Day three of Paul Tapner’s clinic brought with it a beautiful cloudless blue sky and a strong wind was all that eased the biting hot sun. With a continuous stream of planes fresh out of nearby Melbourne airport as a constant backdrop, Paul continued to share his knowledge with eager riders and spectators.
Paul teaches out on the beautiful Oaklands cross country course
Out on cross country the Badminton winner shared a story about his younger days back in Australia. We were standing in front of a decent sized ditch and brush fence. Many years ago, Paul was walking the course at the NSW State Championships with Shane Rose and they came to a fence like the one we stood at (except it was much bigger and the ditch in front was far deeper and wider). Apparently their coach was not impressed that they were checking out the great big ditch that they were going to have to get over. They were made to go back, get a run up and jump the fence on foot, all the while being ‘encouraged’ by their coach on the sidelines. When they had made it safely to the other side, they were asked if they had paid any attention to the great big ditch below them. The answer was of course no. The sole focus was to get over the fence alive, there was no time to look down and worry about what was going on underneath. Lesson learnt. If you’re not focusing on the ditch below when jumping it, then you can be sure that your horse won’t be either.
Human wings! Horses learn to jump ditches calmly Photo by "Vanaheim"
The cross country lesson focused on a few main things across all of the groups. After all the basics are the same for all levels, it is just a case of detail as you go through the grades. Exercises may have the same qualities but you have different expectations depending on what you’re sitting on. With young horses you just don’t expect as much from them. “Make everything progressive, very small steps forward,” Paul says.
Paul watches on as riders practise jumping narrow fences Photo by "Vanaheim"
This is the case for all disciplines but it was particularly evident out on cross country. The lesson focused on changing pace and control in the canter and gallop, jumping ditches calmly as well as straightness and maintaining the same speed through water. Groups finished off by working on a single arrow head, further highlighting the importance of keeping the horse straight. Paul emphasized the difference between training and competing. When training you should ride calmly and softly. In terms of a ditch, it should feel like a canter pole, the horse should be relaxed and calm, so that they want to do the job. Having said that you must also be firm. “Make it happen, then make it nice,” Paul says. This applies across dressage, show jumping and cross country.
“Make it happen, then make it nice” Photo by "Vanaheim"
You also have to make use of the facilities that you have and increase the difficulty of an exercise when it becomes too easy and boring. The top group for example progressed to jumping the arrow head on an angle in a figure of eight once it became evident that jumping the fence straight was too easy. It is also important to do an exercise correctly more than once. “Nice twice, twice nice,” Paul repeated as the group joined in and laughed whilst imitating him. It was clear that this was something that they had been told to do all weekend.
David Prior from the Melbourne Eventing Team warms up Photo by "Vanaheim"
David Prior from the Melbourne Eventing Team emphasized the importance of having someone like Paul come to Australia and share his knowledge with up and coming riders. “It’s not just lessons,” he said. Over the clinic they also focused on goal planning and the mental approach that you take within your riding. As well as the importance of how you conduct your warm up. The idea of working in groups is so that everyone can learn from each other. Someone may face a problem that whilst you may not have now, it will no doubt pop up in the future. It certainly helps to have an instructor that is so approachable as well. “Paul is so down to earth,” David said. However he doesn’t put up with nonsense and is brutally honest but in the end it is for your own benefit. MET have recognized the need for a broader education in eventing training and they are trying to do this by providing these clinics. By bringing people like Paul in, MET are “developing our ideas to be able to support Australian eventing riders in whatever way there seems to be a need.” They certainly seem to be doing this and it was quite clear that riders had a fantastic weekend, filled with lots of laughs and learning. The importance of clinics from the likes of Paul Tapner cannot be understated and MET are playing a big role in pushing the sport forward and educating our riders of the future.
To read about the dressage training day at MET with Paul CLICK HERE
