A blast from the past !

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Rambo

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Just found this clip of HRH (His Righteous Horseman
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) Harvey Smith in the Speed Derby at Hickstead (far too) many years ago lol!

Thought it was quite interesting to compare his style then with some of those riders today.

I for one always used to think of him as a 'hard' rider, but have to say, difficult to spot too much wrong with this one (except for the intentional error in course lol!).

Sanyo Shining Example was Steven Smith's Olympic horse for those who don't remember, so no shortage of horsepower in this clip
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http://www.zippyvideos.com/4791752386426096/harvey_smith_speed_derby/
 
Fantastic!
I love Harvey Smith, I went to a lecture/demo of his once at Ardingly and he was brilliant.
One of the questions asked was 'what do you do if your horse won't jump?'
He replied 'sell it and get one that does'
It's that sort of plain speaking thats very much lacking today where everything is a bit too pc
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What year was that from? I see that it was still sponsored by Silk Cut then.
 
Seeeeeee thats why I have ALWAYS wanted to do the SD, never interested in the real thing, just the speed one
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I rode for Harvey Smith in a clinic in Spain - I have always maintained that man knows what he is doing, whatever his rep I would still be absolutely grateful to have him training me now
 
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What year was that from? I see that it was still sponsored by Silk Cut then.

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Hmmmmm....I'm guessing, but as I found it on a video full of me jumping thn it was no later than 1987...maybe 1986
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One of the questions asked was 'what do you do if your horse won't jump?'
He replied 'sell it and get one that does'

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LMAO!
He did a clinic at a yard I used to work at a few years back.Someones horse was playing up and owner said "its becasue he isnt ready yet" cue rant of "its been in the box for 23 bloody hours and its NOT READY?????" lol.
Great man, great jumper- cant help but like him.
 
We went to a demo of his years ago and still use his method for starting horses over poles.
He came in talking to the audience and got his groom to lay poles randomly all over the arena, then still talking and not making any attempt to do more than sit on the horse he walked all over the place, upped it to a trot and carried on.
Once the horse was totally relaxed and familiar with the poles he did a pole in front of a cross pole and jumped it.
We have done this ever since and it works every time..
Brilliant rider, focussed, determined but also sensitive, otherwise his horses wouldn't have tried so hard for him. Apparently his favourite method of sharpening a lazy jumping horse was to zig zag over five feet stone walls on his moorland farm. Now that takes courage (or stupidity!)
 
That was a great clip.. how amazing that the fences are still the same at Hickstead now as they were then.. the clip didnt look 20 years old - it would fit right in with todays riding really dont you think?

Karen
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That was a great clip.. how amazing that the fences are still the same at Hickstead now as they were then.. the clip didnt look 20 years old - it would fit right in with todays riding really dont you think?

Karen
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Yes, absolutely. One of the nice things about Hickstead is that all the courses remain pretty much the same year on year too, so they can compare like with like
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I would say that the horse was probably a high-blood warmblood, although am not certain. Certainly doesn't look terribly different from the sort of horses we see jumping today...
 
Wicked clip
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Like Karen, its hard to think that clip is so old, the fences are in the same spot etc I guess the only real difference is the weight of the pole and the depth of the cups
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Harvey is a LEGEND!!!
 
Interesting to note that his bum is hardly ever in the saddle. This style was pretty common 20 / 30 years ago with only the germans riding from a deeper seat and more upright position.
Some things have change (but not totally)!
 
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Interesting to note that his bum is hardly ever in the saddle. This style was pretty common 20 / 30 years ago with only the germans riding from a deeper seat and more upright position.
Some things have change (but not totally)!

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LOL!

That's how I was taught to jump back then too.....and still do now
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See I agree, its taken me a long time to get to grips with just sitting, ive always ridden out of the saddle coming down to a fence.

PMSL Lisseygan, Im just confused
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Interesting to note that his bum is hardly ever in the saddle. This style was pretty common 20 / 30 years ago with only the germans riding from a deeper seat and more upright position.
Some things have change (but not totally)!

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Whilst watching Olympia GP last night OH commented about people hovering over the saddle rather than sitting in it, so I dont think things have changed that much tbh.

Karen
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IMO Harvey, no matter what his reputation says is amazing. he is so inspirational, he is just fantastic! It is great that hickstead is the exact same as it was years ago
 
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