The long awaited 2013 International Eventing Forum took place in the picturesque English countryside of Gloucestershire. Hartpury College supplied state of the art facilities with a fantastic indoor arena providing much needed shelter from the harsh wind. Eric Smiley oversaw the day, introducing the theme for the forum as Journey to the Top, and the program certainly lived up to its declaration.
“Every four years we start the journey to the Olympics and we start that journey today,” Eric said. “The International Eventing Forum is one of those which is trying to present good practices and it is exciting to watch the top people do what they do.”
The programme boasted an impressive lineup and dressage great, Ian Woodhead (above) kicked things off. Having been involved with winning Badminton, Burghley, Bramham, Blenheim and other European and World Championships medals as well as contributing to Great Britain’s silver medal at the London Olympics, Ian had the crowd listening to his every word. He split his session into three parts, focusing on the training of the horse and rider at home, presentation at a competition and finally going through a 4* dressage test.
British event rider Tom How was the first out as Ian took him through an average training session that anyone can try at home. Firstly Ian emphasized the importance of getting into the right frame of mind and taking your competition hat off and putting on your training one.
“In training what I’m interested in is the horse understanding how to do a movement,” he added. “I don’t want to see little cover ups, I want to see that the horse understands it.”
Through shoulder in and leg yielding, Ian had Tom engage the horse from behind into a higher frame. By moving the paces forward and back, he highlighted the importance of rhythm and gathering energy whilst being clear with the aids.
As a humorous but insightful interlude, Ian had a rider come out dressed in full competition attire. In a clear over exaggeration of how not to present oneself to the judges, the combination trotted around the arena in an ill fitted bridle and a crooked top hat. On closer inspection the rider’s boots were filthy, the plaits were messy and the number holder was both unnecessary and poorly fitted. Ian sent the pair out to ‘have a makeover’ and when they returned the difference was incredible.
“When you come in looking like this, the judges say that combination looks professional and they know what they are doing,” Ian said.
With fresh neat plaits, clean boots, a straight bridal, properly fitted spurs, and a hat on straight it was obvious how important presentation is and just how much of a difference it can make.
Ian finished off his session with professional dressage rider Matt Frost as the pair worked through the 4* A test. As Matt rode around the arena, Ian commentated, drawing attention to when the rider should prepare for transitions and what could be improved. Ian highlighted the importance of working out what warm up will work best for the individual.
“My job is to work out what is best for riders and what is best for the horse,” he said. “There is no set rule; you have to be very versatile.”
Whilst some may need to ride through the test multiple times, others may need to go for a gallop or just school for an hour to settle. No two horses or riders are the same.
Finally Ian discussed how he deals with coaching eventing riders in dressage, a phase that is usually not their favourite.
“I use terminology that eventers can understand.”
They event because of the cross country and that is what they love doing, otherwise they would be doing straight dressage or show jumping! Ian tries to transfer the buzz that comes with cross country into the dressage. As an example when teaching the correct technique for a flying change, Ian tells riders to pretend they have been galloping down a steep hill and suddenly have to sit up and jump a large gate with no frangible pins. The obvious reaction is to get the head and neck up and have the horse sitting back. It is ideas such as these that puts dressage into perspective and provided the perfect start to an action packed day.
Article and photos by Emily Penney
