The Greenhorn Chronicles 46: Conversation with Beth Underhill on Longevity and Emotional Difficulties (2)

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2023/10/01

*Interview conducted December 22, 2022.* 

*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*

Abstract

Beth Underhill’s biographic sketch states: “Beth Underhill’s International Show Jumping career places her today as an impressive veteran of Pan American, Olympic and World Equestrian Games. Beth is one of Canada’s top coaches for junior/amateur riders through to Grand Prix athletes. Beth’s successful career and the knowledge she has gained allows her to guide, train and mentor both horse and rider from junior to world class competition level. Beth has a wealth of experience to share with students; as the Leading Woman Rider in the World in 1995, also the first woman to win the Canadian World Cup League as well as representing Canada in the Olympics and many Nations Cup Competitions across the world: Italy, Spain, Luxemberg, Germany, Equador, USA, Holland. Today Beth is still competing at the highest level and is a great asset to any rider who is looking for coaching from an extremely passionate equestrian. Beth is also successful in training riders and horses in the Hunter and Equitation divisions, guiding one of her students to win the CET Medal Finals at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Beth was also the leading trainer of the Ultimate Hunter Challenge and has twice been named Coach of the Year in Canada. Beth has acted as Chef d’Equipe for the North American Young Riders Team and oversaw the National Talent ID Program. Beth identifies up and coming talent for Canada’s future team riders. She is also a member of the High Performance Committee that selects our team riders for international and major games competitions. Canadian Grand Prix riders have elected Beth as their Grand Prix rider representative to the Jump Canada Board for the past 8 years as well as the FEI Competitions Approval Committee representing Canada. In October 2015 Beth was appointed Jump Canada’s Young Rider Development Program Advisor, a position she held until 2019. During Beths tenure with the team, Canada won an unprecedented number of medals. Including in 2017 when the Canadian Senior Young Riders team swept the podium individually, a feat that had never been done before.” Underhill discusses: longevity; Denmark; and emotional difficulties.

Keywords: Altair, Beth Underhill, Beth Underhill Stables, Canadians, emotional difficulties, Eric Lamaze, longevity, Monopoly, Nikka, Torrey Pines, under-25.

The Greenhorn Chronicles 46: Conversation with Beth Underhill on Longevity and Emotional Difficulties (2)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What do you attribute your longevity in the sport to?

Beth Underhill: Probably stubborn. We’re fortunate that our sport 1) aids men and women who can compete equally and 2) that you get better as you get older and more experienced because you can become technically more proficient. It’s a sport where the more experiences you have, the better you can apply those experiences to horses that come along. I would never want to do it if I didn’t feel I was still mentally brave and as physically strong as I needed to be. I wouldn’t just go unthinkingly forward if I thought it wasn’t the right thing to do. I mean, I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had situations and horses that have come along that have allowed me to continue and opportunities like what just happened with Torrey Pines and Eric the last year.

I’ve got a pretty good mindset in that I love what I do. I’m passionate about what I do. I enjoy every aspect of the sport, but I’ve always kept a healthy check with myself that you’re still good to do what you’re doing. Is this still something you feel that you’re still confident enough and still learning? And I think if you get to the point where you think, “I know it all, I’ve learned it all,” you’re done. I mean, I’ve always remained a student of this sport, stayed current in the sport, and always tried to stay connected with people throughout the industry to keep learning and stay part of it. I would say also giving back to the sport and being involved in different aspects has been important to me, whether that was starting the under-25 resurrecting. I should say the under-25 divisions and young riders and being the chef of that, whether it’s being involved on the board of directors of the Royal Winter Fair or the board of the High-Performance Committee; all those things have helped me to stay engaged and continue to meet new people, have fresh ideas, keep pushing the sport to be better in Canada and learning by being associated with people in Europe and being where you’re seeing the sport progress. 

Jacobsen: How did this connection with Eric give sort of a nice boost to your longevity as well?

Beth: Well. I didn’t have the horsepower a year ago to be able to stay at the Grand Prix level for sure. So Eric definitely and clearly gave me assistance that’s in my career. I’m forever grateful for that. 

