Jay on Brer Fox (All pictures of Jay used with his kind permission)
Whether you lean towards eventing, show-jumping, dressage, or planking (!), or if you just like twitter to entertain you, @JayTigerHalim should be the very next person you follow if you don’t already. Jay has competed to Grand Prix level in show-jumping, and three star level in eventing, both successfully, and is himself still undecided as to how he would pigeonhole himself if forced to, “I’m on the fence, but eventing probably. At this moment though, as long as I could be successful and have a string of horses I’d be happy in either discipline.” The Tiger in his tweets comes from best dressage friend Laura Bechtolsheimer who teased him one day, “Hello Tiger!”, and it became ‘a thing’ and is now”probably here to stay for a while”.
Jay’s History
An Essex boy, Jay grew up with completely non-horsey parents and frequented the local riding school, cleaning tack and mucking out in exchange for lessons,
“Right from a young age I’ve always been able to get on any horse and get a tune out of it because I’ve had to, and it progressed from there. My parents did their absolute best, my mum got an evening job stacking shelves, but as you know with horses it’s never enough. I did jumping because I thought eventing was for people who weren’t talented enough to show-jump, which is slightly ironic!”
His parents, although of course proud of their son, are still none the wiser as to exactly what he does, “My parents are proud of me, but they don’t really understand what it’s all about. They wouldn’t know one end of a horse from another, the first event they ever came to was Blenheim, and they were most impressed by how good the shops were! They didn’t really comprehend why I had to go and walk the course, or go to a rider briefing, or why I couldn’t spend much time with them. The next event they came to I was doing novice at Goring Heath, and they were very disappointed by the tradestands in comparison! I think they expected it to be like Blenheim every week, and that was the last event they came to!”
Now his talent for producing horses is something of a blessing and a curse as it enables him to make a living doing what he loves, but circumstances have also dictated that horses that he perhaps could have kept and might have made his riding career instead had to be sold, “One thing I’ve learnt with horses is that generally your first offer is normally your best offer so I try and stick to that. For someone so young I’ve been lucky enough to have some quite nice horses through my yard. I produced Kilfinnie, and he was an amazing horse, he should have been five star! It took me such a long time to get over losing the ride on him. I literally felt like somebody had ripped my heart out of my chest, he was my everything, he was everything to me and I loved him so much.”
Before running his own yard, Jay worked for show-jumpers Graham and Tina Fletcher, so when he spotted Hello Sailor who went on to represent Great Britain in show-jumping, he didn’t think twice before calling Tina, “I rang Tina and told her I’d got a horse that was better than anything we’d ever had in the five years I was based there, he’s phenomenal, he’s unreal,and that’s how it happened really; I went and saw Sailor in a local dealing yard and I just knew he was unbelievable. You could tell straightaway how amazing he was. I only did a few shows with him because I was eventing and I’d bought him on behalf of a client. I’ve sold a few others too. When I was at Graham and Tina’s I produced a grey horse that David O’Connor bought, Walk to the Moon, and a chestnut horse I backed and started that Phillip Dutton bought.”
Jay also recently sold Brer Fox to Ronald Zabala-Goestchel, 6th in the CIC*** at Poplar Place in February together.
Jay’s Philosophy
For a young man, (he’ll turn 30 this year) Jay is incredibly strict about the management of his horses, adamantly so which may have hurt him professionally but you have to admire his principles, “Everything I do with my owners is because I want the horse to be at it’s best, and I’m quite strong in my belief in the way that I want to manage the horses. I’ve ridden a lot of naughty horses, and I’ve had to get on and be quite tough with them, and I’m now completely the opposite because I’ve learnt the lesson that generally if they can’t or won’t do something it’s because they’re not right. Now in my management I’d like to say that I’m so ultra-fussy with soundness, because I do believe that if a horse is sound and pain-free it will do as required if it has the ability to do so. I think the British are maybe getting a little bit behind with their management in regards to soundness, and hence why most of them don’t do a very good test, but quite a lot of people still at the top end of the sport are a little bit backwards when it comes to medication and so on. It’s like any other top athlete, they would have the best physio, the best doctor, the best of everything and I think that’s the way you’ve got to go with the horses now.”
Jay jumping in the Grand Prix at Hickstead
Jay’s Training
Jay is equally strict with himself; he relies on technology, and a little help to constantly monitor his jumping technique, “I video most things I do. We have the Ipad so if I’m lucky enough to have a groom that day I’ll get the groom or even the collecting ring steward to video me. I do a lot of self-analysis. I’m really critical and I know that I have weaknesses in my riding, and on a daily basis I’m trying to improve them. Apart from the jumpers doing less gallops, I work my event horses and my jumpers just the same – the jumpers do a little interval training, one of my little jumpers can do a line of fours, threes and twos (tempi changes), I can ride canter pirouettes with him, I can do a half-pass for an 8 on him, I spend a lot of time working my jumping boys on the flat, I do a lot of riding round the farm and hacking. It’s really interesting, the fitter I’ve got my best jumping horse the better he’s jumping.” and Jay trains on the flat with his partner, Grand Prix Dressage rider Spencer Wilton, “Spencer helps me on the flat, he’s amazing, he would be one of my biggest inspirations with the riding and the horses. He’s so incredibly talented, of all the disciplines of riders that I’ve been lucky enough to be around or work with or see in the collecting rings, he is an amazing horseman. His approach to management of the horses, the way he produces them, he’s a huge part of my life and it does help when you watch somebody like him – he’ll spend three months trotting on a 20 metre circle until that foundation is completely imprinted on the horse’s brain and body, and when I was eventing and doing a three star test and needed to do a flying change, I wouldn’t be doing a flying change before that event, I’d be trotting circles and having my horse in balance and self-carriage – he would tell me he couldn’t teach me flying changes if I couldn’t even canter a circle properly! The foundations to him are everything, and he’s taught me that from watching him and working alongside him, he’s pretty amazing.”
