Valegro and Carl Hester - winning with head shaking

Valegro, a Dutch bred stallion by Negro, was bought by Carl in Holland as a two year old at one of the famous Dutch stallion shows. He was a 'fantastic mover' and even at such a young age his enormous potential was self evident. At the age of 3, as Valegro's was being broken in, he was discovered to be a head shaker. Upon this discovery, Carl sent him straight back to Holland, knowing only too well the extra challenges associated with training horses with the head shaking condition.

A short time after Valegro returned to Holland, Carl received a phone call to say that another buyer was interested and perhaps he should reconsider. He arranged another trip to visit this impressive horse. When Carl saw Valegro again, he decided to reconsider and brought him home to the England. Even though Valegro is still only four years old, his head shaking has done little to hinder his performance as he was crowned champion in the 4 year old class at the BD Young Horse & Breeding Championships and also won the Young Future Dressage Horse at the Badminton dressage championships. When asked about Valegro's head shaking, Carl explained that it is manageable, particularly with the use of his Net Relief muzzle net. 'He hates flies and anything around his face, but he gets better with work and has improved as he has matured. The muzzle net is a great invention as it really helps keep things under control'.