Chatting with Abby Long

Abby Long is a freelance dressage rider and coach based on the Surrey/Hampshire border. Abby teaches a variety of ages and abilities and because of her diminutive size, she has a number of ponies on her books to school. Something she really enjoys! Abby is also an EQ bands accredited coach and also uses them herself, something she describes as a “gamechanger”. Abby recently represented Team GB at the MCI European Dressage finals at Le Mans in November, competing with her horse Lentisco in the Iberian horse dressage. Team GB achieved a fantastic Team Silver medal, with Abby contributing to the team success.

 

Tell us about the horses you ride

I am lucky enough to ride and compete some super horses for different owners. Starting at home, I ride 7-year-old Cavalier’s Hocus Pocus aka Coby for my good friend Sam Turner. He is an ISH cross warmblood who was bred to event with a load of his siblings being competitive at 4 star, however Coby is keener on dressage. He recently came second at his summer area festival and is working at novice/elementary at home. I ride him three times a week and he does a variety of work including hacking on the hills on the farm which are brilliant for building muscle; dressage schooling at home; occasional arena hires as well as pole work and a jump here and there to keep life interesting. He has really solid trot work in place and finds lateral work easy. I am working on establishing better balance in his canter and getting him to take a bit more weight behind.

Next, I go to Tilford where I ride 8-year-old Odin for Marie Halley. Odin is a big, beautiful Warlander which is a Lusitano/Friesian blend. He is competing at elementary and will be having a go at some mediums over the winter. I absolutely love training him and have got my sights set on him making it all the way to the top. He still needs to develop strength behind to be able to push in his mediums more, but he is another one who finds the lateral work easy, and his flying changes will be a real highlight when we get there.

At the same yard I also ride Lentisco Donaira who is Marie’s Lusitano. We have competed him at the MCI qualifiers this year and following on from his success at the Nationals last month, we have been invited to compete at the European Championships in Le Mans this November for team GB. This is literally a dream come true for me! Lentisco will be contending the Golega and Carmencita in France and I cannot wait.

 

How did horses come into your life and transpire to dressage?

I started riding at the age of about four at a riding school near Wokingham where my Mum and sister also rode. We moved to Suffolk when I was nine and had land and stables, so my first pony came soon after. My first pony was far from ideal, and I spent more time picking myself up off the floor or being run away with than actually learning any sort of riding skill other than resilience. I consequently wasn’t the bravest kid, but I was obsessed, nonetheless.

Fast forward to age fourteen we emigrated to South Africa, and I discovered a love for show jumping and found my brave! I jumped competitively up to 1.25m before changing saddles and embarking on a dressage career. My coach on the flat at the time was a rider at the South African Lipizzaner’s, and she suggested I join the 6-month student program they were running to improve my dressage skills, and I soon discovered I liked the challenge of pure dressage more than the jumping. I still had the adrenaline kick from working with the stallions doing the airs above ground, and at the end of my six months part time there, I decided I wanted to stay. Six years later I was still there having gone up through the ranks from student to team leader/head rider. I left the Lipizzaner’s in 2015 to focus on my family and to compete more, and then we moved to the UK in 2017.

 

You are an EQ bands accredited coach, can you tell us more

My daughter is a This Esme fan, and I watched the video where she went to The Dynamic Performance Hub and had this session with Dee in the bands. I was amazed by the difference in how she was riding and immediately started researching the hub and what goes on there. I had really wanted to go and book myself a session but hadn’t been able to find the time for it. Then a while later I saw Dee advertising the inaugural EQ Bands Accreditation course and I applied for it.

Following an interview, I thankfully got a spot on the course and November 2023 I went along to the Hub to train with a diverse group of like minded people all wanting to help riders for the benefit of the horses they ride. The course was one of the most insightful, educational and inspiring things I’ve ever done for my career, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It covers everything from the essentials like fitting the bands, to the mindset of coaching, fitness off the horse, even the social media side of marketing. The final day of the course is the assessment where each candidate has to coach a volunteer rider whilst being watched by Dee to ensure the potential coach is ready to fly the flag as an accredited coach, and thankfully I passed first time.

 

How do you find the bands are helpful to your own and clients riding?

The bands have been an absolute game changer for both. For a long time, I was aware of my asymmetry in the saddle but hadn’t been able to fix it no matter what I tried. The bands have done like a factory reset on my body and I am straighter now than I have probably ever been. It is an ongoing situation though. I have many old injuries that affect how my body tends to want to go back to its old ways if I don’t stay on top of it. I try to ride in the bands at least twice per week and notice the difference if I don’t.

