132 SIDELINES APRIL 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
she’ll get on your horse – you can’t BS her,” said Nick. “Sandy and
I have grown very close – she’s become a member of our family
– and I go to England twice a year to train with her. I wish I could
go more often. Every time I ride with Sandy, she picks up on what
I learned with Darren and accesses the part of me as an athlete
that I never knew I possessed. I’m getting closer all the time to
being the FEI rider I always dreamed of being. Sandy is unyielding
when it comes to training and feeling the horse in balance: it’s like
being in a gymnastic and dance lesson at the same time. She
turns you inside out and puts you back together again better than
you were before.”
Kindness to the horses is a recurring theme. When Nick took
his horses to Renaissance Farm 17 years ago, Darren was the
resident trainer. “It didn’t take long to become Darren’s assistant,”
recalled Nick. “He was known for being simpatico, for turning
horses that weren’t started right or were hot into seriously good
performance horses. We’ve always seen eye to eye about all
animals, and the horses are our frst priority.”
During his Renaissance period, Darren prepared stallions for
100-day testing. Nick began to work with him to prepare horses
for their German Verband mare and stallion testing. Many horses
stayed with them for under saddle training and prepared for their
competitive careers.
“The business grew, and I learned a lot from Darren,” said Nick.
“It worked out really nicely for both of us. Darren is the absolute
mastermind of training and developing the horses. He still enjoys
competing, but nowadays when he stays at home, it allows me to
go to shows which I absolutely love doing. Darren gets to continue
training the horses that aren’t ready to compete and I get to take
the horses to shows after he has done his magic with them.”
Darren puts the horses frst, and he isn’t afraid to make waves
and swim against the current. “You have to follow your heart,”
he emphasized. “I would tell anyone I rode with, ‘If you upset my
horses and take them out of their safe zone, I’m leaving.’ I have
dismounted and left and not gone back. Years ago I went to ride
with Steffen – I had trouble getting the one tempis with a mare –
and he said, ‘I’ve heard about you.’ I am bluntly honest when it
comes to the horses. You have to develop trust with the horse and
it doesn’t always come easy.”
Both horsemen believe that part of the key to developing great
dressage horses is keeping the fre alive in their brains. They
set up a jumping chute to get the horses schooling over small
fences, a fun, strengthening gymnastic. They longe and long-line
the horses, even the ones at FEI level, the way they ride them. It
provides another perspective and allows them to see the horses
pushing off their hindquarters and using themselves.
Darren believes horses have to be horses. The horses they
take in for training get turned out. They hack out. They do more
than just go from stall to arena. Darren and Nick’s personal horses
live outside. Their new farm has a park-like setting, custom barn
and fencing, individual paddocks and before long it will boast a
dressage court.
“We’re running a boutique business here – we want to give
everyone the attention and individual training they need and you
have to keep small to do that,” said Nick. “If you get too big, you
can’t really hone the individual.”
Nick and Darren’s mission in Aiken includes helping anyone
to improve their horse, whatever their goals, game, discipline
or sport. “Dressage is the foundation for everything,” said Nick.
“Already we have received really positive reactions from the
community. Hunter-jumper riders and eventers are coming to us
with their horses. Aiken is a horsemen’s community, and now it’s
our home. We’re looking to making our own unique contributions.”
For more information, visit Nick and Darren’s website at
www.foxlandequestrian.com.
Darren Taplin masterminds the training of the horses: shown
here with Oxford, schooling canter pirouette in 2010.
Photo by Sally Hitchcock
Roxette and Nick Bertelli: “They are our dance partners.”
Photo by James Moser/The Barn Book