If you haven’t read my interview with Rowan then you can find it here
Nobody gets to the level of competition that Rowan has without a dedicated support team. Find out more about them in the interview and also on the page we have dedicated to Rowan’s sponsors.
The popularity of training camps for riders is growing and for good reason. It is a training format that I had never experienced until last week. Although I did not take a horse along to Moulton Equestrian Centre I was made to feel very much a part of the group, which was a lovely experience. I took part in the dismounted sessions and found it to be both thought-provoking and valuable.
Where a camp varies from say a two or three-day clinic is in the scope of the activities that are included; This is where they have particular value. There is scope for both mounted and dismounted learning opportunities, focusing on the mind and body of the rider. Most importantly of all, there is plenty of opportunity for the riders to talk to one another and to the coach in a relaxed and informal setting.
I love to learn from riding in and auditing at clinics. Riders and coaches can learn a massive amount that way, but there are drawbacks. At a clinic there is usually silence prevailing because one or other of the riders is under tuition. When my riding session is coming to an end I have often had questions and invariably the clinician is only too happy to answer them but there is alway the sense of time pressure, sometimes a sense of intruding upon the tiny amount of time a clinician gets to have a drink and momentarily relax between the lessons. If I have four questions then for these reasons I ask only one or two. There have been times that clinics have ended with wonderfully social dinners or even parties, but asking riding related questions at times like that seems downright rude; unless the trainer brings up the subject of my horse or my riding then I am certainly not going to.
Where a camp differs, and certainly where Alison’s camp differed, is that the trainer spends more time with the participants. There are structured sessions and around these there is time where discussions can evolve in a less formal way, questions can be asked and discussions among the group can take place. This is something that, given the right company, I like very much.
The first day of the camp was dedicated to individual riding sessions, a dismounted session with work on rider mindset, and then a ridden session as a group. There was a positive, inclusive atmosphere from the beginning. The first horse in was Sardra, a beautiful mare who has only recently returned to work, ridden by her owner Tory Dobb. Sardra is in her late teens, but you really wouldn’t know it. Given the rather challenging whether we were having the indoor arena was very hot indeed. All of the horses and riders coped very well and Alison naturally tailored the work to suit the situation. For a horse recently returned to work, I was impressed with Sardra’s willingness. She really seemed to enjoy the work and became much more forward as the session progressed. One of the stepping-stones to this was Alison’s instruction to keep the correct tempo in the walk, not to hurry it and to use the trot to help Sardra think forward.
Let the rhythm come, don’t hurry the tempo!
Encouraging Tory to apply the reins, so that she had a light but more defined contact also helped encourage Sardra to go forward. She made some corrections to Tory’s lower leg position and leg aid application; this helped too. It has a double benefit of improving the rider’s body balance, which encourages a forward mindset in the horse, and it makes the aid delivery quicker and lighter, thus more effective. Tory took this correction on board and the benefit of it stayed in place through the rest of the session.
As Alison pointed out, it was important for Sardra that the gymnastic challenges were kept quite easily achievable. She is clearly a very giving and sweet-tempered horse. When you train an uncomplaining horse it is especially important to keep your demands at a level that will build the horse’s confidence. As they worked between the gaits she encouraged Tory to allow Sardra’s hind legs through into the downward transitions. This is something that we can all do well to think about, in every transition we ride. It encourages us to keep the contact soft and allowing, it encourages us to think forward when we transition down and not block the hocks.
Taking a rider’s focus off of a particular thing is sometimes the first step the coach must take to help them improve it. This was the case with Tory and Sardra’s use of the corners. By asking Tory to initially make easy, blunted corners whilst keeping the bend correct they were able by the end of the session to ride deeper corners in good balance. This doesn’t happen by magic of course and nor simply because of the passage of time. There was a key to the situation and it was all about straightness. Straightness is not simply a matter of travelling along a line that doesn’t wobble, in part it is about the horse using both hind legs correctly, both sides of its body equally, and connecting lightly but evenly to both hands. Early in the session Alison identified that contact was an area for this combination to work on and it was a clear focus through the session.
