I’ve just finished six weeks of my Wellington experience. To be honest, it was really, really educational. In fact, I was talking to my better half, Tom, about it and he said, “Jan, it’s just like learning to be a chef.” I thought it was funny he said that, but he explained his point: “As a chef, say you have to perfect the English Muffin. You learn techniques to make the dough, you give it enough time in the toaster so it’s golden brown, a bit crunchy and a bit soft, you play around with it until you can win Top Chef!”
Tom’s so right, perfecting our riding is like learning to cook—being able to work on the my show jumping and dressage in Wellington, and concentrate on that and not be afraid to change my warm-up, experiment with sitting down or staying out of saddle, or figure out when to leave out a stride or cut a turn—it’s been amazing. My whole experience has been basically how to perfect the English Muffin.
During week three, it felt like all the wheels were coming off the cart, but it was simply me experimenting with new techniques. Our sport of Eventing is so small, you can get stuck in your own bubble—the events you go to and the people you ride with—and you don’t always expand your own program. It can be good to keep putting yourself in new situations, to be uncomfortable and work it out. With Volcan, Katie taught me I need to slow down and use the turn before the jump to get him in front of my seat and leg. That’s no different than using the corners in the dressage ring. I would jump Friday in the High Schoolings and then used the same philosophy to get a 70.9 at second level in dressage at Global, which was two points higher than the week before. This is just one example of being able to combine my thought processes to completely perfect my English muffin.
Toward the end of my stay, I got to jump Inmidair for first time. He was buck-wild on Wednesday, really relaxed and casual Thursday, awesome and sharp on Friday and then had a great dressage test. It’s been fascinating to be able to do enough showing to really be able to think about what I’m doing as I do it. I’m mindful I don’t normally get to practice like that. Wellington was an awesome experience and I can’t wait to see what my horses do this year!
Tom’s so right, perfecting our riding is like learning to cook—being able to work on the my show jumping and dressage in Wellington, and concentrate on that and not be afraid to change my warm-up, experiment with sitting down or staying out of saddle, or figure out when to leave out a stride or cut a turn—it’s been amazing. My whole experience has been basically how to perfect the English Muffin.
During week three, it felt like all the wheels were coming off the cart, but it was simply me experimenting with new techniques. Our sport of Eventing is so small, you can get stuck in your own bubble—the events you go to and the people you ride with—and you don’t always expand your own program. It can be good to keep putting yourself in new situations, to be uncomfortable and work it out. With Volcan, Katie taught me I need to slow down and use the turn before the jump to get him in front of my seat and leg. That’s no different than using the corners in the dressage ring. I would jump Friday in the High Schoolings and then used the same philosophy to get a 70.9 at second level in dressage at Global, which was two points higher than the week before. This is just one example of being able to combine my thought processes to completely perfect my English muffin.
Toward the end of my stay, I got to jump Inmidair for first time. He was buck-wild on Wednesday, really relaxed and casual Thursday, awesome and sharp on Friday and then had a great dressage test. It’s been fascinating to be able to do enough showing to really be able to think about what I’m doing as I do it. I’m mindful I don’t normally get to practice like that. Wellington was an awesome experience and I can’t wait to see what my horses do this year!
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