by Gillian Livingston
That’s what he emphasized at a clinic held in Orangeville, Ont. Aug 4-5 at Mandy and Jorge Bernhart’s lovely farm in this southwestern Ontario town near Toronto, Canada. The clinic was organized by Canadian event rider Nicole Parkin. I was lucky enough to take part with the chestnut appendix quarter horse I ride named Streak, owned by Kathy Fremes of Country Hill Farm near Uxbridge, Ont.
stadium jumping day 1, Gillian Livingston riding Streak with Phillip Dutton looking on. Picture by Kathy Fremes.
Day One
The first day, as riders got their mounts working Phillip stressed that the first order of business when you hopped on your horse was to get them forward from your leg. He said horses must always be listening to your leg. And he didn’t mean eventually listen to you, he meant right now, the moment you asked them. This is one of the habits he was talking about, getting your horse in the habit of immediately listening to your leg.
He then got riders working on suppling their horses, keeping a bend to both sides in both directions along with shoulder in and leg yielding. As well, he got riders to collect their horses to try to trot on the spot and then move them forward into a medium or extended trot or canter. Every day you work on suppling your horse you help make them a better athlete, he said.
Phillip also said that every day you need to have a plan for your ride, to know what you need to do to warm up your horse, help imprint those good habits and help your horse and you become better athletes.
As we moved on to jumping (my group was at the pre-training level), he asked riders to jump a single fence aiming to come close to the base with a nice rhythmic approach. The key was to know your horse and get the canter you needed for the jump far in advance, he said. Any horse that took off from too far away was asked to come again to ensure both the horse and rider weren’t rushing the fence and were waiting for the right distance instead. Horses that get into the bad habit of jumping from too long a distance face issues when the fences get higher, Phillip said, so you need to teach them the habit of coming in at a good distance and not leaving long.
We moved on to a three-stride vertical to oxer in the middle of the ring. Set for a 12-foot stride, that meant some of the horses with a shorter stride had to have a brisk canter coming in while the more longer strided horses had to come in without too much pace. It’s the rider’s job to know what pace they need with their horse to manage the distance between fences, Phillip said.
To this combination he added a one-stride on an angle on the left side before the vertical and an oxer two-strides away on an angle on the right side before the vertical. Then we practiced getting the right distance for the three stride while getting the right angle and distance for the one or two stride before the vertical of the three-stride combination. For riders, you had to keep your eyes up to ensure you got the right angle and got to the second fence right so that you could get the three strides in the combination. Any bowing of your line and your striding was off and you had a yucky fence on the way out of the three-stride combination.
Many horses (mine included) had a more difficult time continuing to keep forward momentum while they were turning and getting an opening rein from their rider. This exercise was a test as to how well your horse would stay in front of your leg as you did the jumps.
Then, he added two corner jumps on an angle on either side after the oxer of the three-stride combination. Again, he was testing rider accuracy and their ability to keep their horse in front of their leg as they came in at various angles to the jumps and had to turn and stay forward to meet the right distance to the corner jump. It was a really technical combination that tested all the horses and riders in my group. Too often I felt like I was all over the place as I landed in a bit of a heap and had a hard time keeping my horse in front of my leg.
The interesting thing was that Phillip kept the exercise the same for all the groups, from entry through to intermediate, the height of the jumps was the only part that changed.
Day Two
On the second day, riders started warming up their horses with some of the exercises from the previous day. Then Phillip would call out instructions like “you have a coffin jump coming up, sit down and get your horse into a short canter,” and then “and you’ve jumped the jump, get up off your horse’s back and gallop on!” Again, the key was to make sure your horse was responsive to your aids and able to move forward and back quickly.
2nd day stadium jumping,
Gillian Livingston riding Streak with Phillip Dutton looking on. Picture by Kathy Fremes.
The first set of jumps was a forward four-stride or compressed five-stride combination. Riders were asked get a nice four strides at first, and then compress their horse’s stride to get five strides.
The next exercise was to gallop strongly at an inviting triple bar and then bring your horse back to handle a short one-stride. Adjustability and rideability were key points of all of Phillip’s lessons.
