Franke Sloothaak - a tall, kind and passionate man who held nothing back during his whirlwind tour of Australian showjumping - and that is just what the sport needed - an injection of honesty combined with practical, forward thinking advice.

Franke's trip began with three days of clinics and after day one Franke realised that there were some serious shortfalls in the showjumping - the horse power was not the problem! Franke worked all groups on the flat and was amazed at the lack of rideability of the horses. He gave many riders exercises which came from the same base line as the dressage riders - flexibility, suppleness and submission were all lacking in every horse Franke worked with.

Throughout all the clinics, Franke explained that horses cannot jump heights without having the basics right and that the riders needed to understand this - some of the clinic participants seemed to very quickly grasp the point he was making and the improvement over the three days was noticeable. Sadly for some of the riders they were well out of their depth from the first 5 minutes onwards.

The major problem for these riders is that there are few coaches in Australia who can continue the training that was begun by Franke on this visit - those riders who understood where he was coming from were keen to see Franke return, and sadly there were too many who did not understand and gave little care as to whether he would return or not.

We were privelaged to spend a couple of hours privately with Franke discussing showjumping on the international stage and where the sport was going.

jumpingaround.com: So let's not discuss the standard you have seen in the clinics - let me rather ask you how do you think we can make things better?

Franke Sloothaak: You need to have specialist programs in place - your Federation should be doing the job of organising clinics - at the moment it appears that as a sport, showjumping is running a 100 different ways with no organisation - and this shows in the type of riding - everyone does things so differently from each other.

You must start at the bottom and progress upwards - but to do this you need clinics where many people can learn to do things correctly and consistently - to produce a horse which can one day jump at the Olympic Games or Championships.

Editors note: I think the most telling tale of the lack of cohesion within the Australian Federation is that while the Franke Sloothaak clinics were running at the National Equestrian Centre in Werribbee, Jamie Coman was running a High Performance Clinic on the same grounds! As I understand it Jamie Coman was keen for the riders to do the Franke Sloothaak clinic, and he himself wanted to participate both for his own riding and also for his coaching of the High Performance squads, but the Federation did not see this as an efficient use of resouces - one can only ask "what were they thinking?"

jumpingaround.com: To change the thinking in Australia we need top class trainers, like yourself, to come here and change the way of thinking which has, in my opinion held the sport back - this costs huge amounts of money (as we are so far away) and for a sport which has little public interest how do we fund such clinics?

Franke Soothaak: This one is simple - your Federation needs to use the wonderful success recently at the Championships, of Edwina (Alexander) - she has done a fantastic job and was 4th in the world - not so bad - this success must surely have inspired many - would many riders not now think of moving to Europe and training and workng for the success Edwina has had? Would your Federation not use this success to attract bigger financial support for the sport and also bigger funding from your Sports Council? These are all ways of getting funding to bring trainers here and gettting the bottom row of the sport improving which means the top end will naturally follow.

Your Federation needs programs to educate trainers, who are all going in the one direction - start from the same base of discipline, control and balance - bring in a system where at the lower levels it might be compulsory to compete in one equitation class each day, which would then encourage riders to learn to ride correctly in showjumping.

The Australian riders are as a group undisciplined in themselves and this will not help them to be top level showjumpers - when the riders at the bottom level are taught correctly then they will move on to be good top riders and those coming up will look up to them and the sport can progress - but first the Federation has to be taking the steps to put in correct training clinics for ALL riders - it is their (the Federation) job to make the sport good (in any country) and here it seems that everyone has to look after themselves and this has made things look messy.

The structure is good enough with all countries having National Federations - the structure allows for mistakes to be made - but as a sport here it is not presented properly - there is no complete structure which covers the whole country - there is no consistency and it seems that every area has their own ways - this is not good for the sport - everyone must work together from a strong base.

jumpingaround.com: Franke I have made myself unpopular over the years, suggesting that we should NOT bother sending teams to Olympic Games and Championships etc until we are actually ready to go and be competitive - is this a negative attitude towards the sport in Australia?

Franke Sloothaak: You should always send at least one rider - this way you (Australia) stays a part of the international family and that is important - whether you send a team or not is something the Federation must decide - when I go to the Championships or Olympic Games, I go there to win a medal! For Australia perhaps it is just as important at this time to be part of the international showjumping family.

jumpingaround.com: Ok so moving away from local showjumping - what do you think of the interest which has seemed to come out of nowhere for Team Ukraine, who nearly pulled it off to win a medal at the recent Championships? Is this the direction the sport is going to take - one where we have a "football team" type of thing to develop more widespread interest and money for showjumping?

Franke Sloothaak: (with eyes lit up and an excited edge) Yes yes yes this is an excellent thing - football teams idea would be fantatastic for the sport - I have been trying to get this idea through for some time now but it takes a huge sponsor to come forward to fund it for the first year - I am not giving up.

My idea is that we have 10 teams travelling the world - this is a purely commercial idea which will bring the excitement of this fabulous sport to many many more people than just those interested in horses themselves. This would attract the media and when the media is imterested the sport gets publicity and suddenly there is plenty of money and the sport can survive - right now the sport, and its riders are struggling to survive.

