I was just a bit worried. Last time George Morris visited Australia, I ended up writing a massively long six part series based on his clinics. Luckily, quite a few of our readers went out of their way to tell us how much they enjoyed ‘sitting in’ on the sessions with the master trainer, but… just what was left to write this time round?
I need not have worried. The second I sat down, it was grab for the note-book, pen flying, trying to catch the pearls… The following is a combination of notes in the clinic sessions, and the pearls from a later interview. I hope you enjoy brushing minds with one of the greatest of contemporary horsemen…
One of George’s great strengths is his absolute refusal to compromise. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how many Olympic medals you have in the trophy cabinet, if you are not ready to face ruthlessly honest criticism then it’s better you stay home with your regular trainer telling you how brilliant you are.
Wendy Schaeffer is one Olympic gold medalist who has always been open to information and advice, I guess that is why she keeps improving and widening her horizons. She is right now a serious contender for not one, but two WEG teams, and was in the clinic with her showjumping front-runner, Koyuna Sun Set. And George did not like the way she held her hands:
“Open your hands, they are hand-cuffed together, you have to be ready to open that inside rein – OPEN it. The basic position of your hands should be at least three to six inches apart.”
And George’s wickedly witty tongue has lost none of its bite…
“Wendy, Wendy, Wendy, come back and be a little tough and make it happen. Don’t be the femme fatale… this helpless creature on a horse… do it again!”
I stress at this point before someone starts blabbing about rough training methods used in the sport of showjumping, that NEVER ONCE is George’s method of training, horse abusive… rider abusive, well maybe…
Even George’s star Australian pupil, Chris Chugg, is not immune: “Chuggie, Chuggie CONCENTRATE. This exercise insists on precision, on concentration. It’s the precision of the sport today – the inch by inch precision, and you have to do it first time when you are in Dortmund, or den Bosch, or Geneva because the other 30 riders will, they are all tops.”
“Chugg, I am so glad you missed, you are not yet a god, just god like…”
The exercise Christopher had ‘failed’ was a seemingly simple set of three jumps, vertical, oxer, vertical, with witches hats at each end to indicate the circle to get back on the line the other way. It could be ridden five, then six strides, or six to five. Chugg’s assistant, Amanda Madigan was getting the brownie points for how she rode it on Alice Cameron’s imported mare, Oaks Altes. “She’s a thinker, she’s hungry. You don’t have to go faster, it has nothing to do with speed, just change the line. You have to practice, the aim is consistent precision, over and over again.”
And woe betide the rider who didn’t treat the circle at the end of the line seriously, or for that matter, the rider who didn’t take advantage of the training opportunity that just walking back to the line up presented. “After the gymnastic, do something to school the horse, counter canter, rein back, something before going back to the line. Couple jumping with dressage… But Coco (Miles) you get off the course before you do it, not at the back of the fence. Blonde, classic blonde. Coco I have always picked on blondes, don’t think I’m just picking on you…”
Eventing rider, Jade Findlay was smart, her normally blonde hair was a cute shade of brown for the clinic…
“At the end of a little course, halt and rein back. That halt and rein back is just as important as the fences, because do it well, and next time the jump will be better. Halt and rein back will improve the half halt. There is a purpose to the dressage it re-inforces the shortening of the gallop.”
“Everything teaches horses to jump. First the flatwork teaches the horse to jump, because if it is proper back-to-front riding, you have to develop the loin muscles of the horse. That comes from the marching walk, the oscillating neck, that impulsion, that engagement. That’s what people forget with the draw rein, that they actually atrophy the horse behind the wither, with the draw rein the muscles of the hind end, are atrophied. Of course those people – unlike Alwyn Schockemöhle with his draw reins – don’t work the hind end, so those muscles atrophy. The first thing for developing jumping is proper flatwork.”
It’s not the George is saying anything new or different, it is just the expectation that every single second spent on the horse involves concentration, and precision.
For all George was willing to give the rider a bad time when he thought it necessary, he was always quick to praise: “Chugg, stop, that horse cannot jump better, that’s perfection. In jumping, I’m interested not just in what the horse’s legs do, what is important is the horse’s back.”
And to that end, George was fierce in his demand that the rider’s position should not damage the horse, and that meant protecting its back: “Keep your upper body forward, never drop into the saddle, just sink, squat, it is not like the dressage upright sitting position. Keep up and off the horse’s back so the horse can use his back.”
“Every teacher has a system. Mine is based on the forward seat, and based on the stirrup. Much of the philosophy of jumping today comes from the Germans and is seat obsessed – my system is more like the French, more hand and leg. Read Gerd Heuschmann’s book, and you will see that a lot of what is happening today is not in the best interest of the horse. All this over-flexing is damaging, it breaks the neck of the horse. Leg to hand, that is what creates frame, not over-flexing. The first step to frame, is engagement.”
“All the time we are working on a light position. This is the position for 90% of jumping. John Whitaker is the greatest horseman, he is a rider and winner, and a master of the light seat. Everyone recognizes him because every horse goes better for him.”
Next month George Morris analyses why a correct riding position is an effective jumping position, with plenty of interesting – and entertaining – examples.
Love the way he describes the light seat… I think legs & body weight are plenty to generate drive without sitting your arse in the saddle hindering the horses back movement HOORAH!