It was in the canter work that the most obvious changes took place, again due to the influence of straightening the horse and equalising the contact. One of the ways that Alison enabled Tory to achieve the improvement was through judicious use of counter bend. For a few strides prior to the transition she asked Tory to put Sardra into counter flexion and a gentle degree of counter bend. Upon returning to true bend they immediately struck off into the canter. This exercise has a clear gymnastic benefit to the horse and in addition it made the rider more aware of what became her outside rein going into the canter. The result was a clearer moment of suspension, more energy and more ‘jump’ in each stride. This was a great demonstration of the principle that straightness allows impulsion to develop in the mind and body of the horse.
Many riders don’t get to experience riding in a 20 x 60 metre arena on a daily basis and Karen Browne mentioned this at the start of her individual session with Harvey. Riding in the long arena when you usually train in a short arena, can challenge both the stamina of a horse and the spacial awareness of the rider. Harvey, an eighteen year old Welsh section D gelding, has belonged to Karen for nine years and they have explored a variety of activities together. Karen has an interest in biomechanics and is keen to explore dressage in greater depth with Harvey. They have taken part in tests at Prelim level before and also have experience together in endurance riding and jumping. Harvey is a gorgeous horse, with the energy levels and positive attitude that are so often found in Welsh horses. His basic gaits were very good and showed all the promise you could want for future development. What has struck me many times, and did so again with these horses, is how a well cared for horse in its late teens or early twenties often moves better than a poorly trained horse of six or seven.
The main focus for Karen in the early part of the session was a correction to her upper body position. Harvey had initially shown a tendency to fall in. There is a wise old saying that “a crooked rider never made a straight horse” and this applies to us all to some degree or other. We are endlessly correcting our bodies to correct the bodies of our horses. There are those who teach only the effect of hand or leg in cases like these but Alison is of course a far more educated teacher! She made numerous small, relevant changes to the positions of the riders throughout the camp and it was lovely to see that connection in place. Alison corrected Karen’s upper body position relative to the line of travel. She did this skilfully by asking her to bring her outside shoulder around, rather than by asking her to take her inside shoulder back. This has the advantage of avoiding excessive twisting of the upper body and the collapsing that can go along with it. It is also easier for the rider to maintain the outside hand position and rein contact when it is done this way.
It is great to work with riders who have done ‘a bit of everything’ rather than those who have dressage focused tunnel vision. The reason for this is that, like Harvey, their horses often have a lovely unspoilt basis to begin training. There was no incorrect training to undo, no hand imposed tensions in the poll or the back. The flip side, if it can even be called that, is that Harvey had not yet learnt to gather his body under him and explore its full power and gymnastic potential. Even at eighteen you could see that he had plenty of scope for this though. Alison gave Karen an idea, an image to keep in her mind. It was of a big elastic band around Harvey’s whole body, there to encourage spring and elasticity in his movement. It gave Karen the idea of elastic connection. Throughout the session I could see this starting to grow and develop. Like the corrections to a rider’s seat, a transformation like this is gradual and takes an ongoing effort to make sure it takes root.
“I loved this clinic. It was relaxed and everything was broken down so it was easy to understand. Roll on my next Dressage!” Karen Browne
A positional correction will usually feel alien to the rider at first. As Karen put it “it feels right and wrong at the same time”. It is the reward the horse gives the rider that becomes a marker of the change and acts as a motivation to sustain the change. Harvey discovered a more springy, softer way of going through the session and the contact improved. Karen noticed his lower head carriage and Alison described it very appropriately as “a wonderful by-product”; Harvey had in fact begun to noticeably soften and lift his top-line into early stage roundness. It was a lovely transformation, that showed his movement to even greater advantage. Working into the canter transitions Alison gave the following set of instructions:
“Build the trot, engage the outside rein and think canter”.
