Showjumper Mark Edwards has been riding high on the home circuit and abroad for years; representing Britain on Nations Cup teams and winning everything from speed classes to grands prix. But like all the best horsemen, he believes “you never stop learning”, whatever level you reach personally.
“Every day, every show, every round, you can learn something,” he says.
Whichever horse he is partnering, if he’s in a jump-off, the others need to look to their laurels. This is down to talent, will to win and some lovely horses. But it’s also, as always in this game, down to sheer hard graft.
“Whenever we have a fence down we think about what I could or should have done to jump it clear,” he says. “It’s very good to analyse every round, and we learn a lot more from the rounds that haven’t gone well than the ones that do. In this sport we lose a lot more than we win so it’s very important to not be negative and move on to the next round.
“Every day, every round, you learn something,” says Mark, pictured riding Tinkers Tale in an International Trial. Credit: Lucy Merrell
“In showjumping, like most sports, success is a lot to do with mental strength. When things are going well, everything seems easy and you feel like you’re going to win every class. When they’re not, you go into the ring overthinking every distance, every line. Sometimes we just have to accept that some days it wasn’t our day. We all need a little bit of luck.”
Hard work the main ethic
But, as has been said, those who are the luckiest are those who work the hardest. Some 75 horses were at Mark and his father Martyn’s yard, in Wales, last year, from youngsters in for backing to the grand prix veterans.
“We do a lot of riding for clients; that’s our bread and butter,” Mark says, adding that they rarely turn an offered horse down.
The Edwards have always spent a great deal of time at David Broome’s, and Mark cites the legendary showjumper as someone from whom he has picked up tips and advice all along.
“You just try to pick bits up as you go along, like you’re always watching the top riders at shows,” he says. “And of course Dad has been the main influence, all the way.
David Broome competing in 1991 – a major influence on Mark’s showjumping career. Credit: Alamy
“David’s always one to be patient, give them plenty of time, so that sank in. But you’re almost taking things in without realising, in a way, little bits just as you go along. You just keep learning, watching; everything progresses so you have to keep learning to keep up.”
Mark Edwards’ advice for up-and-coming showjumpers
Mark’s recommends that aspiring showjumpers ride plenty of horses, of different types, and find a good mentor, so you get a consistent message rather than asking lots of different people and getting conflicting and confusing opinions.
“I think the biggest mistake is probably rushing up the levels too quickly,” he adds. “A lot of people get to a certain level and all of a sudden you see them jumping abroad when they would benefit from a year jumping on the county circuit, getting that real base of riding in different rings and on different going rather than going to the nice easy shows where it’s just on sand and everything is the same. The biggest thing is, get out on those grass rings and learn to ride in different situations – it’s very easy to get caught out on the grass.
Mark touts the benefits of jumping in a grass ring for improving your skills – “it’s very easy to get caught out on grass”. Credit: Grossick Photography
“Go to a big jumping yard as a young rider, that helps you see a different system, but you have to just keep learning. And if you work hard enough, the right horses should come along. I do think that the horses find you, rather than you find them.”
Showjumper Mark Edwards has two daughters, aged six and three, and it can be hard to fit everything in.
“We just make it work,” he says. “When we’re at home, we try to spend as much time with them as possible. They’re just starting to get into ponies, which makes it a bit easier! But you’ve just got to get on with it.
“It is a big weakness in a way, that with horses you never really have a day off, but we have a couple of quiet afternoons, to go and do something non-horsey, and try to have a nice holiday once a year. That gets us away from the farm, but I enjoy my work. There are worse jobs to do, aren’t there?”
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