Alex Bragg talked about how he has changed his dressage warm-up routine and worked on balance in the jumping phases with his ride Jaeger Master after his Defender Bramham Horse Trials dressage today (11 June).
“We’ve had issues when we’ve got him fitter – he’s got a bit lit up going in there. But for what he can do at the moment, he was great today. He needs more suppleness for the future, but his extensions and changes were good and the main thing was he really stayed with me and I think we’ll grow in confidence from that,” said Alex after scoring 30.2 with the horse owned by Team Joey. They sit in fifth place at the end of day one of dressage.
Alex described the changes he has made to his warm-up: “Because what you would feel is that he’s a bit lazy, we always had quite a short warm-up routine, but then actually inside he still had loads of energy.
“So we’ve lengthened the warm-up, so we get lots of time to get his body moving, and then when he does light up, the body is actually softer and more supple and then the energy is beneficial, instead of when he did lift to go into the ring, he got really quite tense and tight.
“That’s what we trialled this time, with a little bit more like lungeing to get him really loose in the neck and flexing. I do that myself with him. I think it’s just trying to learn about him and cater for him in particular.”
Jaeger Master, who is now 12, was taken up to four-star level by Tom Woodward and joined Alex in the winter of 2024/2025.
“They’d had a few mishaps and Tom felt the horse maybe wasn’t going to be a top horse. The owners are actually just south of us in Devon, so through some connections they asked if we would give him a try,” said Alex. “I felt there were probably some fundamental things missing in his training so, although he was making mistakes, his body wasn’t positioned to allow him to not make them.”
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Alex continued: “He’s naturally quite a brave horse, so he would always be getting to the fence with his front end, but the back end was half a mile behind. He was just in the wrong balance to make a good shape and he was running fast everywhere. He looked impressive because he’s very extravagant with his front legs and you’d think he was strong, but actually he was weak behind the saddle and through his core.
“We needed to teach him how to to lift up through his core, build his athleticism and get more gymnastic, so that he builds a more holistic, fit body, rather than just this impressive muscular front end.
“It was also teaching him to think quicker. I don’t think he was quite reactive in the right way – he just would throw everything at it, like a brave young horse would, and you’re ‘Whoa mate, actually, this exercise requires you to think a little bit and jump in this shape.’ Now he’s learned that, he has a few more tools and a few more skills, which is helping me out.”
Alex has also run the horse slowly, to build his confidence because he felt the mistakes had made him anxious, and said the owners have been patient in allowing him to do that.
“So now he’s more relaxed, he’s more confident, and his body’s operating better. And I know when I really need to support him, because he does need support at the minute. So I guess it’s actually building that partnership and that’s hopefully changed the trajectory of him,” he said.
The pair were second in a four-star long at Ballindenisk last autumn and Alex Bragg sees this weekend at Bramham Horse Trials as a trial for whether Jaeger Master is going to be a top horse to go five-star.
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
