Venue: Brightling, Sussex

Monday 19^th July 2010

Eric asked what we wanted to get out of the day, I volunteered ‘inspiration and energy’ which he thought was a tall order. I thought it was a fairly reasonable request, will return to that point later.

We began with a discussion about the sport of eventing and whether it is changing. Cries of ‘it’s not how it used to be’ are an easy option for challenged instructors Eric suggested. It’s people who change. The background, where they come from, what they expect, how they behave. Access to information is different, google culture allows instant knowledge although there is a crucial difference between knowledge and expertise. Horses do not change. They can not use google to improve knowledge. A horse is a horse. The challenge is to bridge the communication gap between knowing riders and unknowing horses.

Eric warned against overloading with information. When we teach we should consider:

• How people learn
• What to teach
• How this is practically applied
• Is it relevant

He stressed that while it is important to stamp individuality through personal approach, it is vital to use established language and that we understand definitions.

Taking ‘rhythm’ as an example, the audience provided 5 different explanations. How confusing for a child! The words are important. Be clear and think about what they mean.

The XC seat

We observed a group of 5 PC riders and assessed their seat. Eric noted that by saying ‘drop your heels’ to one, all riders dropped their heels. Make help personal to individual riders. The legs should support the body, there should be minimal movement in the moment of jumping. Soften. Less is more.

Poor Hugo, the only lad in the group buried his hands and tipped his balance over the FH so Eric turned his hands over and made him jump thumbs facing the bit. Scary the first couple of times but effectively got him off his hands and stabilised his lower leg. Hugo was a star.

A common theme was how to avoid riders looking for a stride. Eric suggested moving the focus off the jump, getting riders to come in on shorter approaches so they turn and jump. Put poles several strides out and concentrate on the 6/7 strides before the jump not the jump itself.

The job of the horse is to jump, they have responsibility for that and looking after the rider. There is a clear division of responsibility. The rider has to get the horse to the fence in a good canter. The horse jumps. In the 5 phases of a jump, approach, take off, flight, landing, get away; the horse takes over from take off to landing. Like shooting a basketball into a net, as the ball leaves your hands to go through the ring (or not), the ball is on it’s own to score a goal. You reconnect with the horse (or ball) as it comes back down the other side to guide through get away, to score again.

The seat should be ‘there or thereabouts’ (Kay Jenman’s pearl of wisdom). Not in the saddle as for dressage. You do not need to drive with the seat. If you do, there is something wrong with the leg.

Jumping through water

Problems here are to do with horses feeling vulnerable (possible alligators and crocodiles…), rider tension, fear of depth. Get the horse’s feet wet before attempting to jump through. A drop into water involves a change in the horse’s balance. Eric highlighted the untidiness of this year’s Badminton water jumping. He supports knotting the reins so you can help your horse, not being too far behind the movement, out of control of the reins for too long with little or no ability to help balance the horse and regain independence of seat. Jumping xc should be about “making it look easy”.

The type of canter needed to jump down a drop?

Most people said “collected” which Eric hated as it puts the wrong concept into minds. So a forward canter? The next rider promptly cantered into the drop into water and had a pretty nasty fall. She was ok but did not remount. Eric stressed the need to observe the fall, not rush, then act. She was too far forward, the horse did not look, assess and jump. Eric suggested they would learn from that experience. Our star Hugo was then brave and launched off the drop while the other riders chose to skip that one. Eric allowed the other riders to opt out, an acceptable decision given slight loss of confidence having seen a friend fall.

Now we were really hot and hungry so a delicious lunch recharged.

After lunch, Eric regathered us and asked for any questions to steer the afternoon course walk. He was incredulous that a Pony Club audience could be so quiet when invited to question. Burnt out sprung to my mind. One way of keeping Pony Club instructors in check is to roast them slowly over a few hours of searing July sunshine on a Sussex hillside. Anyway, a few questions were asked and we headed to the water jump.

Eric suggested that the FEI sport of eventing has gone full circle and is returning to big, bold fences with less skinnies. You can only have so many skinnies before it gets a bit silly.

To teach jumping a skinny fence

When discussing line, Eric was keen to tighten it. Keep corners to a minimum, save 20 seconds. The quickest way between two points is a straight line. So ride it. Skinnies will still exist on courses, be progressive, build confidence in layers.

