Gymnastics with Kent Farrington
Happy to report, the weather had improved overnight. Still brisk especially by WEF standards, but much more bearable than yesterday, thank goodness.
Day 2 started promptly at 9am with Kent Farrington at the helm. Group 2 was up first today to work over gymnastics, followed by Group 1 later in the morning.
Kent had them start at the trot. He wanted them off the rail, to be sure the riders doesn’t get a false sense of security of straightness of their horse. He mentioned he would use the ring for greener horses or when introducing a more difficult skill/exercise, at least initially. He had the riders practice lengthening and shortening by changing their seat, not just hands. He commented to several of the participants to shorten their reins, get their hands up in front of them above the withers and not to drop their thumbs. Hands in the piano position is a weak position. On to the canter, lengthening and shortening as in the trot. This time, being sure when the riders got light in their seat, to not get too forward with their shoulder, as this will translate over fences. Next, was the same, but on the counter lead. Very tricky and takes time for the horse to be able to do this as well as they do on the correct lead. All gaits and exercises were performed at both directions.
On to jumping one at a time…Kent had riders start off the right lead and canter over the cavaletti on the short side of ring nearest the spectators. These cavaletti were set 15′ apart. He encourage the riders to have an active canter but to be patient and wait out the distance and to stay quiet with upper body. Once the horse was comfortable with the cavaletti, he would have them canter the crossrail off both leads, then canter down to the far end and over the crossrail at that end, off both leads. Kent was patient with the riders and while educating to them the purpose of the exercise itself, he educated them on how to train a horse, know when to stick with it and how/when to change your approach the original task you had in mind based on how horse is reacting. Having the horse do it more, putting in a simple change if horse is kicking up in the lead change, halting if horse is running thru the hand, etc. Being sure the riders understood, this was training time, not a race to see who can get it done the quickest.
Course with distances
Once they had all done this, he had them start off the right lead over the crossrail, turn right to the lack and white triple of crossrails/verticals along the long side nearest the spectators, turn right over the crossrail, then turn left, back up over the triple turn left and finish over the cross rail.
He encouraged the riders to be patient, and not take the first distance they see, nor make any big movements with their shoulder when they do see it whether it be 6-9 strides out. Though, was sure to correct them when they would “overcook it” and fit in a gazillion strides.
Once this was accomplished by each team, he switched it up and had them jump cross rail off left lead, turn right, down over triple turn right crossrail, turn left to triple turn left over crossrail turn left down over triple of oxers down the far side (ground lines present, no placement pole), turn left over crossrail, turn right up back over triple of oxers turn right and finish over crossrail. A nice course that required a disciplined eye, patience and body awareness and control. It may look simple, but wasn’t and you could see both horse and rider improve as it went along. Kent would have each combo repeat it in whole or in part based on each needs. Kent was very patient and had an easy way about him, but was persistent and consistent with his instruction, encouragement and compliments.
I have a video of Lillie over the last course, but it is taking forever to load, so will upload it later.
Please see www.usefnetwork.com for Dr. Tim Ober’s session. It was stellar. He nicely reviewed how to observe a horse for lameness and common findings that may be slightly counter intuitive or different than you have learned in the past. It was very informative.
KMP’s session in the afternoon was on how to select a jumper. The qualities she looks for are [in order of importance] carefulness, bravery/courage, scope, a good brain, rideability and soundness. She commented that there are different types of careful, freaky, normal, and careful enough. Where most horses we see at the show, in the ribbons, fall in the middle category, where they jump 9 of 10 fences w/o hitting a rail or making a major mistake. A freaky careful horse isn’t for just anyone, as they are spooky, not necessarily courageous, needs a strong and accurate ride, though this would be ideal for a rider such as BZ but not for a junior or adult amateur. You have to know the client or rider in order to find the proper match. KMP said that you have to test a horse’s bravery so you know if it is there. You can take your coat and throw it over a jump, be sure to jump a skinny, water, etc depending on level of competition you are selecting the horse. KMP defines scope as the horse’s ability to jump big & wide. She typically will test this with a double oxer combo, set a little long, put them in short and see how well they can get out. She wants a horse with a good brain, as they often “have heart as well”. This means they accept training and want to please the rider. Rounding out this list is rideability and soundness. Both of these are flexible, as you and train rideability, and there are many grey shades of soundness. She works with a veterinarian she trusts and respects and shares what she sees or feels when riding the horse and has the vet not pass or fail the horse, just tell her what he/she finds and they discuss what is manageable, as good stable management can go a long way to keeping horses sound and healthy.
Got a little more to add but got to run…can ‘t keep Mclain waiting! 
I got a late start last night as we had a lovely dinner out with good friends and played a little bingo before heading out.
Thanks for reading!
