Sir Toddy shares a laugh with an attentive audience
The recently knighted Sir Mark Todd is one man in the eventing world who certainly needs no introduction. Two Olympic gold medals and multiple wins at Badminton and Burghley are just the beginning of a colourful and extensive list of achievements. At this week’s International Eventing Forum (IEF), Eric Smiley introduced Mark by comparing him to Tennis great, Roger Federer - not because they are both so successful at their chosen sports and not because of the fortune that has come from it. Funnily enough, it has nothing to do with their desirable looks either (although this comment did draw a few laughs from the crowd). “They both make their sport look so easy,” Eric said. This certainly is true and throughout his session at the IEF, Mark began to reveal some of the secrets that contribute to making a champion.
Using poles everyday builds confidence
The first step is to remember the importance of the basics of your flat work when it comes to jumping. “Don’t throw all that out the window,” Mark said. “Jumping is very much flat work but with poles in the way.” It is useful to have poles scattered around the arena, so that you can trot and canter over them on a daily basis. “So that jumping becomes no big deal,” Mark explained. The second step is to have a good position, you need to keep your leg forward and stay balanced into a fence. “Your job is to keep the balance and rhythm.”
Kitty King, David Doel and Louise Skelton (L-R) await their instructions
When warming up it is useful to practice shortening and lengthening strides. To start with you may need to use your hands but practice using your body as well. The more you work on it, the less you will need to use your hands and the horse will become more responsive. “Using you body insures you have a smoother ride,” Mark says. “The more you train your horse, the more you can shorten and lengthen it immediately, the more options you have.” You can practice this by setting up two small fences or poles a distance apart and playing around with the amount of strides that you do in between them. “You make them obedient through training exercises and poles on the ground and gradually buildup.”
“Don’t lean to the direction that you are going to over the fence"
With help from his three demo riders, Kitty King, David Doel and Louise Skelton, Mark moved on to practicing teaching the horse to land on the correct leg after a jump. This exercise entailed jumping one small fence in a figure of eight. When jumping the fence you turn your upper body and open the inside rein to encourage them to land on the right leg. Horses are just like us in that they are stiff on one side so it may take some time for them to understand. “Don’t lean to the direction that you are going to over the fence because that puts the horse off balance,” Mark said. “Be very clever about opening the inside rein.”
David Doel makes his way down the grid
For the next exercise, Mark had the combinations work their way down a line of fences. “For small fences go for the waiting stride otherwise the horse gets long and flat,” he said. “Use your upper body to sit up to help him balance.” As the horses became accustomed to the exercise, the fences were widened so they learned to use their bodies. “It’s a real gymnastic exercise for them.” It is important to keep the horse straight over the fence too and as one horse began to drift down the line, Mark placed poles on the fence to keep it straight. The result was instantaneous but the eventing great warned that you shouldn’t try too much too soon. “If they start to struggle, you’ve gone too far and you put it down again,” he said.
Mark places poles on the fences to keep Kitty King straight
The session finished with riders working around a short course. It was important to establish a nice rhythm and have the horse in front of the leg. You must also be nice and balanced and clear with your instructions. “No motor bike turns, nice smooth turns.” When combinations had to jump a triple bar and make six strides to a double of uprights, Mark encouraged riders to move on after the first fence. “Get your distance early, land and think move up so that when you get there you can be balanced and sit up and jump.” The improvement in the riders over the course of Mark’s session was quite obvious and he encouraged everyone to try the exercises at home. “The hardest thing is making yourself disciplined enough to set it up and do it in your arena.” It turns out that even the best don’t always do it by the book either. “I do it here but not always at home,” he laughed.
Article and photos by Emily Penney