Jacobsen: Okay, so with respect to Eric Lamaze, what has been sort of his contribution to this discipline, and how has this relationship with him, more recently, assisted in not only bringing about the second wind, as we’ve discussed before, but more sort of a passing of hands of skilled horses? 

Beth: I mean, I’ve known Eric since he first came to Ontario when he was quite young. Right from the beginning, it was apparent he was a hugely gifted and unusual individual. He had a very unique modern perspective on the sport. He was always willing to be very courageous in the things that he did, which I admired very much. I would say he built a business very quickly and was very strong. Obviously, he was very successful at the team level in those early days once he got his foot in the door. What I also found very brave was the fact that when he was still having a very successful, strong business in Ontario, he made the move to Europe. Just with the understanding, knowledge, that for him to be the best in the world as he went on to be, he needed to set his sights even higher.

I thought that was a very courageous thing to do, and I think not many people are comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone and taking on new challenges to the degree that he did. So, he’s someone that I always watched, and like I’ve mentioned already, I very much like to follow the path of what different people did because there are so many ways to be successful in this sport and so many things to learn from so many different people. I found Eric’s trajectory and the way he navigated the pathways through the sport really fascinating and courageous. We’d always had a strong friendship. I’ve ridden with him on the team as a young rider when he was just getting started and then all the way up to when he was at the top of his game. He was always someone who was very generous to everyone, particularly Canadians, with his knowledge. Like I said, he always had a different perspective. So, he was someone that you had to be very open to trying new things, but they often worked very, very well, and he had an uncanny knack for understanding horses and understanding how to create the best partnership in a horse.

He was someone that I was very close to as a friend and as a colleague, as many of my Canadian teammates have been. We’ve stayed in touch and connected over all these many years, and he helped me with various horses over the years whenever I needed help or advice. He was always very generous with that. Just over a year ago, I went to his place to look at some horses for his students, and he raised the topic of me being involved more in his business. I would say it’s something that he had approached me with once or twice over the last ten years, and it was never the right time for me because for various reasons: I established my own business, I wasn’t in a financial situation to just step away from the business that I created financially and just jump into a completely new endeavour. 

But last year, I kind of was in a position where I could maybe take a little bit more risk. We started solely; I took my business and my clients with me to Torrey Pines and was able to create a natural evolution from my business to more involvement with Torrey Pines and Eric. The timing was just right for both of us, I think. He’s given a lot to Canada as a rider, as a chef, and as a mentor for so many young people. His enthusiasm and passion for the sport I share, but he brings it to a whole other level, and I think it’s galvanized me in my later years in my career and also young people coming along. So, I think as Canadians, we have to be very grateful and thankful for what he’s given to the sport and his continuous speaking of someone who stays current and stays a student. I mean, he’s always prevalent on the scene, and he’s someone that has really made the sport and the horse life, his life work.

Jacobsen: Which horse do you feel in your own career has been the best partnership?

Beth: For myself?

Jacobsen: Yes.

Beth: I don’t think there would be one. I think different horses come to you at different times. Often times I’ve found they came to me, and it almost seems like fate. Oftentimes, when I tried to force a situation or said okay, I have a group of people or an individual that we can go do something, and you try and create that perfect storm where you find the right horse to do all the things you want them to be and do, it often doesn’t work out as well as when just that situation, those various people-horses situations come together to create a partnership. So, when I look at the horses that have been keyed in my career, like Monopoly, Altair, and Nikka, the horse I took to the World Championships, it all seemed to just be the perfect time where we found each other. Each horse has taught me many different things. Each horse has been an integral part of my career in my life, and I find that part of it fascinating how horses come together and how partnerships grow. So, each horse has a special place in my heart for sure over the years.

Jacobsen: What was on your mind going to Denmark this year?

Beth: Originally, Dieu Merci was the horse we had earmarked to be my world championship horse. He won La Baule; he jumped double clear in the Nations Cup of La Baule, and he jumped double clear with a one-time fault in the second round in Rome. He’s a horse that had the experience. Clearly, we had a very good partnership established. Unfortunately, he got injured, and actually, Eric had always thought of Nikka as a World Championship horse, which I absolutely agreed with, but as a nine-year-old, it wouldn’t be your natural consideration, and when I started with her this past year, she was still learning the ropes. She was still an inexperienced horse who was on a trajectory forward for sure and clearly had a massive amount of talent, but it was a matter of whether the world championships were too early in her career.

