The Summer Training Clinics at Werribee Park are always well attended by a large range of horses and riders. Many people use them to get a young horse out and about, but others may have an experienced horse having a particular issue.
From the perspective of the coach, these clinics are always fun, but on the other hand, setting up an exercise which can be used for groups of all ages and stages is somewhat challenging!
This clinic, I set up an exercise with related curved lines. The ultimate aim was to get the riders to set up a nice canter rhythm, and ride the lines in this canter, so that the perfect distances came up. I walked all the lines so that the riders were aware of the distances, but it was up to them to plan the approach, and exactly how they were going to ride the curve. As with anything to do with horses, there is never only one way to do things. The approach and the lines were often different for each horse and rider combination, depending on the stride length of the horse, quality of the horse’s canter and also, to a point, the riding style of the rider.
The hardest thing to get across to many of the riders, was that if they had a good canter and rode a smooth curving line, that the distance would just come up. Too many riders (including myself) are guilty of trying to do too much and interfere with the horse between fences. If you do the work early, on the corner before the fence, then hopefully only small adjustments, if any, need to be done throughout the line.
In the warm up, we worked on the canter through using a related direct line of fences, and riding this in an even distance. The more experienced combinations were asked to ride this in 5 and 6 strides (some even did 7), even though it was a genuine 5 stride distance. I find that making sure the horse is adjustable in the warm up, really makes it easier once you want to do a specific exercise which requires the canter to be good quality and adjustable. Sounds easy I know, and it can be easy if attention is paid to it, but there are so many variables. Some horses have a naturally good canter, and have good rhythm. These horses make the job much easier! Other horses may have a good canter on the approach, but then get a bit keen before the fence, rush and flatten, causing them to cover more ground between the fences and the distance comes up on a half stride. Others are lazy, and don’t want to stay in front of the leg, and hence travel in a smaller stride and get there on an extra stride or half stride instead. Particularly with a curved line, there are tricks to use which cater for each of these types of horses, such as making the curve wider for the rushing horse and flattening the curve out for the lazy/short striding horse. This is fine, especially in a competition situation where you have walked the course and have planned the ride for your horse, however, at this clinic, I was trying to get riders to ride the line as it was built!
CLICK HERE to view diagram of exercise
We then began riding the direct line in the exercise, which was set up for 6 strides. There was no trick to this, again, other than having a good canter rhythm and enough jump in the canter to get the job done. For the smaller fences and greener horses, this was still achievable, even though these horses are a lot less able to have as much power in their canter as the more experienced horses.
Then we added the curved lines, in 7 strides from vertical to vertical, and in 6 strides from the oxer to the one stride double. The line to the double added an extra degree of difficulty, as if it was not met well, getting out through the double was not so easy. There were one or two horses who like the exact distance, and said no at the double the first time the riders got them there on a very average distance. As soon as we addressed the line and/or the canter, this line came up as it was intended to be ridden.
We were then able to put the 3 lines together as a small course, which actually made it easier as the riders were able to let the canter flow a little more, rather than establish the canter, jump one line, and then wait for the whole class to do it!
It was very obvious to all riders, that if the canter was good (rhythm, jump, etc) and the line was good, then the fences would come up. It was great to see that the riders who wanted to be controlling every stride, were able to eventually get the canter they needed on the approach, and then leave it alone in the lines and even be soft at the fence. Likewise, the horses that were rushing and trying to cut out strides showed great improvement if the riders could control the canter with many half halts on the approach. This meant the half halts worked when needed in the line, but because the canter was more together anyway, less needed to be done once in the line!
It’s always easy as a coach to be on the sidelines giving everyone 1001 instructions, but there is such a reward when each rider is able to implement the advice and then see a huge change in the way the horse is going. This is what I really enjoy about coaching riders of all levels!
Photos: Carol Reznik
Catherine Davies in an NCAS/EA Level 2 Eventing Specialist Coach and Coach Educator. Based in Romsey, Victoria, Catherine coaches riders of all levels in all disciplines, as well as taking horses for training and competition. Catherine can be contacted via [email protected] or visit www.queensparkequestrian.com.au
