Coach of the Month - November 2023

Nigel Treloar is a Level 2 EA Eventing Coach based in South Australia and has been nominated as our Coach of the Month!  EA caught up with Nigel to find out more about his background and coaching philosophy. Read Nigel's story below:

"I grew up in South Australia within a family of horse lovers. Some of my earliest memories are being led around on Teddy the Shetland pony, before I could walk.

We lived around the corner from Gillian England (Rolton) in Bellvue Heights which has gone from a rural outpost to a suburb of Adelaide.  As a horse mad kid, I look back and realise that I probably got under her feet, but I was keen to learn and hoped to help where ever I could.  I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to sit on her grey mare Tralee, Gill was a very encouraging teacher giving me a great start with horses and she also taught me to swim.

As I developed my own horse skills, I accompanied Gill and her two eventers Carnaby Street and Saville Row to many interstate events.  This was an invaluable “apprenticeship” and I learnt a lot about presentation from Gill’s experience as a show rider.
When I was 11, my Mum, Dad, brother Stephen and sister Louise started riding at the Nanto Equestrian Centre and I recall lessons with Gordon Willoughby, who was very English Cavalry in his style and knowledge. I learned a great deal from Gordon and Marion Muering’s lessons influenced my passion for jumping and we were all clearing 1 metre obstacles and rode the trails around Mylor in the Adelaide Hills.

My family moved to a farm at Woodside when I was 13, by now we had our own horses.  After school and on weekends my sister and I explored the fire tracks and started to go to the Mylor Valley Pony Club and later became members at the Mt Lofty pony club.  It was a wonderful time to grow up as life was taken at a slower pace and it was still fine to ride on the roads. 

The Adelaide Hills boasted a strong equestrian community with many amazing local horse people.  I recall the support of Ron and Helen Donoghue who encouraged us to join the Adelaide Hunt Club and we took part in local hunts.  Although we hunted to hounds they were mostly drag hunts.

At this time I rode my off the track TB/hunter/pony club horse Westies Boy, Ron and Helen encouraged me to qualify for the point-to-point and open steeplechase and that really gave me a passion for galloping and jumping on a horse that seemed to love what he was born to do.

At this point horses were the main focus of my life and I convinced my parents to let me go to Oakbank Area School instead of school in Adelaide, so I could ride trackwork in the mornings before school.  At 15, I became an apprentice jockey to trainer Vern Retzki who had stables in Woodside.  His nephew John and I went to school together and as well as riding trackwork, we shared the dream of riding in the big races.

My life on a farm gave me lots of riding opportunities and these included family trail rides, hunting and pony club. I was always happy to help move cattle or sheep down the “long paddock” between farms, being with the horses never felt like work, the work was fun.

A special stock horse I called Evermore found me and took me from pony club grade 4 to Gawler 3 Day Event in the short space of 6 months. Together, we went on to do Sydney 3DE, Naracoorte YR 3DE, Werribee 3DE and we also took part in most of the one-day events in the same season.  We had great times and although we didn’t win very often, Evermore was nearly always in the placings and this wonderful horse gave me so much confidence, and the memories live on.

 My horse experience to this point had not given me an appreciation of the possibility to improve the performance of the horse by improving the skill of the rider.  This changed when the Master Malcolm Barnes moved from Victoria to the Adelaide Hills in 1980.  I lived with him as a working pupil and took his approach with young horses and consistent use of the training scale as gospel ….RYTHYM, SUPPLENESS, RELAXATION… how valuable this time was to my ongoing career.

These things are the basis of my coaching /training/riding to this day, and I hope Malcolm knew how much he influenced my equestrian life.  I have taken on Malcolm Barnes’ philosophies as my own, and acknowledge how much he influenced my future.

Malcolm took a great interest my career and encouraged me to do what he did, and go to Germany on a training sabbatical.  While that was the plan, I firstly went to the USA and spent time at the USET training centre at South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Tad Coffin instructed there and shared the influences of Jack Le Goff who is respected for his training success.  Tad’s use of gridwork was instrumental in making the US team very competitive. 

My experience at elite international stables has given me great respect for progressing within a system and not taking shortcuts that may give fast results at the risk of preserving the horse’s goodwill and soundness.  A progressive and proven system of training is the key to success.

I returned to Australia and the next great horse that I rode was Here's Cheers, my coach Prue Foletta helped me find him.  He was a very special horse and took me to what was then called Advanced, we competed successfully at every major event in Australia and I was listed for the Seoul Olympics. Through this partnership I was lucky enough to win the 1985 Range Rover Scholarship and had the privilege of traveling to the UK to train with Captain Mark Phillips. Andrew Hoy had been based at Gatcombe Park at this time and was an inspirational influence.

Riding with the team was a dream come true for me, not only did I learn a lot about what it takes to be successful at international level, I was able to ride some fabulous horses and meet the top riders at the events I’d only ever been able read about.  Princess Anne was competing and always worked hard to develop her skills and bring on some lovely horses. Her Royal Highness would often be up before everyone else in order to drive to the gallops to school her steeplechaser over the big brush at 750 meters/minute.

Captain Mark was encouraging and very generous, he enabled me to travel all over the country to events during the week and the team events on the weekends.

I recall the moment that I decided I’d like to be a coach. This came the day I was watching Ferdi Eilberg riding the Captain’s horse Range Rover Distinctive, while at the same time talking us through what he was doing.  His emphasis was on RYTHYM and striving to develop a better understanding in order to get more expression and lightness from smaller cues and refined aids.  I felt that his message was that you must love your horse or at least revel in the partnership.

From my experiences with the best in the world, I have learned that there are many ways to achieve the desired outcome with a horse or rider and it is important to keep an open mind. There is great knowledge and experience to be observed in so many equestrian sports from the people who have proven their expertise through their personal achievements.  I am always prepared to listen and learn, and don’t under estimate the importance of making it fun!

Looking back on these amazing times, I also look to the present and acknowledge that my greatest achievement is my family. I am married to Melanie and we have 6 kids who have all at some stage ridden for pleasure or competition.  For the last 40 years I have been a dairy and beef cattle farmer and the horses were a big part of that.  Our kids loved chasing cows around on the farm and horses have given us all a wonderful lifestyle.

As a family we decided to make the move back to the beautiful Adelaide Hills where we purchased a horse property.  Melanie and I both coach and together manage the business High Street Horse Sports where we train horses, coach riders at all levels and every year we aim to expand our equestrian facilities.

The philosophy we live by is to keep our coaching engaging, interesting, relevant and fun. We now find ourselves coaching and carting a team of horses around for our girls … and if we are lucky, we might even sneak a horse on the truck for us.

After years of working with the hardships of farming, I am now doing what I love the most, helping to make life better for horses and their riders.

I would encourage all horse lovers to follow their dream and work hard to carve out a career with horses.  Australia is full of opportunities and there are people associated with Equestrian Australia who are there to guide and support the dream."