The result fitted exactly with the imagery that she had suggested to Karen at the start. It was as though Harvey had a big elastic band around him, he had become more elastic in body and mind.
One thing that I noticed throughout the sessions was how the horses all gravitated to Alison when they had the chance; at the start and end of the sessions and when she stopped them to explain something to the rider. This is always a good sign to me. The horse, the rider and the coach are a unit of three and trust has to exist between all parties.
Karen Kendall’s thirteen year old piebald cob Seamus had previously hacked and taken part in endurance rides. Karen is aiming to improve his work in the school, with the goal of taking part in a riding club quadrille this September. Karen has Arthritis in both hips and, because of this, her legs take time to relax into position at the start of every ride. Improving a rider’s seat is as much about ensuring the rider has time for relaxation and comfort as it is about body alignment. Alison made a quick correction to encourage soft bend in Karen’s elbow, with a virtually immediate improvement taking place in the contact. Seamus’ primary issue has been with going forward. From my experience with horses of his type, and no doubt this was the case for Alison too, it is clear that fitness and coordination are the underlying factors, rather than a lack of willingness. Like many horses with substantial bone structures, Seamus will take time to develop the muscle power he requires to work at his absolute best.
Seamus and Karen have only begun working with Alison very recently and it was clear that they are both building self-confidence thanks to her knowledgable and patient approach. In the two ridden sessions I saw Seamus grow in confidence and offer work willingly that had apparently been something of a battleground in the past. A key factor in this was the rider’s tone of voice. How can something so subtle, that is not a body aid make such a difference? Well, I think it is because tone of voice reveals the rider’s underlying state of mind. Alison picked up on some underlying mental tension and quietly reassured Karen, asking her to make a very specific change to her tone of voice if she uses it for upward transitions. From that moment on an upbeat, positive, friendly voice aid backed up the leg and it took both horse and rider onto an upward psychological spiral that was lovely to see. Seamus definitely needs a tone that says “you can do this” much more than he needs a tone that says”you will do this”.
Seamus offered much more sustained forwardness as the session progressed and many of the improvement that were coming into Seamus’ work were by products of this. Controlling his shoulders on the circles was an area that Alison and Karen focused on. Keeping the shape and dimensions of the circles depends first on controlling the shoulder mass of the horse and only then can consistent bend exist. By the end of the session Karen had a great deal more control of Seamus’ shoulders. He was flowing around the circles in trot better than ever before. The physical change in him was clear and he had a happy look on his face, as did Karen! Looking at Seamus I could clearly see his potential; given time to get stronger and lighter, fitter and even more confident he will make a beautiful quadrille horse or competition horse. There is no such thing as a dressage horse. Dressage is a process that exists to serve the horse and the rider. As they continue to train with Alison I am certain that this process will be the making of Seamus, mentally and physically. He showed a lovely hint of things to come in the free walk towards the end of the session when he stretched down, held the connection, lifted his back and his walk got a rather lovely swing to it.
“I really benefitted from the ridden sessions and then discussing and breaking it down into chunks. I feel positive about our future in dressage and excited to move on” Karen Kendall
We chose to take the dismounted session outside. Once the horses were settled into their stables we found a bench in the shade. I took part in this session and so my impressions are those of a participant as much as an observer. Preliminary 13 was the test Alison had chosen to look at for the session. We began by talking about how we learn tests. For me letters don’t really come into it much because I learn patterns, usually linked together in blocks. Alison asked us to begin learning the test, she then stopped us part way through to focus on one particular movement. Our minds were in a focused state at this point. The movement that we focused on for the visualisation was the section of trot along the wall after the corner and a twenty metre circle halfway down the long side – working trot H to E, with the circle at E. There is a give and retake of the reins on the second half of the circle as you cross the centre line. We used this movement to create a visualisation.
