The 2014 International Eventing Forum was a day jam packed full of information. The theme of the forum was ‘Raise Your Game’ and this idea was woven throughout the sessions across the day. With world class speakers presenting alongside our best eventers, audience members were in for a real treat. Eric Smiley, FEI International Judge, competitor at two Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games and regular member of the Irish Team throughout the 80’s and 90’s is also the director of the forum. Eric presented a session entitled ‘The Beginning’ which focused on the young horse and the importance of correct training in the early years.
Caroline Powell, Helen West, Katherine Raybould and Robert Barker joined Eric as demonstration riders. Each rode a five year old horse at the very beginning of their training. As the young horses chucked in the occasional buck, wobbled to jumps and discovered bounces for the very first time, we were reminded that even the top riders have to go back to the basics. Too often we see our International riders at the top of their game on their best horses. It was quite refreshing to see them face problems that are relatable – as well as being told off by the coach for making common mistakes!
Eric Smiley, Director of the International Eventing Forum
Having said that, Eric was quick to acknowledge the quality of the riders that he had working with him – but that was not necessarily a good thing. “One of the difficulties that we have today is that I have four riders that are actually quite good,” he said. Often good riders don’t allow the horse to make decisions. “These guys know what they’re doing and it’s very easy for them to cover up.”
The most important part of training a young horse is allowing it the opportunity to make its own decisions. “Too often we end up in a situation where the rider is the key element but riders make mistakes. I certainly know I made many mistakes and I was grateful for my horses who filled in those gaps.” However the horse was only able to make the correct decisions in these moments because of the training that Eric had implemented in the early years.
“Every sport, no matter what sport it is, at the highest level will work on reaction time. Reaction time is critical and reaction time comes from developing a neurological pathway, a mental pathway from the brain through to the muscles.” Our job is to allow the horse to develop a clear pathway, so it can recall this information instinctively.
“We need horses to make quick decisions because that’s what they have to do cross country; that is what they are going to have to do in real life.” It is far too easy for us to interfere and make something happen. Eric likened this to asking someone to do something for you. All too often we end up doing the job ourselves because ‘it is simply quicker if I do it.’ However the likely consequence of this process is that when you go to ask the same person to do the job again, they will simply wait until you choose to do it yourself because that is what they expect you to do.
“What I want the riders to do is not do anything and to sit quietly and see if the horse takes any initiative at all,” Eric explained. “Their (the horses) job is to react to what is there.” Eric put this in to practice with a simple exercise, just one pole on the ground on a large circle. All the riders had to do was trot over the pole.
“We need to spend more time doing this sort of stuff,” Eric said as the horses reacted to the pole differently. “As you watch the horses look at the poles and go over the poles, you’ll begin to see their character and natural instincts. One of the things that I look for is to see which horse when put in this situation puts the short stride in or which horse in this situation puts the long stride in.”
“If horses put short strides in, remember. If they put long strides in, remember.” What they are doing is accommodating their natural instincts to get over a pole. We want to give them options so we should encourage them to go bigger and take a longer one at times or and discover whether they find it uncomfortable or not. The same goes for making them shorter.
“Just ride around there and take what you get,” Eric encouraged
“All too often we try and change horses to suit us when we should do it the other way around; we should enhance and encourage their natural instincts because that’s what’s going to happen in competition. That instinctive response in a moment of crisis will be the foremost thought in the horse's mind.”
Eric progressed to having the combinations canter on a 20 metre circle with two poles, on at 12 o’clock and one at 3 o’clock. The purpose of this exercise was to keep the same amount of strides in between the two poles each time. “I don’t mind whether it is four or five but I do want it to be consistent,” Eric emphasised.
If a horse goes over a pole and makes a mess of it, do it again and again and again until they make a plan. “It’s their job, it is in their interest, it what they need to do.”
As Eric moved on to having them jump a relatively large oxer and a small bounce, he repeated this message. “All too often riders are too quick to blame themselves.” They think that they should have done this or should have done that. “We need to keep passing back to the horse to make some sort of a plan.”
“Don’t worry about knocking poles, that doesn’t matter too much at the moment,” he said. The important thing is to not change the message of the lesson until the horse understands. You need to wait for the light bulb to go on in their head. Horses are just like humans in that they learn differently and at different rates. “If you change it too quickly then you start saying ‘this isn’t working’ and I think you may miss the opportunity to allow the horses to puzzle it out.”
And most importantly you need to reward the young horse. You need to demonstrate that they are doing well and you are pleased with them when they get it right. This will reinforce the correct response that is so vital as you move up the grades.
Many thanks to Sam Clark and Professional Event Riders for the use of this video