Jay on Millenium Mission at the Gatcombe CIC*** World Cup Qualifier 2009
What Jay looks for in a horse, and how he makes a star
The fact that Jay has produced so many top class horses in all disciplines ( a WEG bound, Nations Cup winning show-jumper, a four star eventer, he’s breeding from the mare he won the four year old Burghley Young Event Horse Final on) makes asking him what he looks for in a horse a no-brainer, ” It’s shape. Conformation does mean an awful lot to me because I’m so fussy about the soundness. However, having said that the Brer Fox horse wouldn’t have had ideal conformation as a three year old, but he was such a sound tough horse that I never regretted buying him for a second so..! I like three good paces whether they’re jumpers or eventers. They’ve got to have a good walk. Just their expression. I’m not overly impressed by a horses loose-jumping and going ten foot high over a fence, that almost puts me off a little bit sometimes. You know when you get on them. I think had I not ridden so many horses from a young age, and at Graham’s I rode so many, then maybe I wouldn’t be so good at it. A horse’s natural balance. I always look for horses, all the time, and I’m so fussy that for example, I’ll go over to Belgium and Holland and look at 300 horses and not buy a single one.”
Once Jay does find his perfect horse, don’t expect to see it out at any events any time soon, but you may spot him out show-jumping, “”I’ve got a very nice 5 year old Master Imp Horse that I think will be quite nice; it looked really smart as a four year old, and now it looks very average, but I won’t even bother taking that to an event maybe this year. I’d rather it be going out and jumping up to 1 metre 20 foxhunter level than doing a pre-novice event because I think eventing people tend to take their horses cross country too soon, and they’re not developed enough or strong enough in their technique, and I think that’s why they then struggle to show-jump later. I’ve got a different theory – because I do a lot of jumping with mine I never really find that I have a problem cross country with them, and they’ll go cross country schooling at the beginning of the year once, and that will be it. I think you’re better off to spend their fifth year jumping them and letting them be strong and really comfortable in themelves and their technique before you start galloping them around 1 metre events. As long as they jump a ditch and go through water then I think they can do pretty much anything. I think lots of eventers spend too much time cross country schooling rather than teaching a horse to set up to a fence and be in balance.”
Adagio – A Success Story
“Adagio came to me as a naughty horse and I got him running and ended up winning a national show-jumping finals and qualified it for the Horse of the Year Show and did the National Dressage Championships with him. He was really naughty cross country but quite a lot of that was management issues; he’d been a bit sore on his feet and some other things, and I think one of the reasons I got him to go was I managed him correctly and I had a good relationship with him. I did Tattersalls with him last year, led the dressage, was one second inside the time cross country but sadly he didn’t pass the trot-up on sunday morning. William Fox-Pitt ended up winning the one,two and three star, and I was the one who was going to scupper his plans because there was no way on earth that horse was going to have a rail because I’d done a lot of jumping with him! William was very gracious and came up to me and told me he knew my horses was a clear round horse, and to be honest, I say that I’m unlucky, but really I’m lucky just to have been in the situation in the first place.”
Jay – the man, the myth, the Tiger
Jay and Spencer with glamour model and dressage rider Katie Price
Not shy about sharing his opinions, Jay is wonderful company even if it is, sadly for me, only via skype – amusing, entertaining, and a disarming mix of self-confidence and self-deprecating. Although he tells me doesn’t suffer from nerves as such, “Emotionally, I’m very in control of my emotions as in I don’t get nervous, I’m very brave and positive. I don’t ever really worry about anything, but I do sometimes have to have a little moment to myself, I sometimes get overwhelmed that I’m living out my ambitions. Last year I was third in the Grand Prix at Hickstead and that was one of my childhood dreams, I did have a litle cry afterwards. I still dream of things I want to accomplish. Hickstead was really special for me. I know that I’m capable of doing it, but I still have to pinch myself that I did it. I had one horse that I sold to America, he was a lovely horse but he wasn’t ever going to be a four star horse but I remember crying when he jumped clear round his first novice because I had such an amazing ride with him, it’s just those little moments that make everything worthwhile. At that time I’d already ridden round a three star, so a novice at a local event is nothing but those moments are so special, and I am a bit soppy!”
“Riding into the bowl at Gatcombe, I get tingles just talking about it, it’s one of my favourite events, and because it’s my local event too, it’s an amazing feeling”
With a growing breeding operation at his home base Jay admits he’s maturing and beginning to settle down somewhat, and then he laughs and takes another sip of vodka, and admits he still has some maturing left to do! Jay also has plenty of unfulfilled ambitions, “I’m so desperate to do it, even after more than 15 years, I’m still as desperate as I was then, I don’t know what it is but there’s just something inside of me that success is everything that I want. You change a lot as you get older and you mature, but I’m still so very, very hungry. I don’t want to just win one gold medal, I want to win three and prove that I can do it a few times over. I’m very driven.”
I’d like to thank Jay for his time, and wish him the very best of luck in the future; thank you for reading as always, Go Tiger, and Go Eventing!