Despite being familiar with visualisations and accustomed to using them in training I did something that surprised me. I set myself up in my mind, trotting down the wall and onto my circle. The sun was warming me, the scent of gently perspiring horse was rising to my nostrils, I could feel the stirrup treads gently under my feet and my seat bones were moving with the horse, the birds were singing and all was well. The trot tempo was steady, the contact was nice and the bend was rather pleasing. Then I came to the give and retake. I did a quick, token arm gesture totally unlike anything I would normally call a decent give and retake. I need not have moved my arms at all during a visualisation. The phrase “what I should be doing” came up from one of the riders and although I hadn’t said it, I too had thought it. Alison suggested we reframe that as “what I would like to do”. The way we talk about ourselves and to ourselves is critically important; language really matters to mindset. When I went through my visualisation again I made sure that my give and retake was the real thing! In our visualisations we must not mark the movements but fully create them in our mind.
For riders who might not have worked with visualisation before, the main surprise and the main challenge too is that they must be in real-time. It must take you as long to ride your movement in your visualisation as it would to ride it on your horse. The second thing is that they are multi sensory. Alison encouraged the riders to think about what they could see, hear and feel through the visualisation. For the exercise to work it is vital to make the experience as real as possible. We all jotted down what we had been aware of. Because I have been trained to soften my eyes, look up and, on a circle I take my outside eye line to the inside ear tip of the horse, the view for me was a wide-angle, soft focus, constantly moving panorama of my current home arena. I was aware of hearing birdsong and the footfalls of the horse. The perceived sensation of movement revolved around my hips and seat bones primarily, with the pleasant rein contact and the stirrup tread contact being part of my awareness too. Overall I was aware of my body positioning for the circle. My thinking felt clear and calm because of the soft focus and the steady tempo. My state of mind could have been categorised as calmly alert. That is probably the ideal state to ride and also to compete in. This is one of the ways in which repeated visualisations really do help riders.
We were then asked to choose a movement in the test which we would find challenging. I thought of a particular horse I know and decided that the free walk would be our greatest challenge in that test. It is a quietly challenging movement and not to be underestimated. In Prelim 13 it carries a double score and that in itself says something about the challenges and importance of that movement as an indicator of quality training. One of my teachers used to say to us
“Remember it is free walk on a long rein, not long walk on a free rein!”
Whilst there will be less contact than in an extended walk, there is still a connection to preserve through the stretch. With a horse that is nervous and who can be inattentive it is often easier to ride an extended walk, where the horse remains on a more defined contact and therefore is more easily kept on the aids, than it is to ride a free walk. That was what I jotted down for my “issue” with the movement. I was asked to make a second column for what I wanted in the movement and it looked like this:
Exploring the things I wanted gave me the blueprint for how to change the issue into the things I wanted. I was able to come up with a plan. I decided that I would not try initially to go for gold in that movement. In training I would ride it progressively from a smaller stretch, keeping the connection between horse and I, to a greater stretch as time went on. In a very spooky environment I would ride for a modestly respectable mark, so as not to wreck the movement altogether. I have always believed in knowing when to ride for a modest gain, a solid confidence building result. Showjumping taught me that. There is definitely a dressage version of the slow careful clear round and it is a valuable thing. Like all of the participants I had, through this exercise, found my own solutions. Therein lies one of the differences between coaching and teaching. An exercise like this helps riders to draw on their own reserves and that is something every rider can benefit from. It really creates confidence.
“I love the inclusivity of the session and the opportunity to discuss and process the ridden sessions. It was really helpful to share experiences and have the chance to learn from each other” Tory Dobb
We were all back indoors for the group ridden session. This was designed to have some shared objectives and some individual ones. Some of the shared objectives were about using the space and getting used to sharing the space. Sooner or later we all come up against others who warm up in a less than friendly fashion. Alison had some great, constructive advice for dealing with this. It involved positive body language and making a polite personal connection with the rider in question. A confident smile or a compliment can go a long way. It enables you to feel pro active rather than reactive to that person. Many riders don’t get the opportunity to ride in with others on a day-to-day basis and warming up arenas can come as a shock to the system. Having a group session built into the camp was a very good idea for this reason alone.
