What better to way to spend a few hours than watching one of the world’s top eventing riders, Blyth Tait, coach in the idyllic surrounds of Windsor Farm at Darnum in Victoria.
The three riders Craig Sanderson (riding Oliver), Claire McDermott (riding Kruiser) and Frances Hughes (Riding Michelle Sens’ mare Flash Flood) were out in one of the paddocks popping over a few small cross country jumps. The previous day they had trained on the flat and over show jumps in the large sand arena but now were tackling some Intro/Preliminary size fences which may cause problems for these less experienced horses once they head out on course.
After working on the horses’ straightness approaching, over and leaving some fairly straightforward fences and ascertaining their individual weaknesses, Blyth chose some more tricky options including the water fence and a skinny barrel. Sadly I can’t provide all of Blyth’s expertise in this article but here is a short summary in pictures and videos to give you a taste along with a few of Blyth’s gems.
First let’s meet the riders and their horses
Craig Sanderson and Oliver, a four year old by Belcam Caspar
Frances Hughes and Flash Flood, a nine year old horse she rides occasionally and had to ‘borrow’ for the clinic due to her own horse’s injury
Claire McDermott and Kruiser, a six year old by Daley K
Starting with a simple fence jumped both ways, Blyth was very focused on maintaining the straightness on approach and landing. Claire's horse had a few issues here so Blyth used a person on either side to encourage the horse (below) and all three horses started to jump well
Some nice easy logs in the paddock (what a backdrop!) were added to encourage the horses (and riders) to jump, land and head to the next fence in balance with a flowing rhythm.
Craig's young horse Oliver (below) showed some great potential but was understandably a bit 'looky' at some things. Blyth reassured Craig by saying " I'd rather start with a horse that is careful and looking after himself than one that is reckless and out of control because the careful one will take care of you and can learn to overcome his fears"
Next an oil drum was set up with show jump wings near the water fence which the horses jumped well then they all took to the water for a paddle. Surprisingly Claire's horse took to it well prompting Blyth to joke that her horse simply needs to find an underwater cross country course and he'd be fine (not difficult to do considering the weather we've had this year - could be a horse particularly suited to English eventing!).
He also pointed out that letting your horse take the lead from another, more confident horse such as Frances' appropriately named Flash Flood 'is not cheating, it is training'
The horses were all walked through the water both ways, then trotted, then cantered, again both ways. Each time the horse had to stay in the pace asked for i.e. not allowed to break into canter when trotting through, especially if it was trying to rush through
" I'm fine Mum, getting the hang of it, but I don't think I can open my eyes yet " says Kruiser
The oil drums came in handy when the horses started to pop into the water off a small ledge rather than through the sloping edge. Blyth used them to help prevent run outs, especially for young Oliver who took a little while to get the hang of actually jumping into the water - he seemed to find it more preferable to jump from one bank to the other bank on the other side!
Flash Flood was very bold and did some lovely jumps in and Claire's Kruiser seemed to be enjoying it at last and relaxing with the work. Blyth pointed out the importance of the horse trusting the rider " If I ask my horse to jump into water 20 feet deep, he will do it because he trusts me and he's trained. But he will only do it once for me because I would have broken the trust"
Having mastered the water complex, the last question was a skinny wooden barrel which Blyth introduced with poles as wings to guide the horse in and over the jump. Blyth had the riders approach the fence in trot the first three times saying " Take the speed away - we don't want to jump this through speed but with impulsion and accuracy" - each horse stopped on the first presentation but went over easily on re-presenting.
Back on 'dry land' Claire's horse had a few issues here but they were dealt with and Claire and Kruiser finished the day succesfully jumping the skinny barrel. All of the riders seemed to get some valuable insights from Blyth in dealing with their individual horses and my favourite quote of the day from the past World and Olympic champion was the simple " Ride kindly but ride effectively"
We also had a chat with Blyth which you can view on video HERE.
