Jos Hofma, 41, a veterinarian in Nijkerk and practising for 15 years, and his speciality is sport horses, especially jumping and dressage horses.
Maarten has been coming to Jos for many years with various horses and since eight years with William and as a vet he knows William very well. What is his opinion and assessment of the horse in relation to the dream Maarten has: to the Grand Prix?
Jos:
“As a vet, the first thing you start looking at is conformation and build, and in that, William is a very correct and symmetrical horse. Because Martin rides with one arm, he naturally runs the risk of a horse that is not completely symmetrical. But I must say that with them, that is exactly what goes extremely well!
Then each horse has its advantages but also its weaknesses in the body and to what extent can Maarten strengthen and improve that and does he need me to do that? Then we actually end up with one or two things that Maarten needs my help with from time to time. In the course of the last few years, it turns out that we can manage that in a very stable way, with no deterioration in the horse's medical condition. We don't just do that, Maarten does that himself with signalling and feeling. It is often the case that what Martin feels and what I see fit together tremendously well and that obviously saves a lot in communication. Half a word is often enough for us.”
In your opinion then, is there anything else or extra needed at this point to make that final step to the Grand Prix necessary?
Jos:
My answer to that question is short: ‘I don't think so’. From a veterinary point of view certainly not, because it is just maintenance of a very healthy sport horse and as I see it now he is still developing in that. And looking at the horse from my point of view, there is nothing in the way of this horse doing the higher work. In addition, Maarten himself has a keen sense of what could be improved; he knows his horses like no other. In that respect, he is a really good horse man.
You just talked a bit about communication between yourself. To what extent do you think that is important when coaching a sport horse?
Jos:
“Well of course that ultimately makes it totally workable. Because if I say A and you understand B, we're never going to work it out together. And at a certain point, half a word is enough and that mutual trust is also important. Maarten and I have been on good terms for years, also with other horses. And that also works well, that you can be a bit open and sometimes hard on each other.”
Maarten is known for being inspired and passionate; sometimes verging on the emotional, especially when it comes to William. How do you handle that?
Jos:
“I am very down-to-earth and sometimes I have to laugh at Maarten a lot! I have to ‘unburden’ Maarten from time to time: partly that relates to the horse, of course, but sometimes it also means that I unburden Maarten mentally and that has to do with how we spar and sometimes I have to say to him in a very hard way: ‘Well, Maarten, stop worrying’, we're just going to get back to work. He is enormously committed and so am I, only I express it less and I don't think it helps if I'm snivelling along with him. But for now, as far as this horse is concerned, we don't have any bad news to share so I'm not going to snivel.
All in all, looking at it from the veterinary point of view, I support the way William is trained and managed and there is no doubt in my mind that William can handle the heavy work veterinarianically!
Apart from that, I only have a personal opinion. I think it's great that Maarten didn't end up sticking to the paralympic side but that he still made the start back in regular sport; that he wants to live up to his reputation of just riding well with able-bodied competitors, that's just TOP!“
MaartenvanStek.nl | Realisation: Horsedesign