When it came to deciding the individual objectives it was clear how much confidence all of the riders had gained throughout the day. Rather than focusing on more of the same from their earlier session, they wanted to explore some lateral work with their horses. These choices were very appropriate extensions of what they had already been working on. There is nothing like shoulder in or quarter walk pirouettes to help gain control of the horse’s shoulders and increase straightness. For some horses it was the very beginning of their work in these movements and others had already made a start. By the end of the session all of the riders were more at home with the aids, more relaxed in their bodies and the horses showed some very nice responses. All through the session Alison built upon the basics that had been put in place earlier, keeping the riders aligned correctly and the horses on an even contact through both sides of their bodies. The work was approached very correctly and the horses all showed better walk, trot and canter as a result. That is the mark of correct lateral work, that it improves the forwards locomotion on a single track. You can’t ask for more after a day’s work than for greater longitudinal balance, better lateral balance and a marked increase in the beauty of a horse’s movement.
The second day of the camp was dedicated to the competition itself. Not all of the riders from the previous day were planning to compete and two new horses joined the group. The beautiful Stella, who belongs to Diane Underwood, totally lived up to her name. I watched Alison work with this combination at the start of the day and again through their warm up. Stella worked with great consistency and focus. She has the ride-ability factor and seemed, admittedly on short acquaintance, to be an absolute sweetheart. Her movement clearly had the potential to be big and I really liked that Diane and Alison kept her in good tempo and good balance throughout. Stella’s movement is cadenced, but soft, which shows that she habitually works in a state of relaxation.
Stella clearly has a high level of confidence in Diane. She worked in a strange arena just as though she’d been there forever. That attitude to life is a wonderful thing to work with; it means you can focus on the technical aspects of training rather than on managing behaviours. I suspected that she might, at some point in her life, have been ridden in a way that had destabilised the base of her neck. This usually leaves a mark on the horse’s way of going that takes skill and determination to correct. As Alison put it “she is learning that we are not at home to wiggling the neck”! Stella was showing very sound Elementary level work with lots of promise for reaching the higher levels. Keeping the focus on straightness and balance is certainly the way to do exactly that! Diane and Stella produced a really lovely test to take second place in the BD Elementary Freestyle to Music.
I also got to meet the very handsome Beau, who belongs to Tamasine Thompson. It is clear that Beau is a horse with a lot of personality. He and Tamasine clearly have a very strong bond. I can totally understand why someone would fall for this horse. Something that seems paradoxical in horses applies to him; I realised I had met yet another example of the brave but spooky horse. Beau had quite a career as an event horse and his courageous, idiosyncratic nature is written in every line of him and every gesture. His eyes have a powerful look I’ve seen in great racehorses. On the other hand he clearly finds the world a spooky place to live in. This paradox is familiar to me and I have ridden several horses who exhibited similar behaviours of high courage and high reactivity. My conclusion is that they are the ones most determined to remain alive, the successful ones in survival terms. When asked to do a job other horses would balk at, they get on and do it, but if a leaf blows off a tree then you’d better fasten your seatbelt! That Beau showed some tension in his test was no surprise. From observing him outside of the arena I was pretty much expecting it. He’s the kind of horse that can give you fireworks, of the sort you want and the sort you don’t!
There were some issues with the sound system and before the test got going Beau was met with a screeching noise that would have put the wind up many horses! He dealt with that really rather well but I don’t think it increased his general happiness level with that particular environment. Each time Beau had a spook Tamasine handled it tactfully and effectively; encouraging him to relax and listen. You cannot force relaxation, it is impossible. If the tension comes from the mind of the horse then all you can do is ride correctly, confidently and reassuringly whilst you wait for it to pass. Of course the tension levels will have a domino impact on other factors in the horse’s way of going. It would be my hope that as Beau advances in his training he will offer more of his best and exhibit less of the tensions. I say this because when Beau settles he shows movement that is eye-catching, athletic, and cadenced. He has all of the presence you could ever want, but of course it tends to be the challenging horses who do.
