Scotts of Thrapston

Shoulders back!

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Janet in Janet Hammond, Rider Development Programme

This was the week of my final training clinic at Carlton. Originally scheduled as a two day event clinic, circumstances meant that it unfortunately had to be cut back to a cross country session on Thursday, which was such a shame.

I had been looking forward to training for the dressage and show jumping elements, and having the fun of staying away for the night! However I did take the opportunity of a free Friday to book another flatwork lesson with Alison Kenward – more of that later.

Our unusually seasonal weather meant the ground was rather hard, so Caroline Moore didn’t push the height we were jumping and kept the amount of galloping between fences to a minimum. She concentrated on accuracy and balance, often placing her water bottle on the fence as my target!

Caroline was very firm that my focus for the day had to be keeping my shoulders back on my approach to each jump. I needed to concentrate on sitting up about 4 strides from the fence, ensuring that I would then be in the safest, most balanced and secure position. As Caroline said, this then means I’m better able to react to Tara, whether she takes a stride out, pops an extra one in, or even spooks or trips.

This is something that I really need to work on, but I will now have Caroline’s mantra of “shoulders back” in my head!

Tara felt amazing, jumping everything that was asked in fine style, and really listening to me. We even jumped the corner fence near the water – that had always looked pretty big to me, but Tara took it in her stride. I didn’t present her to it very well the first time and she knocked it, but we did it again and she flew over it brilliantly. It was great to hear Caroline say that Tara has the ability to move on to higher levels. As always, it will come down to my confidence, but I will certainly continue to have regular training, and hopefully next season will see us competing at BE100.

After we had finished our cross country session we were treated to a delicious lunch – thanks to Sara. Then Caroline played some very interesting video footage of how to ride tricky combinations, and also how not to ride them!!

The videos were taken at various 2* events, with the combinations including a coffin, corners, drops and steps up. It was clear from the “bad” examples that sitting up, with a secure lower leg and strong core is the best way to ensure balance and control, and ultimately safety.

It was a fantastic day, and I left feeling very upbeat and motivated.

More about the session with Alison Kenward next week.