The first sound I heard upon waking for cross country day was the drip of rain on shingles. My heart sank as my fantasy of finally galloping my horse on Waredaca's turf evaporated. Much to my surprise, however, the sadness was misplaced. As we arrived to help set up new jumps in the indoor, I saw that Eric managed to create interesting, challenging questions that taught just as much, if not more due to the horses' lack of distraction, as being out in the field might have!! That man has some undeniable talent!
There was a different focus for each group. For ours, it was moving your horse forward in balance, both straight and through turns, and using your rhythm and pace to be competitive with accuracy and planning. Making it even more educational was our eclectic group of horses. Beth rode her experienced Prelim TB mare (a fantastic Silver Charm daughter with overflowing enthusiasm), another Adult Rider friend rode her green OTTB gelding, one of Kate Chadderton's young working students rode her spectacular jumper of a pony, and I had Encore, still rough around the edges, but making real strides in consistency and approaching readiness for Training level.
It was hard.
As we warmed up at the trot, we were instructed to look at all the possible lines, approaches and turns for each jump. Eventing is not about beating each other, it's about beating the course designer. So we trotted around, looking at everything.
Then we were told we were terrible at it, ha (learning isn't all roses, and I very much liked that, with each passing day, we were held to a higher standard, with no malice, but with a strong sense of accountability). That wandering around in warmup without riding the lines of the course (when this option is available) is a complete waste of time -- ride the turns, ride the approaches, know what every. single. option. is.
By take three, we finally got more aggressive as a group and attacked the arena much more critically, although the Stern Irishman was not exactly impressed. I could see by their faces that my lesson buddies were determined to kick some butt now too!
An important point about your first warmup jump for cross country: its purpose is to wake the horse up. Not to be pretty. Not to win an eq medal. Ride that horse forward to the jump and don't do a darn thing. If he crashes through it like a gorilla, he wasn't awake. He will be on the next one, unless he's as dumb as a post, in which case you probably should not leave the start box. And you sure don't want to find that out on the very solid first jump out on course!
We worked both ways through a simple bounce and then added a jump or two following it, keeping the emphasis on riding forward (don't you add that stride!!!) and being quick with your eye to guide your horse to the next jump.
Now it was time for the meat: turns. This is where many people lose time and when you are trying to be competitive at Training and above, time matters. It's also a good thing to practice at all levels. Truly good cross country riding isn't about who can run the fastest. We ride racehorses for goodness sake, they're plenty fast. Good cross country riding is about who has the most finely tuned technical skill, who has laid the best foundation on their horse to be sharp and accurate on course without sacrificing balance or rhythm. Watch Britain's Fox-Pitt or Germany's Jung and you will quickly see what that means. Skill, finesse, and a concrete plan A, B, C, D, and Z.
This is where it got ugly (for us!). Encore is very capable of sitting on his butt, stepping under himself, and turning beautifully. However, I had never schooled this skill on such a tight line (it was about a 12 m circle), so we both looked something like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! JUMP!!
After Eric got me to stop pulling on the inside rein, though (NOT ALLOWED), and really pushing with my outside leg, Encore quickly began to understand what I was asking of him. That big crash in the middle is actually not him hitting a rail -- that is me pulling the whole standard down with my toe! Go big or go home!
Before long we were able to put all this together and even add a constructed corner to finish off in style.
I cannot fully express my gratitude to Beth for not only setting this up, but making it possible for me to participate. She is amazing! Thank you too to Sunset Hill and Kate Chadderton for their hospitality and beautiful facility. Kate is great fun and a lovely, patient rider; look for her and her current *** mount, Collection Pass, as they gallop towards 2014's Rolex!
And of course, thank you to Eric Smiley -- a wealth of experience, knowledge, an incredibly deep and thorough understanding of horsemanship and correct riding and training, generous, hilarious, helpful, gifted, fun yet disciplined, and with that quick eye of an excellent teacher and equestrian. Thank you for sharing so much and for putting up with the weird girl, haha.
There was a different focus for each group. For ours, it was moving your horse forward in balance, both straight and through turns, and using your rhythm and pace to be competitive with accuracy and planning. Making it even more educational was our eclectic group of horses. Beth rode her experienced Prelim TB mare (a fantastic Silver Charm daughter with overflowing enthusiasm), another Adult Rider friend rode her green OTTB gelding, one of Kate Chadderton's young working students rode her spectacular jumper of a pony, and I had Encore, still rough around the edges, but making real strides in consistency and approaching readiness for Training level.
It was hard.
As we warmed up at the trot, we were instructed to look at all the possible lines, approaches and turns for each jump. Eventing is not about beating each other, it's about beating the course designer. So we trotted around, looking at everything.
By take three, we finally got more aggressive as a group and attacked the arena much more critically, although the Stern Irishman was not exactly impressed. I could see by their faces that my lesson buddies were determined to kick some butt now too!
An important point about your first warmup jump for cross country: its purpose is to wake the horse up. Not to be pretty. Not to win an eq medal. Ride that horse forward to the jump and don't do a darn thing. If he crashes through it like a gorilla, he wasn't awake. He will be on the next one, unless he's as dumb as a post, in which case you probably should not leave the start box. And you sure don't want to find that out on the very solid first jump out on course!
We worked both ways through a simple bounce and then added a jump or two following it, keeping the emphasis on riding forward (don't you add that stride!!!) and being quick with your eye to guide your horse to the next jump.
Now it was time for the meat: turns. This is where many people lose time and when you are trying to be competitive at Training and above, time matters. It's also a good thing to practice at all levels. Truly good cross country riding isn't about who can run the fastest. We ride racehorses for goodness sake, they're plenty fast. Good cross country riding is about who has the most finely tuned technical skill, who has laid the best foundation on their horse to be sharp and accurate on course without sacrificing balance or rhythm. Watch Britain's Fox-Pitt or Germany's Jung and you will quickly see what that means. Skill, finesse, and a concrete plan A, B, C, D, and Z.
This is where it got ugly (for us!). Encore is very capable of sitting on his butt, stepping under himself, and turning beautifully. However, I had never schooled this skill on such a tight line (it was about a 12 m circle), so we both looked something like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! JUMP!!
After Eric got me to stop pulling on the inside rein, though (NOT ALLOWED), and really pushing with my outside leg, Encore quickly began to understand what I was asking of him. That big crash in the middle is actually not him hitting a rail -- that is me pulling the whole standard down with my toe! Go big or go home!
Before long we were able to put all this together and even add a constructed corner to finish off in style.
I cannot fully express my gratitude to Beth for not only setting this up, but making it possible for me to participate. She is amazing! Thank you too to Sunset Hill and Kate Chadderton for their hospitality and beautiful facility. Kate is great fun and a lovely, patient rider; look for her and her current *** mount, Collection Pass, as they gallop towards 2014's Rolex!
And of course, thank you to Eric Smiley -- a wealth of experience, knowledge, an incredibly deep and thorough understanding of horsemanship and correct riding and training, generous, hilarious, helpful, gifted, fun yet disciplined, and with that quick eye of an excellent teacher and equestrian. Thank you for sharing so much and for putting up with the weird girl, haha.
