David O’Connor explains how to 'do your homework'
The hugely anticipated Designer v Coach session at this week’s International Eventing Forum (IEF) did not disappoint. US Olympic gold medalist turned coach, David O’Connor returned this year to take on course designer extraordinaire Mike Etherington-Smith. Throughout the session the pair ‘battled’ it out, going through the various scenarios that one may face out on the cross country course. With a fantastic lineup of demo riders including Caroline Powell, Neil Spratt and Millie Dumas, audience members were shown how to go about ‘doing your homework’ to ensure that you can answer whatever question the designer throws at you.
David, Neil and Caroline share a laugh
“Sometimes it does feel like them versus us,” David said. “From a riding point of view, you have no idea realistically of what Mike is going to ask.”
The first thing that you need to remember is the responsibilities of you and the horse. The horse’s job is to jump. It is up to the rider to place together four clear steps to give them the best possible chance.
“For me direction is the most important part,” David says. “The second thing is speed, how fast do you want to go?”
Whilst some people say balance is the most important aspect, David disagrees. You can have balance but if you’re not heading in the right direction towards the fence you’re not going to get over it.
Mike takes control as David watches on
Thirdly there is the quality of the canter, the ‘rhythm’ that you have across the course.
“All the top riders have a tremendous sense of rhythm.” Finally, David believes that ‘sense of time’ is essential.
“Recognise a distance; get the horse in to place where he has to do his job.” Riding should become like driving a car. What was once a foreign and unnatural experience soon becomes instinctual and you find yourself constantly adjusting without being aware of it. Once you have these basics established you can begin to prepare confidently for the cross country.
“Course designers have gotten a little bit mean over the years,” David jokes as he hands over to Mike.
“The point is to show what they can do rather than catch out what they can’t do”
Mike believes that the game of eventing has changed; the skill level of riding has dramatically increased.
“Cross country course designers had to change their way of thinking,” he said. “Now because of the way the sport has developed we have had to be a lot more creative.”
The parameters have to be simple and achievable and the questions have to be clear and fair. Whilst we sometimes feel that the course designers are out to get us, this really isn’t the case.
“The point is to show what they can do rather than catch out what they can’t do,” Mike stresses. Riders often run into trouble because they allow the pressure of the event to catch up with them. “What people jump day in day out soon becomes a big deal under the pressure of competition.”
Millie Dumas warms up for in preperation for the showdown
“My philosophy is all about minimal risk, it’s all about safety,” Mike says. “As a course designer what I try to do is make the rider think around the course.”
This is something that David echoed. In training he is always saying to his rider “think next.” They must be thinking about where they need to be and what they are doing next as soon as they are jumping the previous fence. At the same time it is essential to break up training and help the horse out.
“It is very important to remember the massive stress that a course puts on a horse,” David says. “There is a responsibility to educate.” In this session David reduced this pressure by placing guiding rails on narrow fences when the horses were first introduced to them. They were then placed on the ground before being removed. This is important even for the most experienced horses and it only takes an extra two minutes of your time.
Never walk a horse directly up to a ditch but have them walk alongside it
Taking the time out to train properly was something that both Mike and David emphasized. “Schooling ditches – doing it wrong can end a horse’s career,” Mike says. “It can haunt them for the rest of their lives, always set it up for success.”
David explained that you should never walk a horse directly up to a ditch but have them walk alongside it when introducing them. Whilst Mike aims to put the higher levels to the test on cross country, he argued that for the lower levels it is all about flow and confidence and giving the horse’s kinder lines.
“We can interfere and be damn right destructive as far as lines are concerned by putting things in the way,” he laughed. This is certainly what we’re seeing at the 4* level but David argues that if you have the communication and relationship with your horse then you can be prepared for whatever may come. “Practice technique so when you go out you don’t have to think about it.”
