{"id":8964,"date":"2019-11-19T16:56:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T05:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=8964"},"modified":"2022-07-28T14:38:37","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T04:38:37","slug":"vicki-roycoft-takes-a-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2019\/11\/vicki-roycoft-takes-a-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Training the Thoroughbred – contd."},"content":{"rendered":"

Vicki Roycroft takes a Lesson <\/strong><\/p>\n

words Chris Hector, pix Ros Neave<\/em><\/p>\n

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The student is Vicki Roycroft’s pupil, Ben Blay, on his talented but slightly tricky Thoroughbred, Sir Joindre, aka Brad. The subject? That vexed issue of \u2018contact\u2019. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like our dressage riders, showjumping riders have to create the balance, the horse that is light, but not too light, the horse that is on the aids and that will move up to the contact. For jumpers this is doubly essential because it lets them shorten and lengthen the stride and find that elusive \u2018right\u2019 spot\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat I\u2019m looking for in Ben\u2019s riding is the right contact \u2013 where the horse is in self carriage, he can feel his horse\u2019s mouth a little, but not too much. Ben is a beautiful rider, he busts his gut to get it right, he has a real passion for the sport. He\u2019s been with me for over a year now, since the George Morris clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably a good opportunity for Ben because I\u2019m not riding so many. Ben gets to ride all the young ones. He\u2019s riding a six-year-old mare I bred by Errol (Premier Des Hayettes), Nikki Des Hayettes, who is nearly C Grade. Ben is the perfect stable rider because he has two of his own horses here, but his horses are always at the end of the queue \u2013 he understands and is comfortable with that, whereas most kids of his age, they think their horse comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe horse he\u2019s riding today is his Thoroughbred \u2013 it\u2019s a nice horse and quite careful. I don\u2019t know if he is good enough to go all the way, but he is good for this boy because he is still learning his craft. He\u2019s quite a trainable horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What do you want\u00a0<\/strong>in the warmup?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously everything is modelled on the George Morris philosophy, lots of transitions, they\u2019ve got to have gas – willingness to go forward, they\u2019ve got to have brakes, they have to be straight. The horse has to be forward and straight until you tell it otherwise, and this is the hard thing to get through to riders, that they don\u2019t just ride off their horses\u2019 heads. Riders just worry about the horse\u2019s head \u2013 but the horse has a hindquarter, a shoulder, and a head and neck. The rider\u2019s lower leg controls the hindquarter, to a certain extent the shoulder is positioned by the legs and hands, and the head and neck are controlled by the rider\u2019s hands, the horse has to think forward and straight. You don\u2019t use the reins to turn the horse, you use the reins to create a bend, your legs and weight turn the horse.<\/p>\n

more follows<\/p>\n

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The hardest thing is for people to use their legs effectively, because this sort of horse, like most Thoroughbreds is not used to legs, they are always trying to stop the rider using his legs, \u00a0and that is why riders start doing a lot with their hands, and their seat. A horse like this is not used to the rider using legs \u2013 so the rider uses the other aids.<\/p>\n

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As a rider you have to think every day, am I using enough leg to make things happen?\u00a0Horses have two reactions to the rider\u2019s leg. The hot horse will run away from the leg, so riders take their legs off, or the cold horse will just ignore the leg, the rider can be kicking away, but nothing happens.<\/h2>\n

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We will start off using poles on the ground and cavallettis. I use them because you can use them every day: they are especially useful for riders with only one horse.\u00a0 You can use poles and cavallettis all you like: you won\u2019t be wearing the horse out, they will help you learn to find a distance, and you are not making the horse sick to death with jumping, nor are you scaring the horse by missing a distance when you are only going over something that is no bigger than a cross rail.<\/p>\n

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One issue with Ben\u2019s horse is that it can get a little heavy, a little leany. I\u2019ve hammered Ben because he\u2019s done too much with his hands, trying to get his horse back on his hocks: the result of a correct half halt is that the horse goes forward, and goes forward in a balance, that is what you are aiming at. This horse is a real one for getting heavy and planky \u2013 stiff, and then he doesn\u2019t jump a good fence because he\u2019s too much on his forehand.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPop him over the cavallettis. We stay at flat stirrup length at this stage, until we are about to do some real jumping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust go back and forth Ben, don\u2019t change your upper body, stay in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow stop him,\u00a0stop him one time, that\u2019s it, do the little back up.\u00a0The back up gets the horse on his hocks and off his forehand. They cannot jump off their front end, yet everyone is obsessed about getting their heads down.”<\/p>\n

