Monica moved from Hawke’s Bay to Auckland two years ago and the change is suiting her down to the ground. She runs her business, Oakley Equine, from her Karaka yard, and her horses are going better than ever, with a stack of wins and placings this season, including taking out the Super League series with the wonderful Acrobat.
There appears to be a bit of a theme going on with Monica’s horses: although they are all different breeds and colours, they are similarly athletic types.
She has produced plenty of lovely horses in the past, including her first eventer Fontain, who she took all the way to four-star. There have been a few missed opportunities along the way too, as many good ones have been sold on to fund the game. “I’ve had a lot of talented horses that I could have taken Advanced, but I sold them at two-star level. It’s always hard, because you imagine where you can go on these horses, but that’s what keeps the wheels turning. I hope to keep a couple this time, and see how far they take me.”
This is the best team of horses Monica has ever had and it’s also the smallest, as she is aiming for quality over quantity. “With a smaller team I’m able to put more in to each of them, while still having time for schoolers and teaching.”
Her top two horses are nine-year-old Acrobat at four-star level; he was third at HOY and second at both Puhinui and Taupo, and eight-year-old Artist, who was a stand-out at three-star, winning at Puhinui, Matamata and Taupo.
The beautiful Acrobat is eye-catching and it’s easy to see why this horse is one Monica plans to keep. She’s had the leggy black gelding by Centavos since he was an unruly five-year-old. “He hadn’t done anything and I didn’t take him out a lot initially – I just spent a lot of time training him at home. He always had a huge jump, but needed to learn to do the in-between-the-jumps stuff. He’s just started to learn to wrap around the jumps a bit instead of powering up too much for everything. In the last year, he’s really got to know his job and has become quite professional about it.”
The full thoroughbred Artist is another horse Monica has high hopes for. By Guillotine out of a Volksraad mare, he is tall, elegant and super-flash. When it comes to their distinctive names, Monica explains that she lets their personality inspire her: “Artist is just classical and very beautiful, and Acrobat – well, he’s exactly that.”
A fresh start
Monica is clearly meticulous by nature; as we chat, she is cleaning her tack, a task she finds therapeutic. The move to Auckland was largely to be based closer to her trainer Erik Duvander, she explains. While he is coach to the US Olympic team, Erik regularly commutes to his family home in Auckland and Monica squeezes in some intensive time with him every four to six weeks. Erik has been Monica’s trainer for more than two years and she has found him transformative.
“I feel like up until meeting Erik, I didn’t even know how to ride at all. Rather than just flying by the seat of my pants, I’ve actually got his training methods in place now,” she explains.
“I guess I’ve always had feel, an eye and instinct with horses and I’ve produced a lot of young horses to a high level, but Erik has put the classical riding more into place. Erik is all about the details of what it takes to get to the top; making sure there are no gaps in my training and not fudging anything. I really make sure the horses are using their bodies correctly and building muscle in the right places, treating them a bit more like athletes.”
Bucking the current trend of equestrians moving out of Auckland to the provinces, Monica’s new base is on the southern city fringe with 10 acres, a house, arena and stables, and she is enthusiastic about the region: “I love that I can live in the country with my horses at my doorstep, but it’s only a short drive to the beach or the city where there’s always something exciting happening.”
The real deal
Monica is a true horsewoman. Originally from the Kapiti Coast, she was plonked on a horse by her mother Zandria from as early as she can remember. Both Monica and her younger sister Hayley-Ann were avid pony clubbers. “I don’t think there are many trophies in Kapiti that don’t have Oakley etched on the back. We did everything – round-the-ring, show jumping, eventing, Pony Club Champs and Timberlands.”
Hayley, who lives in Manawatu, still rides and Monica flies her up to groom for her at big shows; Hayley is obviously a dab hand at turning horses out, as Monica won the best presented award at Kihikihi. But most importantly for Monica, who usually does everything else herself, the horses really like her sister. “It makes a huge difference that it’s family – we’re on the same page. I think happy horses perform better and it can be hard if you get someone else in to groom for you. We have the same mannerisms around the horses, so with Hayley I feel like they know her.”
After leaving school, Monica rode trackwork and worked for Chris and Donna Rutten at Cavallo Farm, breaking in thoroughbreds. Breaking-in is something Monica learned through experience, by starting her own ponies from a young age. “When you don’t grow up with a lot of money, you make the best of what you’ve got. If you want to have nice horses, you make them yourself.” After that, she went to work in Australia at an eventing yard, starting sporthorses. It was there she discovered she enjoyed the more serious side of eventing and when she returned to New Zealand at the age of 21, she got into horse trials.
