vallin
Well-Known Member
Bernster asked for information on how I found the BE NG clinic so I thought I'd do a very brief write up (the parents are coming to stay tomorrow so I should really be cleaning :O ).
For those of you that don't know, D is historically a massive PITA when it comes to jumping due to an irritating stopping habit. We ditched eventing last year as it wasn't worth paying BE fees for a dressage test and focussed on just getting out, seeing more of the world and generally enjoying each others company. Since then we've been doing lots of training with a variety of instructors and D seems to have settled a bit, with no competitive stops in recent history. At home we've confidently been working 90/95cm so I decided to risk going for the 90cm group rather than my usual 80cm.
Arrived a NG's in the pouring rain to a surprisingly cheerful welcome and a 'go and wander round the school, I need to swap into my third set of clothes today!'
Got on and had a minor heart attack when I went into the school and saw this...
The picture doesn't quite do it justice but the school was set out with a variety of corners, water trays, skinnies, bounces, angled combinations etc all at full up 90/95cm. (if you click the link below and scroll down to slide 25 I've done a slide to show the set out of the school.)
https://docs.google.com/presentatio...0FnVLlcYHfAdbZM/edit#slide=id.g6976d2562_0155
Nick started off by emphasising that it was XC training in an arena, not SJing XC-style fences and got us all working in a forward canter off the horses backs. We then warmed up over an oxer that was slowly increased in height, again focussing on jumping it out of our stride rather than backing off and fiddling in the hope of the perfect stride. D was a bit off the pace (as always ) so Nick encouraged me to push forwards on the turn and then hold rather than ambling round the turn and then accelerating towards the fence. Warm up was concluded with an upright to a set of barrels on a dog leg to make sure we were riding neat lines.
Next up was a straight line through a pair of angled uprights which all horses managed easily so we didn't spend long on, just a couple of times through to make sure all horses were confident and staying straight.
After that was a pair of corners, the one thing in that arena that gave me real heebee jeebees. Nick had made it clear at the start that if we wanted anything lowered/altered to just let him know - so I did! Nick went through how to jump a corner and then dropped one of them down to 80cm. We popped over it without any problems and it was quickly restored to its original height. It was then paired with another corner on a dog leg to give me heebee jeebees a real test!
When all of the horses were confident with the corners we had a play over the skinnies, first on their own and then paired with the oxer we had warmed up over. D managed it without any problems but one of the other horses struggled a bit more so a guide pole was added for her and they worked on getting the horse over in trot, then canter, then pairing it with another jump.
After that we moved swiftly through jumping bounces and water trays and then finished up by jumping a course containing all of the elements with a few new questions (including the two skinny fences on angels)
I had a great time and D was absolutely fabulous. It's not a session I would suggest for the feint hearted as there were a lot of tough questions asked and the pace was pretty fast (though given the weather none of us wanted to stand around for long!) I'm umming and ahhing about booking on to the next one as I suspect it will be very similar and whilst I enjoyed the clinic and I think D benefitted from it didn't really give me things to work on at home.
Hope that's useful Bernster - any questions feel free to ask!
V
Gratuitous picture of D to brighten up the post a bit
For those of you that don't know, D is historically a massive PITA when it comes to jumping due to an irritating stopping habit. We ditched eventing last year as it wasn't worth paying BE fees for a dressage test and focussed on just getting out, seeing more of the world and generally enjoying each others company. Since then we've been doing lots of training with a variety of instructors and D seems to have settled a bit, with no competitive stops in recent history. At home we've confidently been working 90/95cm so I decided to risk going for the 90cm group rather than my usual 80cm.
Arrived a NG's in the pouring rain to a surprisingly cheerful welcome and a 'go and wander round the school, I need to swap into my third set of clothes today!'
Got on and had a minor heart attack when I went into the school and saw this...
The picture doesn't quite do it justice but the school was set out with a variety of corners, water trays, skinnies, bounces, angled combinations etc all at full up 90/95cm. (if you click the link below and scroll down to slide 25 I've done a slide to show the set out of the school.)
https://docs.google.com/presentatio...0FnVLlcYHfAdbZM/edit#slide=id.g6976d2562_0155
Nick started off by emphasising that it was XC training in an arena, not SJing XC-style fences and got us all working in a forward canter off the horses backs. We then warmed up over an oxer that was slowly increased in height, again focussing on jumping it out of our stride rather than backing off and fiddling in the hope of the perfect stride. D was a bit off the pace (as always
) so Nick encouraged me to push forwards on the turn and then hold rather than ambling round the turn and then accelerating towards the fence. Warm up was concluded with an upright to a set of barrels on a dog leg to make sure we were riding neat lines. Next up was a straight line through a pair of angled uprights which all horses managed easily so we didn't spend long on, just a couple of times through to make sure all horses were confident and staying straight.
After that was a pair of corners, the one thing in that arena that gave me real heebee jeebees. Nick had made it clear at the start that if we wanted anything lowered/altered to just let him know - so I did! Nick went through how to jump a corner and then dropped one of them down to 80cm. We popped over it without any problems and it was quickly restored to its original height. It was then paired with another corner on a dog leg to give me heebee jeebees a real test!
When all of the horses were confident with the corners we had a play over the skinnies, first on their own and then paired with the oxer we had warmed up over. D managed it without any problems but one of the other horses struggled a bit more so a guide pole was added for her and they worked on getting the horse over in trot, then canter, then pairing it with another jump.
After that we moved swiftly through jumping bounces and water trays and then finished up by jumping a course containing all of the elements with a few new questions (including the two skinny fences on angels)
I had a great time and D was absolutely fabulous. It's not a session I would suggest for the feint hearted as there were a lot of tough questions asked and the pace was pretty fast (though given the weather none of us wanted to stand around for long!) I'm umming and ahhing about booking on to the next one as I suspect it will be very similar and whilst I enjoyed the clinic and I think D benefitted from it didn't really give me things to work on at home.
Hope that's useful Bernster - any questions feel free to ask!
V
Gratuitous picture of D to brighten up the post a bit
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