Happy New Year! So far, this year has been different than any before. The farm that I’ve gone to in Aiken was sold in November, and for other reasons, too—hurt horses, clients moving, and not a lot of horses in the barn—I took the opportunity to come to Wellington and help Katie and Henri Prudent at their Plain Bay Farm. Right before Christmas, Dr. Johns gave Inmidair (JR) the go-ahead to do whatever I want with him, so I decided I’d bring him to get fit and do some dressage and some jumpers and Volcan to practice in the jumpers.
I would say I know why people go to Florida—because the weather is beautiful! Every week I fly home on Saturday to ride and teach in Virginia and then fly back to Florida on Tuesday. During the week, I flat horses for Katie and Henri and teach some of their people on the flat. Volcan shows in the medium or high schooling jumpers, depending on how the week is going, and on the flat at Global or White Fences.
I was actually quite nervous about doing this because it’s hard to get out of your comfort zone and make yourself train as precisely as is needed for our sport. This is my biggest take-away from Wellington (other than it’s cold in Virginia this time of year)—that on our own, it can be hard to practice with the technique and precision eventing requires because we all have our own, familiar training methods—our comfort zone—that seem to work well enough for us.
So simple, right? Of course we need to be precise. My Eventing attitude allowed me to make it work and get it done, but to be honest, that attitude is not good enough. To be competitive every stride when jumping—forward, balanced, able to go for the big one or forward to the base, to add one, learn how to get a rub—those are all skills we should have if we want to be truly competitive. These fine points of precision riding and making your horse adjustable are a lot harder to do than you think. Being able to do them with composure and a relaxed mind and relaxed arms is even more difficult! But there's a reason Michael Jung is so successful, and anyone can benefit from immersion in other disciplines.
Even though being able to go into the jumper ring or compete at a dressage show every week is something we don’t do enough of as eventers because it’s hard to make the time, it’s a great experience, and shows become just another day at the office practicing the skills that you need.
Stay tuned for more updates and to follow Inmidair 2018!
I would say I know why people go to Florida—because the weather is beautiful! Every week I fly home on Saturday to ride and teach in Virginia and then fly back to Florida on Tuesday. During the week, I flat horses for Katie and Henri and teach some of their people on the flat. Volcan shows in the medium or high schooling jumpers, depending on how the week is going, and on the flat at Global or White Fences.
I was actually quite nervous about doing this because it’s hard to get out of your comfort zone and make yourself train as precisely as is needed for our sport. This is my biggest take-away from Wellington (other than it’s cold in Virginia this time of year)—that on our own, it can be hard to practice with the technique and precision eventing requires because we all have our own, familiar training methods—our comfort zone—that seem to work well enough for us.
So simple, right? Of course we need to be precise. My Eventing attitude allowed me to make it work and get it done, but to be honest, that attitude is not good enough. To be competitive every stride when jumping—forward, balanced, able to go for the big one or forward to the base, to add one, learn how to get a rub—those are all skills we should have if we want to be truly competitive. These fine points of precision riding and making your horse adjustable are a lot harder to do than you think. Being able to do them with composure and a relaxed mind and relaxed arms is even more difficult! But there's a reason Michael Jung is so successful, and anyone can benefit from immersion in other disciplines.
Even though being able to go into the jumper ring or compete at a dressage show every week is something we don’t do enough of as eventers because it’s hard to make the time, it’s a great experience, and shows become just another day at the office practicing the skills that you need.
Stay tuned for more updates and to follow Inmidair 2018!
RSS Feed