Gold-Medal Teacher Stresses Fashioning a ‘Total Horseman’

I feel that it’s important to encourage riders to take clinics from as many instructors as possible, to watch as many top professionals as possible and to read as much (about riding) as possible. It’s important for riders to be exposed to as many different ideas as possible, and sort of cultivate their own theories and roots behind their riding.

It is important to have one consistent trainer, but it is also nice to open yourself up to different ideas so you’re not that person’s clone. You want to be your own person as a rider and to be open to ideas.

Hopefully, you’ll have the chance to ride many different types of horses, to work with different types of riders and horses if you want to stay in the business. It is nice to have a fuller background so you have more ideas to draw upon.

When you take a clinic with somebody, it’s important to at least try what they have to teach while you’re there in that clinic--because only then can you know if that (technique) really might work for you. And then take it home and if you don’t like it, leave that out of your training. You could also discuss it with your instructor. Don’t take everything everyone says about riding as gospel.

When I give a clinic, I at least want (participants) to try my ideas. If they don’t work on that particular horse, then maybe they will on another horse. Or maybe some riders don’t like the ideas; that’s fine. But at least while they’re there (in the clinic), they opened themselves up to new ideas, because you never know what might work.

When I teach, I really concentrate more on the horse’s and rider’s performance as a team. My teaching is not just centered around the rider, but it’s centered around both the horse and rider.

I find that nowadays so many more instructors are much more technical. Unfortunately, there are not as many kids, especially here in California, who get the chance to ride bareback, fox hunt, trail ride--just play, really, get to know their horse.

I try to give that back to the riders (in a clinic) a little bit. If they don’t have the opportunity to develop a natural feel on their own, I try to teach that as much as I can. I encourage riders to develop a feel for what the horse is thinking, a feel for what is happening underneath them in my exercises that I do. I teach them to feel the horse’s stride, to feel contact through the horse’s mouth, through the correct use of the aids, to start to anticipate the horse’s moves.

I teach position, but I don’t concentrate on the technical end of it until I have the rider feeling a little bit more about the horse.

We work on trying to feel the horse’s footfall, trying to feel the beats to the walk, trot and canter, to be able to feel the lead they’re on without looking down, to jump a fence and to be able to within one stride tell which lead the horse landed on. We also do a lot of work on the flat with contact, feeling the horse’s movement, following the head and neck, and really feeling what’s happening underneath them--not looking at it or not being told by the instructor what’s happening, but really feeling it for yourself.

I think that’s so important. Riders at all levels can learn to teach their horse something, no matter how green the rider or horse. I think that riders can be taught to teach their horse something every time they get on the horse. Rather than just teaching the riders how to ride, I try to teach them as horsemen and trainers as well.

I encourage people to be horsemen--to really care about the animal, not just what the animal can do for them, to really care about the animal’s well-being. I teach them to be more aware of sounds, aware of the horse’s mood, aware of whether the horse is stiff or supple, if he’s fresh or tired, be aware of how the horse is feeling, and then decide what that horse needs to work on that day, how he feels when he comes out (of the stall).

The goal is to be a total horseman. In the 3-day clinic here with the more advanced riders, the first day we worked on stretching and suppling exercises, the second day on balance and the third day on the straightness of the horse.

I tried to work a total picture of what we’re striving for with the horse on the flat. And then with some of the junior and equitation riders, we worked more with the eyes and then on their hands, then the upper-body position. I worked on things that would suit the particular groups of riders for what they need to know when they’re in the show ring and in their everyday riding.

Flatwork is so important because it directly relates to what we do over fences. The problems we have over fences are only exaggerated while we’re jumping, but those same problems are evident on the flat. And I really like to face things head on. I like to deal with those problems first on the flat, even starting at the walk when the rider doesn’t have to worry about speed or finding the distance to the jump or the fear of jumping. He doesn’t have anything to worry about except the basic problems on the flat.

Usually most of the problems are centered around the horse’s lack of attention to the rider’s aids, the lack of acceptance to the aids. Horses that get quick over fences are usually running from the rider’s leg and trying to throw away the leg and the hand. If you can get those horses to come forward and back, to lengthen and shorten on the flat, accepting the leg and also responding to the hand, usually that makes the senses alert and makes much less of a problem.

I do a lot of flatwork in my clinics. Sometimes people think it’s too much flat, but in my opinion flat is so much everything. To me, a clinic should be more special than a lesson. I try to teach a lot of my theories, and if people are smart, rather than just riding in their own group, they’ll listen to all the other groups, because I do a little different with each group.

But in a 3-day period, someone can learn about 90% of my philosophy of riding. I teach a lot of theories; rather than telling people what to do, I always tell them why. I never ask someone to do something until I tell them why it’s important and why it’s necessary, because if you can visualize and understand why you’re doing something, then it’s a lot easier to work toward that goal and accomplish it if you have a reason.

I really enjoyed working with the groups in this clinic. There were a lot of promising young riders that ride in the junior equitation classes and a lot of adult jumpers and some riders who were starting in the grand prix ranks. These were really fun, diverse groups, very receptive and interested. They all had a sound foundation in their riding. They had good work up until now, so they were ready to listen and accept new ideas. I really enjoyed it.

The problems I see in clinics are mainly geographical and regional. Here in California, because they show in a smaller ring, riders tend not to open their horse’s stride as much. They don’t ride as forward as we might ride back on the East Coast because they don’t need to--because of the size of the ring and the types of classes. It’s not a fault but something I observed, because they don’t have big outdoor courses here.

Overall, I was really impressed with the quality of rider here. Positions are good, and I don’t see a consistent problem. I see a lot of promising riders here, a lot of equestrian talent that is being developed in California.