Carl Hester's friend and protege: Vanessa Way

Honest, passionate and generous. These are words that apply to both Vanessa Way and her trainer, friend and mentor Carl Hester. Vanessa’s enthusiasm is infectious. She’s driven and focused…and was kind enough to give me an interview a few months ago at the Sydney CDI. Vanessa is a star of the NZ dressage world having come back from a very nasty rotational fall back in her eventing days. Since then she’s really focused on her dressage and has undertaken many stints with Carl in the UK. She talks about training programmes, the key to handling sharp, young horses, the importance of The Training Scale and getting horses’ backs up and lifted. She still believes the bridle is quite misunderstood and as riders we must work harder for lightness of contact. And people…FIX YOUR HANDS…and give yourself time!!! So…what’s it like to ride Nip Tuck and Valegro and what’s it really like to train with Carl and Charlotte?! Link to transcribed interview: http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2018/05/what-is-it-like-to-ride-valegro-an-interview-with-vanessa-way/