{"id":25240,"date":"2015-11-20T18:50:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T07:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=25240"},"modified":"2017-02-09T16:43:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T05:43:21","slug":"warming-up-with-colleen-brook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/11\/warming-up-with-colleen-brook\/","title":{"rendered":"Warming up with Colleen Brook…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ColleenLiz\"<\/a>Words: Alexandra Bruggisser Photos: Roz Neave & Rachel Smith\/Furdography<\/h3>\n

Colleen Brook has represented Australia in showjumping at various corners of the world, and in my opinion, her contribution to the sport as a rider, trainer and teacher is enormous. Colleen runs her own CJB Training Stables from the horsey Hawkesbury area in New South Wales, she\u2019s the riders\u2019 representative on the National showjumping committee, an NCAS Level 3 coach and coach educator, plus mum\/coach\/driver\/groom etc of up-and-coming young rider, Liz Koob.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThink about what you do on landing. Keep your body up, get back in position, get your legs back and be ready for the next jump\u2026 Yeah, pretty good. Next time just bring him more together. Right, turn shorter, don\u2019t go too wide, just a little bit shorter and more together. Take your time, remember outside you need to get a couple of closer ones, that\u2019s better. Yeah there you go. Keep it short, keep it short, good job.\u201d Liz\u2019s steed, Queen\u2019s Crusader (stable name, Bolton), is a kind, unremarkable black Thoroughbred gelding. He looks placid, seems happy and tries hard for his rider. He\u2019s not as talented at sitting on his hindquarters as some of the other imports trotting around the warm-up arena, but his heart is in it.<\/p>\n

Having been in similar positions, with Mum helping in the final warm-up at a big show, I am impressed at how amicable the whole affair is. Liz looks cool and calm, Colleen appears to be much the same and then\u2026 \u201cOk so in she goes to the ring. She warmed up pretty well, fairly relaxed and as calm as you could be for a final. As a parent you hope they go well and they\u2019re safe and don\u2019t make too many boobs and then as a coach you just hope they don\u2019t\u2026 Oh crikey! We\u2019re ok, that was fence two. I think I\u2019m hyperventilating just watching here. Oh gosh this is hard! Come on old fellow.\u201d\"Aust_SJ_2011_21\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Liz heads into the double and there\u2019s an unexpected \u201cGET UP!!\u201d of encouragement from under her flash, new, Antar\u00e9s helmet. Colleen is a bit taken aback at her daughter\u2019s surprise growl, \u201cOh, easy. Click, click. Yeah you\u2019re going alright, good. Don\u2019t know what he needed that one for. Oh he\u2019s an old bugger (one rail down), right in front of the thingos (VIP tents) too. Could have jumped them really. Yes, got there too close (another rail down). Whoooaa. Take your time Liz, take your time (through the treble)! Straight, good job! Oh well, four down was it? Righto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liz joins us from the ring, there\u2019s a quick visit to the boot weigh-in tent, an announcement that she\u2019s ended up with two time faults and then a summation of events from the coach, \u201cWell, it seems time is tight! She ended up with two down in front of the VIP tents and then he got up too close to fence 8. Then 9 was alright but the middle part of the treble we had down and two time. Which means you have to gallop pretty damn fast and when you\u2019re early out it\u2019s hard to know, sounded like ended up with 18 penalties, two time and four down.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we watch the next several riders going around I ask Liz to give us a bit of a debrief of how the round was from her boots, \u201cWell, some parts got a bit messy. In general it was alright. I got a bit deep to 3a and had to shout a bit to get him over the second\u2026 Ah, someone else is struggling through the treble. That makes me feel a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleen puts things in perspective for her daughter before asking for further analysis, \u201cThere have been two eliminations so far and the winner is on 12 penalties. I was a bit surprised you had two time penalties. You were going forward, I don\u2019t know how that happened\u2026 But the time is obviously quite tight and that is the risk that you take being on early and not quite knowing how the course is riding. We only just qualified for the final, and first and second out is always tough. It was a bit messy in places and what else?\u201d\"LizColleen2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I should\u2019ve stayed a bit straighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStraightness, YES! Straightness on landing. Because I felt that when we walked the course the lines were broken lines. You had to be straight on landing and then get your curve. The course was a good test, that treble takes some jumping!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen quite such a harmonious parent\/offspring coaching relationship. We\u2019ve all seen the ugly ones! Liz\u2019s take on the whole matter, \u201cAs a coach Mum is great because she knows me and my horses so well she knows exactly what\u2019s going on and exactly what exercises we should be doing. I am constantly learning around her. Usually in lessons on Bolton, we focus on accurate corners, straight lines and me keeping my eyes up, regaining balance after the fence and a few fun things like narrow obstacles and water. Nothing beats the basics. In warm-ups, the horse is very brave and scopey so the jumps are not a problem. For me, Mum says I seem to have a good grasp on what I need to do to for myself to be prepared and we work it out together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleen Brook is a multi-talented woman with many hats! Remember: Experience is a great teacher.<\/p>\n

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Colleen\u2019s tips when it comes to an effective warm-up at a show:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022 The hardest part of warming up is knowing just how much you need to work your horse before the competition. To improve your warm-up and the time you spend at the practice fence you\u2019ve got to tailor the program to suit horse and rider.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I always try to give myself the maximum time allotted in the practice area. Although if you or your horse suffer from pre-competition nerves I\u2019d suggest you get on your horse early and cruise around the whole complex.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Some horses do not cope with all the activity in the practice area. If they are over-the-top, keep calm and re-adjust your expectations. Stick to the basics; your pace, your line. If you get aggressive with horses, they become anxious and worried. So be prepared for a little patience and don\u2019t stress.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Make a warm up plan with a couple of \u2018what if\u2019 options. Approx 10 jumps should make you ready to go in and jump the course.<\/p>\n

\u2022 If your horse is a zippy type keep the fences down a bit and make sure you have a minute to allow the adrenalin to seep out and collect yourself mentally before you go into the arena. The lazier types need to go over one last jump, then straight into the ring.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The height depends on your standard, too big makes the horse back off too much, whereas too small is not enough to open them up. This is where you need to watch better riders at another time, not when you are warming up yourself, to see what their routine is.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Some riders warm every horse up the same because that is the best way for them to get into the ring prepared. Other riders are very tuned into the individual horse, but try to be adaptable, try and feel what your horse is telling you.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The more starts the horse will have at the show, the less jumps you need in the warm-up. The ground is also a factor; deep ground should mean you do less jumps and keep them smaller, hard ground is the same, on good ground, breathe easy and enjoy the jumps.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In terms of type of jumps; small oxers and rising oxers are best and you should finish with a vertical. Always try to have ground lines.<\/p>\n

Want more articles from Colleen? Go to her Who’s Who and you will find a directory…<\/p>\n

Brook, Colleen<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n