I would say that I became very confident in her going when everything became very easy for her. She was confident, and I felt that our partnership was growing. It was the right choice at the right time, for sure. So, I think she learned a lot from those games. I think it’ll only make her better. Clearly, she was an inexperienced horse, but she gave her all, and she was spectacular. She jumped in the first round of the Nations Cup. I was so proud of her and thrilled to have her there. You just never know how things are going to work out, and as much as Dieu Merci at the beginning of the season was the horse we expected to go, that’s part of the sport; things change, situations change, as riders we have to be able to adapt and be able to make those adjustments in our career and that’s something that I’ve learned to do and stay still mentally strong and able to give my best. So, as it turned out, I was a power there.

Jacobsen: How did you feel about going there with the different puzzle pieces of the team in terms of the logistics of putting a team together? How would you characterize the fit of Amy, Tiffany, yourself, and Erynn together?

Beth: It was really fun for us to be an all-women’s team. I’ve ridden with all three girls for many years. I’ve known Erin from the time she was a junior and jumping way back in Maclay. Tiffany, I’ve ridden on many teams with, and Amy is a very good friend as well and someone I respect hugely as an individual and as a rider. So I mean, to me, it couldn’t have been a team that was more strong and more wanting the best for each other. I would feel that way with, I mean, all our Canadian team riders are very generous, enthusiastic, and passionate riders and people, and I think the world of them. To be able to go with those three ladies, we definitely went there as a team; we worked together, we trained together for six weeks. Prior to that, they came to Europe while Tiffany was based here, but Amy and Erynn committed to being here and doing their best to be the best they could be, and I have a lot of respect for those women. They are the best of the best.

Jacobsen: How does Canada produce such great women riders compared to a lot of other countries so consistently?

Beth: We struggle because as much as we are a large country where the riders are far-flung, and there’s a small group of us. If you look at the number of Canadian top-level athletes compared to other countries like the US and Europe, I mean, we struggle with the numbers. The riders we have are very, very strong, committed, and talented riders: no question about it. And we had some remarkable results in top-level competitions, and I think that speaks to our determination and our strength and our mental strength actually, but for sure, we’re weak on horsepower. We have a very thin group of horses and riders at that top level, and I think we’re very mindful of that, and that’s why we’re trying to support our young riders and team opportunities, but it’s difficult. We don’t have the finances in our Federation to create opportunities where the riders are funded in a way that a lot of them can afford to come to Europe. It just becomes a very onerous task for people financially to do that.

That’s what worries me the most is being able to continue to create the level of experience required to jump at this top level, to create the horsepower that we need and to also have the opportunities for the young riders to compete at this top level. I mean, we have to really think outside the box and be creative about how we make this happen the next few years because it’s thin at the top, no question about it.

Jacobsen: What do you consider the main barriers other than finances for the international level? 

Beth: I mean, the finances are a big issue. I would say this: the board has become very weak in Canada as well, which is extremely worrisome. We used to have so many shows that were all across Eastern and Western Canada, and those shows have shrunk. So what you’re seeing is riders are forcibly having to compete elsewhere, whether it be mostly in the United States or those that can afford to come to Europe in order to stay and learn to be at the top of their game. That’s that’s a big concern. Our shows just have so many fewer opportunities, so we’re not creating the top level of competition at the shows that we have. The shows, I believe, at Spruce Meadows are fantastic, Ottawa is great, and we have the Major League, which is terrific, but we’re missing that level below the team level that is able to compete, work and get the experience they need in Canada. 

So, it’s hard to pinpoint. I think there are a lot of reasons for that happening, but it’s not all just financial for sure. I can tell you that for riders at the team level who have their businesses and have clients and students’ horses that they compete with and develop, they have to be able to stay in Canada in order to create and maintain their business. So for them to be able to drop that and then head to Europe for several months of the year in order to compete at those top shows and have those Nations Cup opportunities, that’s a very difficult thing to do when you don’t have the support financially of your Federation. That money has to come from either the individuals themselves or their owners, and that’s a big ask. Most countries are able to support their athletes much more than Canada. So, that’s a big issue in your question.

