Danielle James
WINNING an endurance event is an achievement in anyone’s book, but getting to the top and staying there, year after year against all odds and changing circumstances, takes one from the realm of the possible to the impossible.
Equestrian star Graham Winn is a man who operates in the realm of the impossible. He was first crowned South African Eventing champion in 1985 and in 1996 he attained his magical 10th win.
This year he launched another attack on the South African title and even the weather seemed determined to dethrone him. However, undeterred by the driving rain and deep mud he simply performed as usual. Riding two horses he notched up an incredible 11th win on the first and settled for third place on the other.
How does he do it? Is it muscle, magic, motivation, superior mental power, or simply madness? Perhaps with a name like Winn, the odds are stacked in his favour? Winn is modest about his secret formula: “It’s been good horses and hard work. I’ve also been lucky. On occasion my horses have put a foot in a hole while on the cross- country course and have stumbled and even fallen but I’ve managed to get back on and continue with little more than a few time penalties. Others have not been so lucky.”
The two women in his life believe it’s all in the mind. Michelle, Winn’s wife, says, “Graham rides to win and he believes he can do it.” His mother, Betty, says, “He is just so determined.” Whatever it takes, Winn’s got it.
Eventing is no ordinary endurance sport. Originally designed as a military exercise to prepare the cavalry for battle, it involves three phases. The elegance of dressage is followed by the daunting challenge of the cross-country course, after which it’s the precision and control of the showjumping. Each phase places different demands on horse and rider and the partnership is tested to the limit.
The possibility for error is enormous and Winn says, “Mutual trust is the critical ingredient in a successful partnership and the only way to avert disaster.” He concentrates on the discipline of dressage while training his horses to develop this trust. “A disciplined horse can cope with unexpected problems.”
Winn’s dressage is consistently brilliant and he usually emerges from this phase with a head start which he maintains throughout the cross-country and showjumping phases.
His training programme has been finely tuned over the years, “Gone are the days of over-training resulting in stale horses. The goal is to get the horses fit with minimum work and this keeps them fresh.”
Winn’s success hinges on the co-operation and well-being of his equine partners. He believes his horses enjoy the challenge of eventing as much as he does. “You watch my horses at the start of the cross-country and you’ll see that they’re raring to go.”
He has partnered five different horses to victory, and three years in succession took both first and second places, which raises a few questions. Did he choose to ride horses that were bound to win, in which case how did he know?
Or is it simply a matter of what Winn touches turns to gold? He has also taken the title five times on the same horse, Zealous Maestro, which indicates that he knows how to maintain a friendship, even one that is tried and tested and pushed beyond the limits that most friendships can endure.
Maestro was only 18 months old when Winn selected him for his, “conformation and temperament” from a bunch of young Hanoverians on a farm in Namibia. Obviously a good judge of horseflesh, Winn’s advice about choosing horses is: “You don’t take a chance with their conformation. Maestro stands square and even after all the years of eventing his legs are clean and he doesn’t wear shoes. On the other hand, with my thoroughbred, Zealous Eight-to-the-Bar, I took a chance. His conformation is not great and we pay for it in the form of injuries.”
However, Winn and Eight-to-the-Bar took the 1995 SA title, settled for second place a couple of times and this year came third after recovering from an injury, which proves that for Winn even this handicap is not insurmountable.
Winn’s sport has become his livelihood and he admits pragmatically, “Winning is good for business.” It brings clients to Winstead Stables in Springs, which he and Michelle own. Winn gives lessons and schools his clients’ horses and is now finding his own pupils snapping at his heels and challenging him for the SA title.
It would be the ideal way to bow out gracefully! Michelle says, “Graham gets a bigger kick out of his pupils winning than when he wins himself.” To perfect the art of winning is one thing, but having the ability to pass that skill on to others is another matter entirely, and one that few master. For Winn, it’s all in a day’s work.
What remains uncertain is whether Winn will have the opportunity to pit himself against the world’s best. “My dream has always been to compete on my own horses in England.” Unfortunately, isolation from world sport and quarantine regulations did nothing to smooth the way for Winn and now the responsibilities of a family and running a business are making that dream increasingly unattainable.
Be that as it may, there is no denying that equestrian sport in South Africa has greatly benefited from Winn’s determined pursuit of excellence in the field of eventing.