Kiwi Olympians: Vaughn Jefferis

By EUGENE BINGHAM

German rivals offered equestrian Vaughn Jefferis half a million dollars to part with his beloved horse Bounce for the Sydney Olympics.

But something in the way Jefferis talks about his mount should have made it obvious that money was not going to split up this world-conquering pair.

"He's sexy and he's very spunky and if he was a boy he would be the best looking boy in the world. He's got a bit of attitude - he knows he's gorgeous. But he's also very polite. He's a strange mixture of a lot of stuff. He's a sweetheart really."

The pitch from members of the German team who wanted to ride Bounce at the Games came six months ago as Jefferis was plotting his second Olympics in three-day eventing.

It was a lot of money to offer for a 17-year-old horse at the end of his career. Jefferis joked with them that he might think about it for $1 million.

The reality was if anyone else rode Bounce at Sydney, it would have been downright adulterous.

"He loves me and I love him," Jefferis coos. "We have a very good connection; we understand each other. He tries for me and I look after him.

"I never lie to him. I never ask him to do anything I know he can't do so he trusts me. If all relationships were as cool as that, it would be a pretty nice world."

The Games will be the last international appearance for both Jefferis and Bounce after 11 years together. Time has caught up with them.

Bounce, a striking brown thoroughbred gelding whose stable name is Walter, will turn 17 just before the Olympics, a veritable veteran in the field.

Even though Jefferis says the horse has legs like a 6-year-old, he and trainer Jo Osborne are taking special care of their middle-aged charge.

"We've changed his programme a little bit in the last 18 months. We don't do as much gallop work with him because we believe it's less wear and tear on his legs."

At 38, Jefferis is also having to cross-train.

For the first time in his life, he has started to go to the gym. He also runs three times a week, all part of a regime he hopes will give him the cardio-vascular fitness and strength to ride for gold.

Eventing can be a physical drain on the body, especially endurance day when riders are challenged by gruelling cross-country, road and track tests.

On top of that, mental preparation is crucial. "During competition, its mainly the mental stress that wears me out."

This time, Jefferis faces a particular challenge preparing for the pressure.

While the rest of New Zealand's formidable eventing team is based in Europe, with plenty of summertime competitions for warmups, Jefferis is coping with the off-season on his farm at Matangi, near Hamilton.

To psych himself up, he sometimes imagines he is competing, galloping around self-made cross-country courses visualising the scene he expects at Sydney.

"I have to kind of make up my own competitions and ... do a lot of the cross-country on my own. If you are jumping cross-country in cold blood, it's scary, but I have to make myself get out there.

"I don't think I'm a naturally brave person. I just think I can ride and I've made myself do it. I'm sick of being terrified going into the start box. I don't know what the fear is - I think it's fear of screwing up. "Twenty-four hours before a cross-country day can be really quite a nightmare for me."

He is determined to apply himself as much as in 1994 when he and Bounce achieved their career highlight so far, crowned world champions at The Hague.

"That was four years of complete determination. I made it happen, I was so focused.

"I'm not a naturally competitive person; I'm fuelled by a lot of things. To win the world championships was revenge for me - just personal reasons."

Though he refuses to elaborate, double Olympic gold medallist Mark Todd wrote in his autobiography So Far, So Good that Jefferis had been determined to beat the 1990 world champ, New Zealand teammate Blyth Tait.

Todd also put Jefferis' success down to his natural talent.

"He's got good balance and rhythm, an excellent understanding of horses, a very precise eye for a stride and a lovely classical style."

Almost blushing at the compliment, the normally brash Jefferis puts his riding style down to his upbringing on his parents' farm at Te Hoe in South Waikato. "I started riding when I was 4. I loved to help my father do the farm work.

"For the first four or five years, I didn't have a saddle, I just rode bareback and just had to hang on with my legs. That develops good balance."

The young Vaughn spent nine years on horseback before he rode for ribbons.

"I wasn't too fond of formal riding at the start. I just liked to be a cowboy on the farm."

Competitions soon became more regular, and he started winning, though initially he was more interested in showjumping than eventing.

In his early 20s, Jefferis worked for double world champion Bruce Davidson in the United States, then went to Britain. Securing a job with Captain Mark Phillips and Princess Anne, he landed at the heart of the British equestrian scene.

His international career blossomed, though brushes with selectors over the years have never made him the most popular rider. Just last month, he lashed out at the selectors for not including his second horse, Curious George, in the Sydney team as well.

If there is one thing he has learned, however, it is not to dwell on such disappointments.

"It's been a fantastic career. I've really enjoyed it, plus I've also loved being part of the [New Zealand] team. It's a fantastic team and it will never be like this again."

Indeed, with names such as Todd, Tait, Tinks Pottinger, Andrew Nicholson, Vicky Latta and Jefferis, New Zealand has had a remarkable string of top riders.

Jefferis only hopes that the events of the past month involving tabloid accusations of drugs and gay sex against Todd will not tarnish people's memories of what the sport has meant to New Zealand throughout the 1980s and 90s.

"Everybody who is close to Mark and understands Mark thinks it's really tragic and just wishes the rest of the world would get off his case."

Even before the attention of the past month, Todd, like Jefferis, intended making this year his last on the international scene.

Jefferis, a perfectionist, says he wants to step down from international competition before his standards slip.

"I always said to myself I would give up while I was still good. I don't want to be one of those people who phases out.

"I want to win."

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