Jacobsen: When you’re training newer students, how do you systematically bring them along to a higher level of riding?

Beth: I think it’s very important that you have the right horse for the right rider at the right time in your career. I think also it’s important to instill in young riders there’s a process, and it takes time. Oftentimes, students naturally feel peer pressure; they want to jump into bigger divisions, and they’re probably ready to do it because they see their friend doing it or they have aspirations to jump to that higher level. I think patience and understanding the process of that pathway are hugely important. What’s been very good is having our under-25 division become a more clear pathway so that people understand this is how we create that pathway. So it will be starting in the pony jumpers and then the 20 Division and then the junior young riders, senior young riders, under 25s and then the team level, if that’s where they aspire to go. 

I would say riders have to be realistic. I try to teach my riders to be fairly mindful of what is the best competition for them to enter with their particular horse at their particular level. I’m very strong on the foundations and the basics of the sport, so I teach them the horsemanship and the management, not just the riding skills. And again, giving them the opportunities to compete at different shows so they have varied experience and learn from that. I love doing clinics because that gives me the opportunity to reach a wider audience that maybe doesn’t have the opportunity to train with someone at a higher level. I think it’s important as riders at the top level of the sport that we make ourselves available to help younger riders coming along so that they don’t only have a love and a passion for the sport but also clearly understand how important the foundations are and that’s what I find misses a lot with our developing riders. They tend to be weak in the basics of the slot work and the education of the fundamentals of jumping, whether that’s grid work or pattern work or working on developing your eye and your horse’s ride-ability; all of those things are so integral to having a horse who’s ride-able and responsive to the rider’s aid. So that’s something I stress very heavily in my teaching.

Jacobsen: In your experience, what do you find are some of the more emotional difficulties that riders typically have to encounter throughout their careers?

Beth: I think, like I touched on, I feel that social media has created a lot of pressure for people to do well, and they see what their peers are potentially jumping. Maybe not even what they’re doing, but it’s how it comes across, and they feel either a lack of confidence or they feel that they’re being judged or watched. I feel that’s something we maybe didn’t deal with quite as much in my beginnings of the sport, not to the degree that there is today. So, I think it’s important that, as trainers, we try and create confidence in our riders and teach them that not everyone’s standing in the ring watching and judging them. As you step in the ring, it’s you and your horse and the course designer and how you can navigate the puzzles the course designers created in the course. 

I think it’s important that riders are educated and trained to the point at home where they feel very comfortable in the division that they’re jumping in, so it doesn’t feel like a big ask; it’s something that they’re comfortable doing, it’s something that they practice at home, it’s something that they step in the ring and feel that they are capable and able to do. That’s why, as I mentioned, it’s so important to me that horses and riders are not overfaced. I would rather spend an extra six months with an individual or a horse, gaining their confidence because then that next step up will be solidified. When you err on the side of getting ahead of the game, then you can create detrimental attacks. So, having the rider feel very strong and confident in their own skills gives them naturally more confidence mentally when they step in the ring. So I think a lot of what riders struggle with, particularly young riders, but also at the higher levels, is fear of making a mistake and fear of not succeeding.

The reality of the situation is we’re going to lose more than we win. So you better step in the ring, working on being the best rider. You can be improving your horse incrementally, even if you come out of the ring with a rail or two, that feeling that you’ve improved in some way. To me, you have to have realistic expectations as you move along as to what you’ve learned and what you’ve gained from each experience and from each horse show. That, to me, is very important because that’s how you learn about yourself and your horse, and that’s what gives you the building blocks to consistency because what we’re looking for is consistency. We don’t want the one-hit-wonder; we want the consistency of riders that can step in the ring at the team level and deliver a clean round or double clean. It’s going to be a helpful contribution to the team score, and in order to do that it takes a lot of mental strength and education and experience, and that doesn’t happen overnight. That’s your 10,000 hours or whatever it takes to get you to that level, and it’s not a fast process. So, understanding the fact that there are going to be peaks and valleys and it’s not going to be just a quick ascension of the ranks is part of understanding the process, in my opinion.

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