In this series, George Sanna has been examining the elements that make up a jumping course, in this, our final instalment, he puts the elements together and looks at what makes for a successful jumping round…
“Riding courses is still all about finding the canter. Every jump in every situation has a canter that is perfect for that jump. Whether it is a very flimsy looking stile, or very strong looking oxer, off a short turn, away from the entrance gate into a double… With the oxer to the double you are really under the pump to get in there nice and strong and get the horse in front of your legs – as opposed to the very delicate stile they can look through, going downhill, towards the gate, where you’ve got to take all the ground speed away from them and sit up and give them an opportunity to read it and stay off the front rail.”
“Those are the two extremes – but in both cases, the quality of the canter is critical for the jump. When we go out on course, we are often put in situations where we can’t engage exactly the canter we want for that particular jump, simply because the course builder, hasn’t given us the opportunity to do that.”
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“Let’s say we have a very delicate stile that is three strong strides from a triple bar. In that situation, that’s when our training is going to stand us in good stead. Because of our training, our horse knows how to jump that jump, even though the canter we have for that jump, is not the canter we would naturally choose if we were jumping that jump by itself.”
“As the courses become more complex at say a Grand Prix level, the course builder will put us in those situations – or for example, a related distance that is very short to a double of oxers, where we would like to get in positive and forward, but the distance doesn’t allow it. That really tests the horse’s ability to find scope in a deep distance, or our ability, to get the horse back very early to create a long distance on take off, from a distance that was going to be very short. Once again, a test of the horse’s scope and ability, and even with clever riding, there are times when the horse just has to be good enough, or careful enough to do it without the ideal preparation.”
“Even clever riders can’t ride around real weaknesses. If the horse has a real weakness in jumping verticals, and needs a perfect ride, then in the Grand Prix situation where the course builder really puts in those complexities, then that horse is going to be struggling.”
“There are some things that are constant. The balance of your canter and the forwardness of your canter. Your pace will vary – especially when you’ve got an open water jump, then your pace is considerably faster than it would be to say, a double of verticals. The open water jump is where you are going to be most opened up on the course.
The flow of course really depends on eyes, looking down has an effect on the flow of the course, because it is not being directed by the flow the eyes.”
“I like to describe riding a course as riding a line at a certain pace, and the jumps are just like speed bumps on your journey. Whereas some riders ride the jumps as their objective. They ride one jump, then look up, and ride the next, and the next. I try to teach riders to ride a line with good balance and the correct pace, and that is their primary objective, and the jumps are their secondary objective – speed bumps on the journey. Riders who look down tend to ride the jumps as their objective – they don’t have a concept of their line and plan so much.
Look at a rider like Beezie Madden… You can see here this is a perfect picture, because when we are talking about riding a course, we are talking a lot about eyes and a plan. To execute a plan and ride a line, to keep the flow on your course, it starts with your eyes, and you can see that Beezie is looking exactly where she is going – she has clearly got an immediate focus, that is the perfect shot to demonstrate what we are talking about.
I think with a rider like Beezie it is the system in America, it is a system that is based on correct basics, and Beezie is obviously a very hard working and very talented girl. She’s a hell of a rider, no-one could teach someone to be as good as she is. Beezie Madden has an extraordinary feel for pace and rhythm and distance, I’ve never seen anyone do it better – she’s the best rider I’ve ever seen. For pace, rhythm and distances, there’s not anyone who can ride so accurately and if necessary, fast, and get it right – she is extraordinary, and a beautiful rider as well…