Then we headed out to test our mettle on the cross country course. He got us galloping at a small log and coop, making sure we kept a solid pace and set the horses up for a good distance, not too far away, but also that we didn’t hold onto their mouths and instead let go of the reins.
Gillian Livingston riding Streak with Phillip Dutton looking on. Picture by Kathy Fremes.
Then we tested out the bank going up, and Phillip emphasizing that we have to stay with the horse and grab a bit of mane if that helps you keep your balance.
Then we did the drop down, where Phillip said the key was to approach at the right pace — a collected canter or a trot — and then let the reins slide through your fingers while your butt stays in the saddle.
Then we moved on to the coffin (rolltop down the hill to a ditch to a rolltop at the top of the hill). My horse is not a fan of ditches, but he’s an honest guy who tries so hard.
We did the ditch on its own first and my horse jumped it like a gazelle — four feet off the ground on takeoff and four feet on landing, and a little to the right. This is when Phillip repeatedly told me and a few others to let their horses go, to let go of their mouths, steer them with our legs to ensure we didn’t catch them in the mouth as they jumped the ditch or any other fence.
As we moved on to do the full coffin, he kept stressing to riders to let their horses go, to have faith that if you get them there at the right pace that they would back off the fence as they got there. Some of the horses seemed quite strong heading into the fence but would slow so much at the last stride that they would stop or not keep the right pace.
Phillip stressed that we have to let go of our horses’ mouths heading into the fence. Clutching onto the reins during cross country is one of my bad habits, and let me tell you it’s a hard one to break.
Phillip is a man of few words but several times as I rode down to the coffin I could hear him shout “Let him go. LET HIM GO!” When I was able to really let go of the reins he jumped much better — all the horses did and they all would set themselves up nicely for the jumps without their riders holding on the reins, but instead focusing on keeping the right pace into the jump. As one rider said “it sounds so counter-intuitive, but it works!”
All Phillip’s exercises highlighted my worst habits and faults, showing me what I have to focus on to improve my riding.
After we practiced a course that put all the elements together, Phillip told each of us what we have to work on to improve our riding and our horses. For me, he said it’s “practice, just practice,” and he recommending me doing grids where I let go of the reins completely and put my arms out like an airplane, and more work without stirrups and in two-point to strengthen my position.
Now all I need to do is figure out how to ride more than once a week!
Jumping like a gazelle over the ditch. Gillian Livingston riding Streak. Photo by Kathy Fremes.
The Upper Levels
Phillip followed a similar pattern for the next two groups, adding more complexity on cross country and a one-strided corner-to-corner combination in the warm up.
Watching the intermediate group was awe-inspiring. He set up several tough multi-jump combinations. One was an offset rolltop two-stride combination set in a bit of a gully, so the jump in from either direction was downhill and the out was a bit of an uphill. It was a long two strides so you had to ride in strong to get the two strides and come out right on the other side. Another combination was a large corner then three strides to a tall vertical (close to 4 feet tall). All the horses had to be really brave coming into the corner but they had to come in close to handle the width of the corner and then able to gather themselves to handle the vertical on the way out.
One rider felt a little daunted by the combination and turned away. So Phillip had the rider just do the corner several times, allowing her mare to hold a solid pace coming to the corner but waiting for the right distance. Then he had her ride the two together and they jumped it beautifully several times to lots of cheers from the onlookers!
Another combination was a rolltop to a ditch to a narrow triangle offset one stride after the ditch. Then riders did a drop down over a bank with a log on top, a few strides to a rolltop, a 90-degree turn to a narrow arrow fence then two strides to an offset rolltop. It required a strong, accurate ride and the horse had to rock back on their haunches and be agile and powerful over fences without too much speed. It was impressive to watch all the riders and horses think quickly and carefully to solve these puzzles.
I truly enjoyed playing hooky from work for two days to take part in this clinic, and it was fantastic to learn from the other riders. I now have a long list of areas of my riding that need work, and lots of reasons to give the horse I ride extra treats!
Now on to watch everyone, including Phillip, show them how it’s done at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy!
Gillian
Gillian Livingston is a working mom who tries to squeeze in riding time when she can, and is working on a crowdfunding site for equestrians at goforthegoal.ca, which is currently in beta testing.