George tells his riders:
“We want circles after every jump to collect the horse.”
“Circles then over the log, circle, over the plank, circle, over the vertical, half circle right, transition to trot, transition to walk, halt, rein back.”
And woe betide the rider who thinks he or she can jump the last jump, relax and slouch back to the line.
“When you complete, do something, the horse is always in schooling, or un-schooling.”
Jamie Winning is today’s teacher’s pet ( George is calling her Jim to avoid confusion with her husband, Jamie Kermond),
“Look at Jim, she just keeps it even. She doesn’t chase. Bert de Nemethy used to say, ‘deep hand in the air’ – watch her hands they are perfectly even. This is the classic position that my country has forgotten. See how she keeps the horse perfectly straight, that forces the horse to shorten. If you let them drift, they can avoid the problem and they don’t learn to shorten.”
More great exercise here: