Scotts of Thrapston

Meet Alex, a newbie eventer…

Posted on 13. Apr, 2011 by Julia Berrie in Rider Development Programme

Hello all!   I’m Alex Elliott, I am a 20 year old student living in Cambridgeshire and a newbie eventer! Over the past couple of years I’ve had a go at a bit of everything and most recently I’ve been doing some unaffiliated eventing, so now I’m ready to move up a gear!

Black Onyx or Nix as he’s known at home has been with me 4 years now. He is a 16.1hh 9 year old Irish Sports Horse.

I had my first clinic on Sunday 10th April, which was also my first time at Carlton. The welcome was so warm and friendly which relaxed us from the start. I had the opportunity to meet my teammate on the programme Sarah Orr, Sara from Carlton and Julia from Scotts of Thrapston. Before getting started we had a run through of some general information and a step by step guide to British Eventing which was fantastic, as I have found the step up very confusing!

The ground and Cross Country course was superb, there’s a thick grass covering giving a springy surface which is so important for Nix.  Since he was diagnosed with a bone spavin, good ground is really essential.

Nick Turner was just fantastic.  He took us through the aims of the session which was to work on the three main problem areas of cross country; steps, water and ditches. Nick believes you need to give your horse the opportunity to assess the problem, understand the question and be able to react accordingly; these are the core principles of good cross country.

Nick had us walking very calmly on approach to a ditch then pop over at a trot and straight back to walk. The aim was to let the horses assess the problem and work out that there’s nothing frightening or tricky about the question. We did this a number of times until the horses almost became bored and just popped the ditch.

Our next question was steps! The steps were not too large and Nick asked us to walk up and down at a steady pace and keep our body and eyes up. Sounded simple enough but no! Nix pulled hard to go quicker both up and down as that’s what he thought he needed to do, pulling me forwards. Nick immediately worked out what it was I doing wrong with my cross country as I have a tendency to look down and my body follows. With constant reminders, it really started making a difference! After being forced to walk, Nix slowed down and realised he did not need to rush, although at one point Nick did describe his steps as a little ‘drunk’!

After upping my stirrups a good 3 holes (which I am sure Nick found amusing) we moved onto the water. We did the same slow steady process of letting them work it out. Our last stage was to link a few jumps together as a short course. After my first attempt, Nick described me as ‘a perfect hostess’ which I initially took as a compliment! However, what he meant was I tend to offer Nix too much rein like offering someone a tray of drinks! By throwing the rein at him it was making us both off balance. My next go was so much better with Nick encouraging me with ‘shoulders back’ and ‘look up’ there was a real change in our way of going.

Overall, I had a fantastic lesson and Nix did everything I asked without even questioning me. Nick was so positive and helpful and really got me riding differently (although really making my legs hurt in the morning). I can’t wait for my next lesson to see what’s in store!

Tags: Alex Elliott, Carlton Cross Country, Nick Turner, Scotts of Thrapston