The next exercise had Ben trotting over some small fences\u2026<\/p>\n

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\u201cNormally I have the fences across the hill because it is easier, but when George Morris is here, he makes sure all the exercises are up and down the hill so the jumps are still like that, then through the year gradually they get back to across the hill\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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What is this exercise for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is good for riders to trot fences so they don\u2019t get in front of the movement. It is also quite good for the horse, it is a totally no-risk exercise, but it keeps horses honest, if they want to spook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tip forward, that\u2019s it, remember that little cluck, try not to steer him through your corners, ride him. See how Ben stays absolutely in the middle of the horse, because if you tip out of balance, the horse can duck out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Forward and Waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a query I get a lot, as riders get stressy about riding \u2018the distance or the take-off spot\u2019. So I normally counter with the question, \u2018What distance do you want?\u2019 Up to 1.20m, there are about three distances that the rider can comfortably make work, a forward ride, a normal ride or a waiting one. The important thing is to have a good balanced canter where the horse is always thinking<\/em> forward, but not necessarily fast, so the minor changes can be made within the pace. Riders often forget that there are normally two pairs of eyes on the fence, \u00a0and the horse, once focused is also trying to find a distance. Then it\u2019s a matter of both horse and rider finding the same one!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis time be ready to wait. Ben is inclined to take the forward distance because the horse is looky and unconfident, but if you always take that long more comfortable distance, horses start to get flat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust come the other way and do the five strides, but try and think of that following hand, rather than just chucking the rein at the horse, and if he doesn\u2019t take the rein, don\u2019t give it to him. Don\u2019t throw rein at him because then he is going to go hollow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo a little more on a circle before you come to the fence, just to get him reaching. The horse is a little rigid in his neck and stiff in his front.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep your hands above his mouth, a little above his mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo a bit of leg yielding just to get him more between your inside leg and outside rein so that you\u2019ve got a better connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cLand and turn, use your inside leg, inside rein supported by your outside rein to get your horse to make a better of a shape, to follow the rein. I want this horse so that Ben can influence him more, this is a good fence to train a horse over. I\u2019m just worried about the first part of the jump where Ben is throwing the horse rein \u2013 okay you give a horse rein in some situations, but what I want this boy to learn about now, is getting the horse following his hand, getting the horse to make a better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me have a ride, I\u2019m better feeling what the horse is doing\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis guy is a typical Thoroughbred, his reactions are quick, with the Thoroughbreds you are always looking to slow the reactions down, whereas with some of the Warmbloods, you are looking to sharpen them up.\u00a0I never get on a horse without spurs, I never get on a horse without carrying a stick, okay most of the time you don\u2019t need them, but you need to have them there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what exercise you are riding, don\u2019t hurry the transitions, take your time, he is a bit quick at the moment, he is a bit fresh. We don\u2019t take the obvious distance, remember there are a bunch of options there, wait for the next distance at a fence like that which is not too big.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marcus Ehning and Comme Il Faut – jumping into the rein…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCome on a shorter turn and think about your inside leg, and that there are a bunch of distances.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cPerhaps we need to set up a grid, to help you get the feel. With a grid you know exactly when the horse is about to leave the ground, I can set it up so Ben doesn\u2019t have to worry about the distances at all, just focus on that following hand. If you jump from that longer distance then the horse gets hollow, whereas from the deeper distance, it is more like the Marcus Ehning jump \u2013 they just jump into your hand. It is not that you\u2019ve got to toss them the rein, they take what rein they need and you give them that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Right now the equestrian world is very much aware of the issue of re-training Thoroughbreds. Join Vicki Roycroft as she adds her knowledge to the topic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,6],"tags":[941,77,937,452],"class_list":["post-8964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-show-jumping","tag-ben-blay","tag-showjumping-training","tag-training-the-show-jumper","tag-vicki-roycroft"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8964"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59558,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964\/revisions\/59558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}