Horse&Rider Magazine – October 2015

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MANAGEMENT • JUMPING • FLATWORK •

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MARE? TOP VET ADVICE

FIX FEARS HIS FILLER

Autumn laminitis

All you need to know

TRANSITIONS every time!

October 2015

Perfect

£3.99

PART ONE In this feature. . . ➤ Keep him balanced through the paces

perfect Get

As told to Charlotte Anderson. Photos: Bob Atkins. With thanks to WeatherBeeta for their help with this feature, weatherbeeta.co.uk

transitions Our trainer

Paul Friday is an international dressage rider and trainer. He was crowned Prix St Georges Champion at the 2013 British Dressage NAF Five Star Winter Championships.

Paul also teaches up to Grand Prix level.

Our model

Winston Bond is a 10-year-old, 17.1hh, Hanoverian gelding by 007. He’s currently competing at Grand Prix level.

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In the saddle

➤ Learn the key ingredients for good transitions ➤

Smooth, balanced transitions are the key to good paces, and require precise communication and accurate timing.

Dressage rider Paul Friday shows you how

Improve your timing

A

balanced, rhythmical and relaxed horse will give you a far superior ride and, in a test, mean you’re awarded a worthy score. Poor transitions between the gaits will affect your horse’s natural paces, as well as looking and feeling uncomfortable for both horse and rider.

Establishing a transition that drives your horse effortlessly through the gears requires strength and control. Practising transitions will encourage harmony from one gait to another, as well as helping his balance and improving his self-carriage. Whether you’re making an upward or downward transition, a bad one will display any weakness in your partnership and, ultimately, cost you valuable marks in a dressage test.

Solid foundation

In order to achieve a good transition, you must have the key ingredients...

• A balanced seat • An engaged and responsive horse

What makes a good transition?

When he’s getting it right he’ll...

• remain balanced • retain a consistent contact in the rein • s tay in the same frame with his head, neck, shoulders and back • react to the aid as you deliver it

How to spot a bad transition?

In a downward transition, when he’s getting it wrong he’ll...

• collapse rather than carry himself forward • lose his self-carriage • feel off-balance • resist or drop the contact • lose momentum In an upward transition, when he’s getting it wrong he’ll...

• r ush or speed up in the pace without changing gait • lose his balance • become heavy in the mouth • lean onto the forehand • respond slowly to your aids • leap from one pace to the next • fall to one side

➤

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PART THREE In this feature. . .

Our trainer

John Smart is a British Eventing accredited trainer and has taught showjumping for more than 20 years. He’s a Badminton prize-winner, has jumped on British Nations Cup teams, and been in the ribbons at Horse of the Year Show, Hickstead and the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Our models

Photos: Bob Atkins

Annie has owned Misty, a nine-year-old, 14.3hh Connemara, for four years. Misty is a real all-rounder and together they enjoy hacking and jumping.

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➤ Improve your jumping canter

In the saddle

➤ Build confidence over spooky fences ➤ How to introduce fillers

GRIDWORK MASTERCLASS

Spookbusting your showjumper PART 3:

How does your horse react to new jumps? If spooking is his first response, John Smart is here to help

W

e’d all like our horses to be brave and tackle whatever jumps come their way – spooky fillers and all.

However, bravery isn’t something all horses are born with – some need to learn, and it’s your job as a rider to give your horse the skills and confidence to tackle spooky obstacles.

If your horse likes to take a good look at a new jump before he can be convinced to pop over, there are a few techniques that can help to teach him to be more brave in his jumping. The good news is that you can practise them all at home before you even think about going to a competition, and you can solve a lot of issues without even having access to a big selection of fillers and fence dressings.

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PART FIVE In this feature. . .

➤ Discover why your horse won’t be caught

Our expert

Emma Massingale is a free rider, which involves working a team of horses completely at liberty. Having trained horses for 17 years, she specialises in starting youngsters and working with difficult horses.

CATCH ME

if you can!

Fed up with chasing your horse around the field with a headcollar day in, day out? Emma Massingale’s here to solve your catching problems 56 HORSE&RIDER

Mind matters

➤ Retrain him to be caught ➤ Keep your horse sweet so he wants to come in

Safety first

As told to Lucy Turner. Photos: Malcolm Snelgrove

Remember that your safety should always come first. Wear your riding hat when you go out to catch your horse or when you are working on your catching technique in the school.

And it’s a good idea to let someone know where you are, too.

Y

ou walk into your horse’s field to bring him in and he lets you get close enough to touch his nose before he’s off. An hour later, you’re still out there, while he kicks two hooves up at you every time you try to get anywhere close – there’s nothing more infuriating! And it’s extra-annoying when it spoils any plans you had to do something nice with him.

In this situation, the easiest way to catch your horse is with a bucket of food, but doing that will have massive consequences on the relationship between you. Blackmailing him into being caught isn’t the answer, you want him to want to be with you, so it’s worth putting in the groundwork to solve the problem once and for all.

What’s the problem?

If you can’t catch your horse, there has to be a reason for it, so the first thing to do is address why he doesn’t want to be caught. The most common cause is that owners only catch their

horses when they want to ride them, so they learn that the only reason they are coming in is to work. Although horses generally enjoy being ridden, sometimes it’s not enough to make a horse want to be caught.

If you think the problem could be that your horse is only caught to be ridden, the simple solution is to catch him, bring him in and give him a groom, maybe feed him a little chaff and then turn him back out. Try calling his bluff a little bit, so he doesn’t learn to anticipate – horses are brilliant at anticipating and working out what it is that you want.

If you do bring your horse in to be ridden, give some thought as to how you can make it worth his while. For example, if you’re doing a tough schooling session or working on something your horse finds hard, it could have an effect on whether he will want to be caught again. If you have been doing something like that, maybe give him a little bit of food or a scratch on the wither before you turn him back out, just to sweeten the deal a bit.

Come to call

When I go to the field to catch my horses, I want it so that when I call them, they come over. This does take a little bit of work and, of course, it’s essential that your horse knows his name.

Use his name every time you interact with him, so he learns that when he hears it, you want him. Teaching your horse to come to call is something you can practise in a school or round pen.

When he does come to call, make a fuss of him and reward him with something nice like a scratch in his favourite spot.

➤

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