Taryn Proctor and ESB Irish Quest work on lightening the forehand in their session with Gareth
One of the distinct advantages of doing well in competition and climbing that elusive ladder of success is being listed on a National Squad and receiving some essential support.
In Australia the National Eventing Squads are revised twice yearly and riders from around the country who have met the mandatory requirements at each level are included on the various squads. Once listed they are invited to take part in special coaching sessions with some of the world’s best at no cost to themselves; definitely one of the perks of being ‘listed’
British based but Queensland born Gareth Hughes has been helping Equestrian Australia’s Eventing squads and teams for a while now and has done two Australian based National Eventing squad clinics this year. On each trip he coaches in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, enabling riders and their listed horses at the various levels to have access to top level dressage coaching.
For those of you that have been hiding under a rock in the past few months Gareth recently was part of the silver medal winning British team at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games so he certainly knows his stuff but he is also a very down to earth, approachable person which is particularly good for the many younger up and coming riders
Emily McQueen and King's Sun look forward to implementing what they have learned from Gareth in the competition arena
At a recent National Squad clinic in Victoria we sat in on a few of Gareth’s sessions and found out what Emily McQueen, one of the younger riders who attended, took away from the clinic. Emily is a recent addition to the squad who had not previously trained with Gareth but she was really looking forward to the two sessions to try and improve her performance in this phase with her listed horse King’s Sun
“I had a good weekend at Canberra Horse Trials recently with two great jumping rounds but a not so strong performance in the dressage ring” says Emily “So saying I was looking forward to my lessons with Gareth Hughes is an understatement! Like most fit thoroughbreds my 2* gelding King’s Sun is often very tense in our dressage tests resulting in the loss of quality and accuracy in our work”
“Over the two days Gareth gave me some fantastic tools to use to enable me to keep my legs on and not get precious in the ring, which is the key when working with these kinds of horses. In particular it has been challenging to keep a solid rhythm in the walk so Gareth had us doing various lateral exercises in the walk pace, alternating between the laterals and walking straight so that by the end I was be able to ask him to move around without him anticipating and jogging off”
“However for me the biggest highlight over the two days was the work we did on my own position. Often we spend so much time concentrating on improving the work we get from our horses we forget the simpler things like sitting tall, sitting even and looking forward! It’s amazing how the horses respond to these small changes and how it improves the overall picture of horse and rider. It was a fantastic two days and I’m looking forward to implementing some of these new tactics at Goulburn Horse Trials and then leading up to and during the Australian International 3 Day Event in Adelaide in November, which will be exciting as this is my first time riding at this big event”
Most of the nationally listed riders based in Victoria were able to attend the clinic from 4* rider Seumas Marwood who has had a chance to train with Gareth on his recent overseas campaign to riders such as Emily and Andrew Cooper who are ‘newbies’
For all of the riders these squad clinics are is a chance to gain exposure to top trainers, improve their performance and hopefully one day show their skills as a member of an Australian team
21 year old Andrew Cooper was urged to "find a role model and emulate them - it helps to keep you focussed"