Teach straightness (and understand the definition). Ride leg to hand is for communication to run through your legs, hindquarters, back, poll, jaw, bit, to your hand. If there is no resistance to this sequence then you have throughness.

Straightness is to have the spine on the line with the HQ following the FH.

Again the need for clarity, to be precise in the definition is crucial. If you require that the horse knows what you want him to do, you need to know yourself what it is that you want him to do.

You could start by jumping over a single coloured pole. Aiming for the middle red bit and consistently hitting that point, learn to ride over an accurate spot. This accuracy and attention to detail is the same as riding down a centre line. Be focussed. Be honest to the line. The horse needs to be comfortable with being put on the line and staying there.

Challenging children without frightening them

An important point was made. Children do not want to jump bigger and wider (most of them). They want to feel challenged and to achieve. Devise interesting exercises in relation to the line. Develop their self-esteem by achieving the line. Improve their discipline. Use your imagination. Develop their ‘feel’. Eric’s best definition for feel is ‘doing the right thing at the right time’.

Eric supports more qualified instructors teaching younger groups of kids. It is important to start them off well. This is often back to front at camps, rallies, riding schools.

A good performance

Looking at the eyes and ears of a good jumping horse, Eric observes that they are looking for a line, seeing, asking what’s next. Look beyond the line. School for honesty not dishonesty. Don’t go on a 50/50 chance. To improve confidence jump 100 times from a spot. Build big wings. Encourage. Eric used the analogy of a golf player who is taking a big shot – the way to avoid nerves is to have hit a ball into a hole 3,500 times. It is then just another shot.

Responsiveness to the leg

Eric described the phrase “not using the leg” as misinterpreted. More like “get more from the leg you’re using”. In the law of diminishing returns, the more you use the more the horse will require to go. If you put in 3 and get 7 out you have a good deal. If you put 7 in and get 3 out you have a bad deal. You need to speed up the horse and rider thought processes. This is possible with training. By giving a rider too much information to process, you slow the thought process down. Keep it simple.

Walking courses with riders

Keep it simple, they need to know where to go. Numbers to follow in sequence. Let them know it’s not wrong to take an alternative route. It’s about using your head, not being the bravest person. It’s not a negative (even if under PC rules 15 penalties are incurred). If they are going to ride a line, commit to it. Don’t make decisions on the course. Don’t frighten them with tales of previous jumps. Get rid of peer groups and parents who aren’t normally helpful to have around. Talk about the what ifs. Before the event make sure they know the rules, draw diagrams. On the course, look for landmarks, discuss the ground and weather. Discuss speed. Away from the course, preparation work must be done on speed. Mark out a field, get a stopwatch, feed in information and feedback. If this work is not done rider will go flat out and then tug before a fence resulting in time penalties and knackered ponies.

Bitting

Eric outlined problems with gag type bits and Mylers. He believes bits are not the answer to a training deficit, a schooling problem. It is not as easy as that. If stronger bits are used to hold a horse in a normal state then there is a gap in a horse’s education. Horses are not designed to gallop, they are designed to sprint so they need to be trained to gallop in balance, with regularity, on the aids and to stop! Stronger bits tend to work at the first 5 fences, then natural adrenaline takes over which masks pain and discomfort so it is common for a horse to run through the bridle from fence 7. Danger!

Eric does not like bits which do not have a direct contact i.e. contact with the bars, chin groove or roof of the mouth. So gags which work on the lips and poll create a delayed reaction, an inverted jump which is not desirable. The back and shoulders lock, the back can not bascule. The horse can not use his back. Whereas a Pelham offers you 25 different mouthpieces and options. I’m learning about this stuff – definitely an area for more research and knowledge. An interesting subject. Eric urged us not to go for stronger bits if the horse is stronger. That is a challenge. Responses are to be educated instead. Moving onto the valid reasons for stopping a horse from continuing cross country – if the horse goes faster when the rider pulls or if the horse goes slower when the rider kicks. They should be stopped.

Output

The final concepts were:

• Reduce the amount of information given to riders
• Increase their skill through practically based exercises

To go back to my original request for energy and inspiration. Was I inspired? Absolutely. Do I feel energised by his approach. Yes, once I’d cooled down! Thank you Eric and The Pony Club.