then just give them a little bit of a wave in front until they're happy we just want to understand they're as quiet as possible and and just be relaxed and make it and make everything a good experience good luck so all we need them to do the first jump out is just behave really and it doesn't matter how they fall out whether they walk out trot out or counter off as long as they're relaxed and the lead pony will just jump out with them and just get them past the gut it's gonna come out of you nice and easy and this work along and that was pretty good you like that good jump out pony hockenheim his role is to come down to the gate and he'll stand in the side of the gate when they open he will set the pace you'll go with the first horse and get him across the gap and what this does it just gives gives the babies a bit of security with a relaxed horse around them he just switches on a noisy strobe and he's if we have one that's very unsettled in the gates he just he's so calm and then like any comforts the babies he's quite Accardi he's so relaxed it even on a jump that morning a 40-ton 2x 45-degree Hey here we'll come back down in between every jump it up they'll actually close his eyes and fall asleep and the gates we the reason half these horses are so good in the barriers [Music] the old school of breakin is long gone you know it's it's been moved on especially with with good olfin nothing we do especially high pressure areas like the barriers and swimming it's nothing that we want to make the horse do it's about getting the horse to want to do it [Music] it's a lot safe away for the horse and rider and you get such a better a better result [Music] you you [Music] this pole at Calvin side is built specifically to educate babies so you've got the whole the whole splash pool everything can be closed up so no horse can ever get away from us everything's non-slip it's all the walls are rather that we use in that in the Crushers the the pools 2.4 meters deep and 48 meters from end to end saltwater chlorinated it's just built just just for babies [Music] come on hey hey any rain just stay there so because it'll go back in the other I don't mind I'm having a bit of a play if it makes them happy so it's half that initial not just the water but the walk down so he should be good now so I'll go out back in and then I'll do a little up the only reason we have someone behind them with the wit is if they do try and go backwards too much it's more or less just a barrier we find that trying to do the splash pool and going in the big pool in one day's too much for them second time through they always get a bit a look at the big pool without actually being faced with it fellow when they do come down Friday morning they seen the big ball ready it hasn't hurt them so they're they're quite easy to get in [Music] any of the babies that a little bit scared or reluctant to come in we just take as much time as they need any that don't want to go straight it in the water will will get them in and we'll repeat it several times so all we want them to do now walking calmly just put a clip on each side and the guys on the side will just keep him in the middle of the pool and keep his head nice and low you'll just swim up one lap [Music] just so they're just mostly they they don't start climbing which is a bit of a problem then loop the guys on the leads and they drink their head down some don't pick it up straightaway that one once I have two or three swims it's it's pretty natural for them pretty much the same as everything we do we try and make it as less stressful as possible some horses just take taught natural and others others are quite scared that they get over it get over it very quickly [Music] [Music] watching those horses and thinking how they've come from from the first day they'll here to the last day the here it's it's like sending the kids off to school for the first time it's it's a really good feeling and you know in saying that for credit possibility of guys that are doing the braking job you know you're only as good as the people that are around you so you know they deserve a lot of mirror [Music]

Channel: Godolphin

Views: 106,931

Rating: 4.7947726 out of 5

Keywords: Godolphin, Horseracing, Horse, Team Godolphin, Dubai, Racing

Id: orV-Q_sJLYE

Length: 22min 29sec (1349 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 17 2018