If you want to please Alexandre Ayache, just say one word to him: Jolene, named after the mare he has been riding for almost three years and who should accompany him to the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. The rider 41-year-old dressage specialist, came across this horse by chance and, since then, a “close relationship” began between Jolene and him, like “a real couple”.
While it normally takes six or seven years of joint work for the results to start to come, Alexandre Ayache and Jolene have, in less than three years, started to get on the podiums. In the program “The Crusaders You Know”, broadcast every Thursday, the Niçois recounted his journey and the desires that Jolene arouses. With offers that are complicated to refuse.
How did meeting Jolene go?
Three years ago, a lady, who lives between Marbella and Saint-Tropez, whom I do not know, called me asking if I could accommodate her three horses in my stable. And she didn’t get along with Jolene, and was trying to sell her out. I ride Jolene, and I fall in love with her on the first try. We made an offer, and we bought it. The mare was not trained, and had never competed. But everything happened very quickly, and that’s where we see the mental and physical quality of the mare. Normally, to reach your current level of competition, it takes six, seven years. Two years ago, Jolene had never done a test. The second Grand Prix she did, she won. His story is really not common. Today, it is at a very high level by not being finished. There remains enormous room for maneuver. The future is likely to be very nice for her and for me.
How would you describe the relationship you have with your horse?
When you have a horse that reaches this level, the relationship can only be close. We share our daily lives, but we also share all the emotions that go with everyday life and the emotions that go with high-level sport. It’s really a couple’s relationship, a real couple, with good times and bad times. But I’m lucky to have a pretty incredible mare, who is very easy to get along with, and who does everything she can to please me, all the time.
You have had several horses, how did you choose to move from one horse to another?
I don’t have much choice. I come from a modest family and the only way I found to perform at a very high level was to train horses, take them to competitions, make them perform very well and, unfortunately, afterwards, I was forced to sell them to continue playing sport. All my horses that performed at a very high level, apart from Zo What, were sold so that I could continue to supply the stable and the competition at a very high level. I would love to have another solution.
How much did Jolene cost?
We paid 90,000 euros for her. When we know what it’s worth now, the offers I receive when she finishes second or wins a Grand Prix, we’re talking in millions of euros. It’s a sport that is very close to mechanical sport, in terms of price, what the competition costs, what the horses cost, what the maintenance costs. That’s why I have no choice but to sell them to continue.
Is there a phenomenon where certain nations offer golden bridges to buy back horses before major competitions?
It’s always existed. Horses like Jolene are very rare. And like everything that is very, very rare, it is very, very, very expensive. It’s a sport that costs money, so there are very few people who don’t have money. When we have money and want to have fun, we offer large sums. As there are more demands than offers, prices are often incredible.
How would you react if a “Saudi offer” comes to you to buy Jolene from you, given the relationship you have with her.
It’s already arrived. After Lyon, last year, we had an offer, it was complete rubbish. I called my partner, Karim, to tell him about the offer I had received. He told me to cover my ears and nothing would happen. I was relieved that he told me that, but also anxious.
Refusing amounts like that… I can’t even talk to my parents about it. The first horse I sold, I was at the table with them, when my father heard the price I was offered, he almost choked. He grabbed me by the ear when I said I didn’t want to sell it. These are very difficult situations to manage. But I can’t even imagine Jolene leaving the stables. »
If Jolene were to leave, do you know how she would feel?
It’s a super strong relationship, and that’s why I don’t prefer to think about it until it happens. I only think about it the day the horses leave. It makes me sick personally, even if the horse goes for a lot of money. Certainly the first moments must be strange for them. And that’s why I would really like things to change, to have the means to keep my horses, to not subject them to human choices for economic reasons. But I have no choice.
Can we draw a parallel between dressage and figure skating?
Yes, that’s totally it. There is a compulsory test, with figures rated from 1 to 10 by human judges. So we have the same advantages and the same problems as in figure skating. Humans judge, with their moods, their favorites and everything that goes with them. It creates this sport of ours, which is not always easy to swallow, but it is evolving. But it’s pretty regularly unbearable, there’s a whole bunch of pretty weird stuff. A final study carried out by a scientist over a year of Grand Prix showed that there was far too much subjectivity for it to be completely honest. But we’re going to end up like figure skating, with artificial intelligence in the middle, removing the best and worst marks.
Can we also talk about marginal gains in horse riding to gain certain points during a competition?
In very high-level sport, there is no chance, everything is managed to the millimeter. If we want it to last, this is what we have to do. The mare, of the two of us, is the real athlete, she rarely eats pizza and burgers. She is weighed every week, a veterinarian sees her regularly. Nutrition is managed, she has a blood test every two months, she sees the dentist twice a year, she sees the marshal every four weeks… Everything is managed minutely.
What diseases did you fear the most for your horse before the Olympics?
The worst that can happen is an injury, like tendinitis. It is for having exaggerated in competitions and having injured the horse. This is why recovery phases are needed after competitions. I have the chance to rub shoulders with real, very high-level athletes, who make their bodies their working tool, and for many years, I have taken their ways of recovering, of treating themselves, and I have adapted it to my horses. And, for the moment, it’s working well.
Does not having to transport horses halfway around the world for the Games give you an advantage?
It does not change anything. When a horse leaves for Tokyo or Rio, he has a twelve or thirteen hour plane ride. When I go to Budapest, the horse has two days in the truck. In a truck, it brakes, it turns right and left. On a plane, there is just takeoff and landing, the rest is a walk for him. Theft was my big fear before Rio, but finally it was new. The only one who had the backlash was me.