Emma, Thea on Mustang and Dave
The Monday after Scone Mustang was saddled up to be ridden by 13 year old Thea Horsley. My special horse was fresh from a wonderful weekend at Scone where he and Crystal took out the CNC2*, a great achievement for the pair who haven't been in partnership very long.
Thea was surprised on her sixteenth birthday that her Mum had snagged her a lesson with top showjumping rider and coach Dave Cameron with a twist that the lesson was on a 4* eventing champion Mustang! Thea’s mum Louise had seen on www.an-eventful-life.com.au there was an online auction raising funds for a friend of the horse community Lyndal Pankhurst and wanted to support Lyndal who is travelling to Germany for the latest cancer treatment. Louise also saw the great opportunity for her daughter to ride on a world class horse under the instruction of a top level coach and decided it would make a perfect birthday gift for her young daughter. The amount raised from the auction to help Lyndal was over $10,000 which will help her get to Germany for the latest in treatment.
Thea and Mustang do some excercises over pole
The introduction of Thea and Mustang went well with Thea climbing the long way up onto the 16.3hh gelding and looking right at home. Dave started the lesson by getting Thea used to the feel of Mustang's big rhythmical paces and altering the speed up and down as well as moving him sideways and getting him to be adjustable on her gentle commands. Dave progressed the lesson at a gentle gradient so both horse and rider were feeling comfortable and confident with each task before moving on to the next level exercise. They did great exercises including cantering over poles 7 strides apart in a comfortable rhythm and then shortening the stride and doing 8 strides then lengthen back to 7 strides, really getting the feel of adjusting the horse.
They then progressed to jumping a cross rail and turning in a different direction each time, working on balance and keeping straight over the fence. Dave gradually increased the difficulty of the exercises and Thea suddenly found herself riding her first flying change in between riding a show jump course.
Now it's time to jump some fences
The 16 year old piloted the 4* Ferrari very well and he was very obliging to his gentle young rider. Mum, Louise, commented on how Dave was easy to duplicate and understand, you can see what he is saying coming into vision, building understanding in the rider.
Watch out for the flying change!
"I really enjoyed the whole experience," said Thea. "It was great fun to ride a horse that is so well educated and Mustang was a real gentleman. Dave Cameron was fantastic too and even though it was my first time on Mustang he taught me a lot. I would love to go cross country on him!"
Putting it all together
I personally enjoyed watching my beautiful horse who I have put in a lot of hard yards with training, carry around a new young rider so placidly and to see someone can push the buttons I worked on installing- it was very satisfying. Crystal had done a wonderful job over the weekend winning the 2* and then for him to jump around a course the next day with a young rider who thoroughly enjoyed herself and was smiling from ear to ear,was very pleasing as an owner.
If you would like to experience well structured lessons which work on greater communication between horse and rider which builds confidence or if you want to become more competitive in the show jumping arena Dave comes highly recommended. The donation of his time for this lesson was very much appreciated.
I feel very pleased to have been able to contribute to help a lovely friend Lyndal by offering the ride on Mustang and many thanks to Crystal Conning for riding and caring for him. Mustang is still for sale and would love to continue to give someone many years of competition pleasure.
Article, photos and video: Emma Scott