Her first eventer was Fontain, an ex-racehorse by Anziyan, who came to her as a seven-year-old off the track. She had previously fallen in love with the horse when riding trackwork on him and was thrilled to receive a phone call when he finished racing. “I was down there an hour later picking him up. He was just a stunning horse and had the best gallop. We achieved some cool stuff together – he won the CNC3* at Puhinui and we went around Adelaide four-star. Looking back, I went into Adelaide completely unprepared, but I’m so glad I did it because I wouldn’t go back to that level unless I was fully ready. Producing him has given me a lot of knowledge and tools to use with future horses.”
Fontain retired when he was 15 and he went to Australia to enjoy a relaxed life with Monica’s cousin, doing low-level dressage and eventing.
Monica says she tried to have a regular job, studying wool-classing through Massey University and working at a Hawke’s Bay wool merchant’s for three years, but left to do eventing full-time. “That was my attempt to have a normal career, but the real world seems to move so slowly when you’re used to doing horses. I’ve no regrets and now I’ve decided to see how far I can go with it. I’ll probably take a couple of horses overseas next year – I’m not going to miss any more opportunities.”
When it comes to choosing youngsters, Monica tends to like ‘typey’ horses, leggy and short-coupled with good hock action. Movement-wise, for her it’s all about the canter. “A lot of the time when you get horses off the track, they haven’t done a lot of trotting and they don’t really know how to trot out. You can always improve the trot. If they’ve got a good canter that dictates a lot, including their jump.”
Keeping fit
Monica’s training programme with her horses is systematic; normally they are worked six days a week, unless they’ve been at a show, in which case they’ll have two days off. She does pure dressage twice a week, pole work and tiny jumps once, jump schooling once, hill work once and goes to the beach one day a week.
“Something I always have set up in my arena is poles of all kinds – trot poles on a curve, raised trot poles, canter poles, lots and lots of poles! The horses have to be supple and move through their bodies, and poles are great for this.”
Monica also takes her own fitness seriously – she does a gym work-out four or five times a week. She’s also been training with Jason Hill from Equestrifit and says it has improved her position hugely, in particular in the dressage.
“I’ve always been naturally fit and I exercise all day with the horses, but I’ve realised that you can’t train yourself on the horse. In my view it’s really important that we train ourselves, off the horse,” she says.
“We put so much focus into training our horses to be supple and strong and even on both reins, and we forget about ourselves, yet what we do as riders influences the horse so much.
“The details are becoming very important, because we all put so much time and money into the sport – if there’s something else you can do to make your performance better, then you’re going to do it.”
Monica on…..
Her sponsors
I feel incredibly lucky to have an amazing group of sponsors: Maddox Equestrian, Hygain NZ, Equissage, The Equine Herb Company, Equine Magic and Equestrifit. I’m very grateful for the support they provide.
Warmbloods or thoroughbreds?
Each horse is an individual, but I love thoroughbreds for their trainability and willingness – they naturally want to go forward. Having the thoroughbred in there is key for the galloping and stamina.
Mares or geldings?
I’m not biased towards mares or geldings. You can’t stereotype one gender, size, colour. I just take each horse as I find it; they are kind of like people, as in there’s no set rules.
Her career highlight
I’m most proud of all the nice horses I’ve produced that are doing well, here and overseas.
Her biggest disappointment
There are so many highs and lows in our sport – it is a huge leveller. It’s important to celebrate the highs and learn from the lows but not dwell on them.
Favourite discipline
I like all of them for different reasons, but the thing that makes eventing so hard is finding a horse that can do all of them, and then it’s hard to make sure that you get all of them right at the same event. If I didn’t event, I would show jump – I really enjoy it.
Competitive goals?
Short-term I’d love to get some nice results at Puhinui – a top-5 finish in both the one-star and two-star would be huge. In the autumn, Acrobat will step up to three-star and Artist to two-star, while Festival consolidates at two-star. With Man of Honour, I’m very much guided by his owners and we’ll just see how he feels, but a step up could be on the cards for him too.
- This article was first published in the January 2019 issue of NZ Horse & Pony magazine. To subscribe, click here
