Equestrian Athlete Kyle Bennett-Knell
Location: Houghton Conquest between Bedford and Milton Keynes
Coach: Jennie Williams
Kyle: “Every horse you ever ride is different and it’s the challenge of bonding with the horse you’re expected to ride for each competition.”
Kyle is 20 years old. He started riding when he was 7 years old and has been trained by Jennie Williams all that time. When Jenny first met Kyle he had never sat on a horse before. Kyle’s sister was already riding with Jenny so he came to try it.
Jenny has seen Kyle grow from very nervous and shy to a rider with enormous equestrian skill and the confidence of a professional. She describes him as a ‘natural’. From his first attempts at riding on a lead rein through independent trot, canter, gallop, jumping, he has made huge and consistent progress and most of that is down to his commitment and hard work. He took part in the last SOGB national games in Glasgow and has also competed abroad. Kyle has competed in regional, national and international competitions.
He says: “Competing in Austria was cool. And I won a silver and bronze medal. “
Kyle’s dedication really showed when he had the disappointment of pulling out halfway through the SOGB national games after an appendix operation three weeks before. He says he was determined to ride in the competition and won his first event, but coming into the second he had to pull out because he was pulling on the stitches.
He says: “It was a bit gutting because I’d worked hard for a long time to get there, then something I couldn’t do anything about stopped me from finishing the competition. But it’s part and parcel of competing. And it made me more determined.”
Kyle has ridden lots of different horses and Jenny says he can ride almost anything. This is a big asset in competitions where the group will often hire horses rather than transport their own. Kyle and other riders have to get to know a completely unfamiliar horse and work with that horse to win the competition. They have a limited time to do this – in the ‘horse matching’ session and training period. Jenny has to match riders to horses to the best advantage, with her knowledge of athletes and assessment of horses’ nature, behaviour etc – part skill, part instinct. Usually her judgement is good but occasionally it doesn’t work. She remembers one occasion a few years ago when Kyle was about 15 and she put him on a horse that wouldn’t stop rearing up. Kyle managed to keep seated for a long time until Jenny had finally to take him off. But he was un-phased by the experience and keen to get on and ride the next horse.
Kyle says: “It’s all about the bond between you and the horse. Every horse you ever ride is different and it’s the challenge of trying to bond with the horse you’re expected to ride for that competition. You only know them for a short amount of time and you have to go into competition and do your best. There’s only one way of getting to know a horse and that’s to ride it. You have to get on and ride it and work with it. It doesn’t matter really how the horse goes, you just have to be able to adapt to that horse.”
Kyle, like Jennie’s other riders, practise not just equestrian skills, but all aspects of horse care from handling to tacking, feeding and grooming. Kyle loves horses and the regular contact gives him plenty of opportunity to bond with the horses he regularly rides. In competition that opportunity is limited. Because of health and safety regulations the horses are largely cared for by grooms. This makes establishing a bond with an unfamiliar horse even more of a challenge. In Shanghai Kyle and the squad will only have a 1-day horse-matching session, then a bit of training and warm up to get to know the horse they will ride in the world games.
Kyle says: “We have a really good team. I can’t wait to get there, to see what we’re made of and what we can do. We’re going to win”.
Jenny says Kyle’s short term memory is not too bad. He will really study instructions for the dressage test and give it all his focus. But once done it’s gone from his head. This means a lot of repetition. Jenny describes Kyle as remarkably talented and dedicated. His strengths are that he can ride almost any horse and has the courage to face the unpredictability of each. She says he is also amazing in what he gives in encouragement and support to younger less experienced riders and his achievements are an inspiration to the whole group.
When he left school, Kyle went on to study a course in equestrian skills at college. His first job out of college was at Woburn working with horses. But it’s an area of employment that’s notoriously poorly paid and Kyle has now moved to a job in the security department of Luton Airport where he does shift work. Because of this the times he trains with Jenny vary, but are mostly evenings and weekends.
TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ATHLETES OR COACHES, PLEASE CONTACT THE SOGB NATIONAL OFFICE.
TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk