{"id":22530,"date":"2019-11-13T11:29:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T00:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22530"},"modified":"2019-11-13T16:23:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T05:23:10","slug":"blyth-tait-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2019\/11\/blyth-tait-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Blyth Tait \u2013 Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Concentrated\"<\/a>Story by Chris Hector and Photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

Blyth Tait is one of eventing\u2019s genuine legends. A rider who produced two eventing megastars, and half a dozen stars, a rider who won a World Championship, and an Olympic Gold medal.<\/p>\n

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Blyth and Ready Teddy representing NZ at the Sydney Games<\/em><\/p>\n

Blyth has always been a friendly and approachable individual, but it wasn\u2019t until I saw him in action at Marcus Oldham College, that I learnt what a brilliant teacher he is!<\/p>\n

Great teachers know their subject, are flexible in the methods they use to get their point across, but most importantly, they communicate with the kind of warmth and enthusiasm that makes their pupils WANT to try\u2026<\/p>\n

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The pupils in the session we sat in on, were all students at Marcus Oldham: Alice Spry riding Mully (he\u2019s the brown cross-bred horse) and a student from Canada, Samantha Barter, riding the six year old ESB Golden Hour, and Michelle Kavanagh riding the seven year old, ESB Golden Dust. The two chestnuts are full sisters and both were bred at the College. The three students are currently riding at Intro level.<\/p>\n

The day before Blyth had been working on engagement and it was still high on his list of aims in today\u2019s jumping session: \u201cWe want engagement and control. You can\u2019t come with speed. The distance in this exercise is meant to be five strides, but I want you to do it in six. We want to take the speed out of the equation, if you have impulsion it will ride fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cSTOP!!! You are forgetting the work we did yesterday. CONTROL THE ENERGY. Not coasting in neutral \u2013 there\u2019s first gear, then second gear. It can be done if you don\u2019t just sit there like a lemon. Create the energy, then allow, you can\u2019t force it to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And happen it does\u2026 but the teacher now wants to change the exercise, he wants his students to ride the double in five strides.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we need to push? NO! Get the impulsion and just allow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mully scatters the rails.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlice, what program were you watching on the TV then? You weren\u2019t riding, just sitting back in the saddle watching\u2026\u201d But quick as Blyth is to criticize, he is just as quick with his distinctive thumbs up, when Alice and Mully ride it beautifully the second time around. \u201cI got a thumbs up,\u201d says Alice with a big grin.<\/p>\n

\"ThumbsUp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For Blyth, the showjumping arena is the natural place to hone the skills needed for cross-country riding: \u201cCross country riding has its basis in showjumping riding. I was very much a showjumping rider before I was riding cross-country. I think you learn from experience, but it can be taught as well. What I am trying to get across to these riders who are at the early stages of their careers, is that if they have a good foundation based on balance and security, control, rhythm, engagement, impulsion \u2013 all of those elements that are required in every other phase as well, then they are going to have a fighting chance\u2026 and success breeds success across country. If you are having success, you are getting confident, your horse is getting trust. I don\u2019t practice cross country a lot, but I train for cross country a lot, working on jumping technique through the arena and flatwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Blyth and Welton Envoy competing as individuals at the Sydney Games<\/em><\/p>\n

All of that great Kiwi team came from a serious showjumping background\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is a very significant factor, me, Mark Todd, Vaughn Jefferis, Vicki Latta, lots of our eventing riders had success at the upper level of showjumping. You didn\u2019t have the opportunity of specialising in eventing in those days because New Zealand being a small country didn\u2019t have the numbers to sustain a big circuit of events, so we did both showjumping and eventing as part of our riding. All of us have slightly different techniques, slightly different personalities; we\u2019ve all been shaped by the horses we rode. I never liked to ride a big, strong, powerful horse, I liked a quick athletic sharp horse because I\u2019m a fairly small framed person, but if you have a good foundation the rest of it comes easy. Experience is really important in cross-country riding \u2013 there\u2019s no substitute for experience, so you don\u2019t learn cross-country without getting out and having a go. But the size is not important. One of my issues with my cross country riding throughout my career, was that I was a little defensive going into water, but the first serious horse I had was Messiah and he had a little bit of a water problem, and he was very quick and over-extravagant into water. I learned to be defensive to ride that particular horse because I had him for such a long time. I kind of learnt that technique from him so it is possible to ride a little differently from other riders, but really it is down to your basics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"BlythTaitMessiah\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Messiah – a World Champion for Blyth<\/em><\/p>\n

Blyth is very strict on the rider\u2019s hands, and jumps on any tendency to push the hands down in an effort to force the horse\u2019s nose in. \u201cIf you do that, he\u2019ll just go against you and come up further.<\/p>\n

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Blyth and Ready Teddy at Badminton<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t block your hands down, push up into your hands. Bend your elbows, we don\u2019t pull down with our hands. Bent elbow equals a creative arm \u2013 not an arm that is creating resistance. Look at Sam, she\u2019s riding with her hands out in front of her. I like that \u2013 she is going to ride the horse up into her hands\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the exercise consisted of a triple bar over a ditch with water\u2026 well some green plastic if you want to get picky. And the riders were instructed to take this on a lengthening stride.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the horse into your rein, and let it uncoil to a bigger stride. Take it on a lengthening stride and keep lengthening on landing. Don\u2019t look for a stride, make one come up. Start in the corner and come out on a lengthening stride, and you will jump it like a bird.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Team members for NZ at the Sydney Games with Ready Teddy<\/em><\/p>\n

Were you always a calculating cool cross country rider rather than a gung-ho rider?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are only gung-ho until you make a mistake. You\u2019ve got to have a certain amount of a training system. Obviously eventing is not for the faint hearted. I see people trying to go cross-country and they don\u2019t really want to do it. And my advice to them is \u2013 don\u2019t. You\u2019ve got to be committed; you\u2019ve got to be brave. That\u2019s why riders are event riders, because we want to do the cross-country. You\u2019ve got to want to do it. I\u2019d rather see someone riding a bit gung-ho with perhaps a little lack of technique \u2013 within reason, not dangerous \u2013 than someone who had perfect technique, but not committed \u2013 because they\u2019ll get into just the same sort of strife. You do have to be positive, but no, I was never gung-ho. I didn\u2019t like making mistakes anymore than anyone else, whether it was a silly runout or whether it was a fall. You try and prevent things from happening, prevention is better than cure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The next exercise was a bounce: \u201cObviously you come in shorter, bouncier, but all on a rhythm, with subtlety, not fighting, working with elasticity to give the horse the ride he needs. We must always be aware of the independence of our balance, of the importance of leg \u2013 you can\u2019t create power with the seat \u2013 and our position, eyes up. Don\u2019t try to jump the jump yourself, stay there, very still. If you stand in your stirrups, you will land on your knees \u2013 and what happens then? You fall over. It\u2019s not eye, it\u2019s technique and thought pattern that gets you to the perfect take-off point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Knees\"The next question was one of accuracy \u2013 jumping on the diagonal, and holding the line. \u201cThis is a test of straightness, a test of accuracy and control. You\u2019ll need a slightly more engaged stride, more controlled \u2013 start it early, and maintain it throughout. Don\u2019t turn onto the diagonal until you see the standards of the jumps all lined up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry if the horse gets a bit deep on take-off, you don\u2019t want to do everything on a backwards stride. Let the horse learn to back up herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when they had ridden that straight line, Blyth made it just that bit more difficult with a witch\u2019s hat right on the line: \u201cIt\u2019s a big tree that has grown here since the last competition. So now you have to bend your line around it. These are just a few little exercises leading in the direction we are going. It\u2019s not size that\u2019s important, not jumping great big scary fences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Apex\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And to demonstrate this point, he lies a 44-gallon drum on its side to make a simple Apex fence: \u201cI\u2019m not trying to create a problem that has to be fixed, we\u2019ll just start off thinking about Apexes. With an Apex you need to think it needs a lengthening stride, but it\u2019s really quite upright. It\u2019s between an upright and a spread. You need to keep the connection \u2013 it\u2019s easier in trot than gallop, we\u2019ll do it in canter.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a runout\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the horse runs out what do you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRe-present.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNINCOMPOOP! You FIX IT. If he runs off, you stop him and tell him he\u2019s done wrong, that way he learns. One year at Badminton, there was a drop, down a slope, two strides to a skinny. I rode like an idiot, I was heading in the wrong direction, and my horse went \u2013 ping \u2013 and jumped it. He did that because of the education he\u2019d had. That\u2019s what we are doing today, all you can do to get better out there on the cross country course, is work more in here in the jumping arena\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ready<\/a><\/p>\n

Blyth’s sort of horse – a bit small, a bit hot, and a whole lot of brilliant! Ready Teddy on his way to a gold medal at Atlanta…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe courses you are going to jump have definitely become a lot more technical. The biggest change in the sport in my time was the improvement in the standard of dressage. When I first started my career, fifteen odd years ago, it was all about the cross-country riding and there were very few people who rode with the finesse you see these days. The cross country hasn\u2019t changed a lot, it has got a bit more technical, they build a big big fence, maximum dimensions, nine foot wide ditch, six feet deep, palisade behind it, and everyone can jump it, so where do they go? They can\u2019t just keep building them bigger and higher, so they go to more technical lines, turns, control, and that is what I am showing the riders today. There have been changes but subtle changes on the cross country.\u201d<\/p>\n

You always succeeded thanks to slightly hot Thoroughbreds, is that going to change \u2013 are Warmbloods the way of the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cClearly you want a horse with a good aptitude that is very trainable, and if I was to change something I probably would have gone a little bit in that direction. I did ride Welton Envoy, who was as steady as a rock, absolutely outstanding on the flat. He wasn\u2019t really my type of horse. I struggled with his balance on the cross country because he was a bit big for me, a bit strong for me. You can only do what you can do. It\u2019s very rare you see a small girl on a great big horse or a great big guy on a small horse but if that works for that rider, that\u2019s fine. I think Ready Teddy had a great temperament but he got very affected by atmosphere. At home he was pretty normal \u2013 but if you only turned up at the Olympics or the WEG, in front of a grand stand full of people, you got a very different picture of how he went. Hot horses are harder to keep secure than relaxed horses, there\u2019s no doubt about that\u2026 everyone to their own, it\u2019s just the way I did things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to breed the eventer of your dreams? There is a huge range of stallions to select from via frozen semen at International Horse Breeders<\/a>…<\/h1>\n

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Stallions like Eva Bitter’s ride, Perigueux – an elegant and athletic performer…<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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This article first appeared in THM August 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tait, Blyth<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n