Can you imagine if there we 10 teams competing - there would be fighting to win which makes the public happy - it is the only sport where men and women compete equally against each other and the media would enjoy this battle - the 40 riders involved would still be competing for their country the rest of the time - but they might even have a couple of horses which are kept especially for this teams competition.

(editors note: - we will be bringing you more on this amazing concept in the coming months)

jumpingaround.com: Franke you have always been very involved with the sport at the FEI level and have been a "mover and shaker" for many years - what do you think of Princess Haya as our new Leader?

Franke Sloothaak: Haya has been involved in the sport as a participant at the highest levels - this gives her a good feeling for what is needed in the sport - hopefully she can make the changes because she is enthusiastic, has knowledge of what the riders want and need and she has the financial backing to make things happen - all of this is good!

jumpingaround.com: Naturally the last Olympic debacle with Cian O'Connor losing the individual gold and the Germans with the team gold troubles brought to light the zero tolerance policy (for doping of horses) - what do you think of zero tolerance?

Franke Sloothaak: I think the FEI is crazy and zero tolerance equals cruelty to horses - I am not talking here about doping horses to increase or alter performance, that is obviously wrong! I am talking about the fact that we cannot look after our horses, as the athletes that they are for fear of doping charges. If your horse needs clipping but is not settled without sedative then you will never be able to compete your horse with clipped coat because horse needs clipping every 4 weeks and it takes 3 weeks for sedative to come out of system - crazy!

Your horse comes in from a rest and has a little stiffness, which happens to all athletes but you cannot give him a little bute, as a human would take aspirin - it is wrong - zero tolerance is not in the best interest of the horse.

jumpingaround.com: So there are some nice horses around right now at the top level but there don't seem to be the partnerships there were in years gone by - naturally John Whitakker and MIlton, yourself and Joli Couer to name just two, were wildly popular with the public and did a huge amount for the sport - why are there no heroes at the moment?

Franke Sloothaak: Because today there are so many more exceptional horses and so many more exceptional riders - there is more good than we have ever had before in the sport and so it is harder to stand out and to stay as the standout for long.

And there are so many good horses now and good horses make good riders and there are plenty of both at the top. The good breeding of the horses is helping the riders, the breeders are breeding trainable horses but the last little bit is the rider who takes the horse from a nice horse to great horse.

jumpingaround.com: Do you enjoy teaching? I ask this because even though your frustration showed at times, you seemed to enjoy the interaction with the riders and you seemed enthusiastic about imparting the knowledge.

Franke Sloothaak: Yes I enjoy teaching - I don't do a lot of it because I am busy at shows most times - but I enjoy teaching people and I also enjoy working horses - I like to work the horse like you work in a gym - my horses must be supple and flexible and submissive - without this I cannot go out with the idea to win each class I go in, whether it is with my young horses or my top horses.

jumpingaround.com: The question surely everyone asks you - which is your favourite horse?

Franke Sloothaak: I think the answer has to be Rex the Robber - he was owned by Alwin Shockemohle - I had watched this horse for a long time and so wanted to ride him - when I got the ride it was fantastic - I got him in 1978 - I was young and on my dream horse and we had nothing to lose - so we went for it and had a fabulous time winning everything.

jumpingaround.com: So what is there still left that you want to achieve Franke?

Franke Sloothaak: There is still an empty space for an Individual Olympic Gold medal - this I have not yet won!

jumpingaround.com: Franke I thank you for your time and your honesty - many of the riders from your clinics here have told me how much they appreciated what you had to say to them - many of them now want to come and train in Germany with you as you have enthused them and that is wonderful - you told me when you first arrived in Australia that many people found you arrogant and not so easy to get along with - this is the furthest thing from the truth and I thankyou for being so generous with your time and your help - will we see you back in Australia perhaps for more clinics?

Franke Sloothaak: I enjoy the Australians as they are easy going - and yes I have been called arrogant many times, but perhaps it is because I am honest and say things as I see them - I do not intend to be arrogant.

I am glad that some of the riders have understood what it is I wanted them to do with their horses as that makes such a long trip, which is between two shows, worthwhile. Coming back would not be easy as Australia is so long away - I have left one show to travel here and when I leave on Sunday I will head to Stuttgart for another show - it is a busy travelling life as a showjumper.

The clinic participants were varied in both ability, competition, horse power and levels and this made teaching difficult but Franke was great - he taught with humour and honesty and those who did the clinics and those spectators who paid to watch on the final day were made privvy to some wonderful stories from the international world of showjumping and Franke kept everyone entertained from start to finish with his wicked sense of humour.

I would like to thank those people who thanked jumpingaround.com for the sponsorship of the clinics and we were thrilled that so many people took the time to email us both before and after the clinics - we need Franke to return to Australia - his approach is refreshing, his way of teaching was insighful and helpful and I believe that the more people who can avail themselves of this type of training the better our chances of providing Edwina Alexander with competitive partners for future teams - and wouldn't that be a positive thing for Australian showjumping!