The past week has been a bit of a write off with lots going on at work and a broken car I have not had much time for Toy and I am feeling very guilty! He has had an impromptu week off which I am sure has done him no harm but with my obsessive planning I like to be productive and am at my most relaxed when things have gone to plan.
Luckily for me, my enthusiasm for the looming event season was reignited today when I attended the International Eventing Forum at Hartpury College. Sitting in the arena surrounded by other enthusiasts and a few equestrian celebrities reminded me that even when the chips are down ultimately I love riding and especially the sport of eventing.
The morning sessions were with Christoph Hess, an FEI judge and renowned "international expert". I found the guinea pig rider, Sam Griffiths and his horse the most interesting as the horse was obviously tense and not swinging over his back, which is often my biggest fault with Toy. Christoph encouraged Sam to open the horses neck, encouraging the horse to seek the contact forwards and not drop back behind the vertical. Christoph asked Sam to ride shoulder in, giving the inside rein to encourage the contact from the inside leg to the outside hand. He then rode 15m circles in the corners, started the long side with shoulder in, then asked for medium canter, back to shoulder in and then another 15m circle in the next corner. The horse needs to be in front of the leg and the medium steps should be lengthened strides without excess speed. Sam rode some of the canter in a light seat. allowing the horse to stretch forward and round over his back. My take home message from the session was that flat work is not just about dressage but about gymnastic movements which are necessary for all three disciplines. Christoph clearly loves what he does and he was very encouraging.
Next there was a shorter session with vet Hugh Suttern and National Hunt trainer Charlie Logsdon, discussing the fitness needed for event horses. It was interesting to hear Charlie say that the modern event horse tends to stay consistently fit all year and competes more regularly. This was reassuring for me as I never really let Toy completely down in his fitness, other wise he goes a bit crazy! Hugh and Charlie also emphasised the importance of keeping a record of everything you do with your horse, then you can look back and see how many times you galloped the week before an event for example and if that event was good/bad, then adjusting your training plan and do things differently next time around.
After lunch the afternoon session was with the legendary Andrew Nicholson, he rode four horses varying from a 4 year old to an advanced horse, doing different exercises with each and I could have listened for hours. He explains everything so simply and obviously knows his horses inside out. He said he gives his horses very little warm up as there muscles are developed and as they have no injuries then they shouldn't need endless walking and trotting around before they jump. He expects them to concentrate as he gives them clear instruction and he expects them to follow with no room for misunderstanding or questioning. He also emphasised the importance of a round active canter for jumping, moving the canter forward and back but always riding the hind end.
Andrew rode a number of exercises starting with four jumps on a circle. They were only small vertical fences, one pole on each. He suggested verticals because then you could jump nearer the inside or outside wing to adjust your strides rather than using cross poles and having to jump the middle. He used some v-poles on verticals and oxers to give the horse something to focus on and said this was useful towards the end of a session when the horses was getting tired.
He also jumped two verticals that were only 5m from the wall of the arena, using planks instead of poles this time as he thinks they are more forgiving if the horse knocks them. He jumped these on a curved line and then jumped the plank on a shallow loop to a vertical and then onto the next plank.
His last more experienced horse jumped fences on a bigger circle, using a bounce, a vertical, then an oxer and another vertical.
He made the point that eventers need to jump economically to save energy over the x-country and also not learn to balloon simple fences as this will complicate teaching more complicated fences such as drops at a later date. His honest and simple approach was amazing to watch and very inspiring.
The key themes that I came away with are simplicity, keeping an active canter and maintaining ride-ability so that Toy is manoeuvrable, supple and ready for anything!
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