My teenage daughter (who is also dressage obsessed) also rides in them, although she doesn’t love the feeling at the time because they are hard work! But she can feel how much better they make her and she’s hungry to be the best rider she can be for her pony. I have yet to have someone ride in the bands and say that they didn’t notice any difference. I always refer to the moment you take them off as the “centaur moment” because you literally feel like you are part of the horse from the waist down. I absolutely love it!

 

Who do you train with?

I have been training with international GP rider and judge Sara Jane Lanning for almost a year now. I always used to see her giving lessons at Merrist Wood when I’d be in the adjacent arena, and I thought she sounded quite stern and scary. I find that amusing now, because she’s not like that at all! I have done clinics with many different people in recent years, but Sara is just the perfect fit for me, and I have made real progress with her guidance. I box the horses over to her once or twice a month.

 

Proudest moments?

I am living in my highlight phase at the moment having recently been selected to represent Team GB at the MCI European Finals in Le Mans in November with Lentisco. Team GB won the Team Silver medal.

One of the biggest achievements for me was when I got to ride the first Lipizzaner stallion, I had trained from the Young Stallions routine all the way through to The Ballet of The White Stallions for the first time. I had many similar proud moments at the South African Lipizzaner’s during my time there.

At this stage in my life, I often feel the proudest when I am watching people I train compete, in particular my daughter as I have taken her and her Mini Valegro from knowing nothing about dressage to getting ribbons at the under 25 championships this summer.

 

Challenging moments?

The challenges have been many! I think the biggest one was moving countries on the brink of turning forty. I walked away from an established coaching business in South Africa where I had been a big fish in a small pond and landed in England knowing no-one. I got a job initially in a yard with big, intimidating warmblood stallions working under a guy who I found equally intimidating, and it was enough to put me off wanting to work in the industry at all. I left there after a couple of months and did dog walking for work for a while as my confidence was really in tatters. It was a dark period for me, but I definitely came out the other side of it knowing more about what I didn’t want, and that helped me work out what I did want, and how to get it.

 

Do you ever have to deal with nerves?

I do experience nerves. I think if you are competing and you don’t feel nerves; you are probably unlikely t o want it enough to be successful? I always make sure I know my tests well enough in the week leading up to a show so that I don’t have to think about where I am going when I’m riding. I visualise the tests over and over again making sure every little detail goes the way I want in my mind’s eye. I occasionally experience nerves when riding a horse that feels like it might explode out hacking, and then I will use the 4-7-8 breathing technique which I learned from Charlie Unwin. Sometimes I use this in the warmup at a show as well (although I should use it EVERY time if I remember!)

 

What is your training philosophy?

My training philosophy is simple – I treat the horses the way I would like to be treated myself. I always look at things from the horse’s perspective, so for example, if he is spooking at something, what does it look like to him, why does he feel threatened and what can I do to make him feel confident again?

If he is resisting in a movement, why is he finding it difficult? Am I asking something that he isn’t physically ready for? Can I break it down into smaller pieces so that he can manage it easier? Am I sitting in a way that is giving him the best chance to use his body the way I want him to?

I always want it to feel like a two-way conversation between my horse and I, rather than the rider just talking at the horse. I think being a small person is great because I couldn’t use my weight or strength to force a horse to do something even if I wanted to! Which means I am always seeking the path of least physicality to achieve what I want with them, and I think it leads to happy athletes.

 

What are your future aspirations?

My goal is still to ride a PSG. Although I have ridden all the higher-level movements, I haven’t competed above elementary in England, and I just want to ride in tails. I got to wear them for the Europeans in November, which was fantastic, but I want to get both Lentisco and Odin up to PSG within the next two years with a bit of luck.

 

Your Top Tip

My top tip is to keep working on making your seat better every single day in as many ways as you possibly can. You may only have forty five minutes to an hour in the saddle each day, but there’s so much more you can do to help you and your horse the rest of the time.

If you muck out daily, try holding the fork or broom the opposite way to how you usually do to try and even out your body. If you hold your yard tools the same way every time you use them it’s the same as only cantering your horse on one rein. You are developing uneven muscle and creating asymmetry!

 

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

It was actually something I read in Jack Canfield’s book called Success Principles, and that is: It is none of your business what other people think of you. I literally share it with everyone I meet at some point or other! It is the most liberating feeling when you stop caring about what other people think of you (although I still have to remind myself from time to time!)

 

It takes a team to do dressage, who is in your support team?

My support team starts with my family without a doubt. My husband James is not horsey, but he still comes along to watch at shows and helps at the yard on weekends. My daughter Danica is my number one fan and is always good at building my self-confidence.

Sam Turner who owns Coby is an amazing friend and is always there to help in so many ways.

Then there is Serena Hydra who is the best competition groom I could ask for. She does more than just plait and turn out; she is also my emotional support and therapist in the lorry on the way to and from shows.

And of course, without the owners who entrust me with their horses, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love doing, so I am incredibly grateful.