Sardra’s test in the BD Preliminary Freestyle to Music was absolutely lovely to watch. In spite of being recently back in work, having travelled on both days of the weekend and having worked fairly hard on the first day, she was if anything more forward. Her canter work was enthusiastic and she looked like she was really enjoying herself. Some horses just come alive to music and I wonder if she is one of them. All of the improvements that Alison and Tory had worked on through Saturday were visible in the test and it was great to see everything fall into place. Not only was the test a pleasure to watch, it had a very successful outcome; a good score and a red rosette, but most importantly of all a happy horse and rider!
The level of support that Alison gave each of the riders was wonderful. Having a coach on hand to help you warm up is something that many riders don’t get to experience very often. Knowing that they will be there to talk through their impressions of your test is valuable too. What a rider remembers of a test is often a little at odds with what an observer sees. The judge has no context on you or your horse, they must comment and mark within fixed parameters. Your coach knows the background and context and can offer vital input as well. It is ironic that the riders with the most experience, who may well be coaches themselves, are the ones most likely to have coaches of their own in attendance when they compete. This particular camp format gave the riders a taste of what it is like to have the support system that some, though by no means all, professional riders experience.
Reflecting on the experience of the camp in general I would absolutely recommend it. I did so beforehand because I firmly believe in Alison’s capability as a coach. Now, my conviction is even stronger. Although I was there as an observer I felt very included. The company was great. I realised that it did me a lot of good to sit and chat with other riders. Had I been planning to compete on that Sunday I would have felt like part of a team. Camps offer us a chance to be open, to share, to support one another. One of the things I wanted to do when I began writing was to show the connections and common ground that exists between all riders. The two days of the camp were full of opportunities to learn, to build confidence and to have fun. I won’t be able to be at the next one, but I really wish I could. I will look forward to hearing how all of the horses and riders are getting on though and hope to meet them again before too long!
There was a lovely goodie bag for each of the riders and one for me too! A big thank you to Alison and to Equissimo, Laura Mary Art and Equilibrium Products for putting this together; it made a great weekend even more memorable!
Rowan Crosby is one of the most charming and modest young riders you could possibly meet; she is also a rising star of Para Dressage in Great Britain. I have admired her ability and her ethos for some time. When I decided to create the Featured Riders series, it was very much with riders like Rowan in mind.
I met with Rowan and her family last summer and we got along so well that I stayed hours longer than I’d planned to! Then when I sat down to write I honestly struggled. I’m not usually at a loss for words but there was something about Rowan and her story that I found I could not quite do justice to. It comes down to the fact that when a person impresses you this much it is very difficult to write about them. Para athletes tend to be tenacious and courageous people by definition. The conditions that Rowan overcomes to succeed are very great indeed. Rowan has Dystonia and Paroxysmal Dyskinesia, which are both severe neurological disorders. The practical implications for a rider are not only severe pain but unpredictable muscle spasms. Different muscles every time. For the rider, horse and coach this presents a set of challenges that change from day-to-day.
For me, Rowan’s story is about far more than the obstacles and the struggle; that is not where I wanted my focus as a writer to be. I spent a wonderful afternoon with a wise, funny, clever young woman. Beyond those attributes, I was aware that there was a very unusual quality to Rowan. It took time to work out what it was. Strangely enough realising what it was finally unlocked my ability to write about her.
As a horsewoman, as a rider Rowan is extremely sensitive to her horse and it’s needs. As a competitor she is utterly focused and she has all the determination that marks out an elite athlete. Those factors do tend to combine in the best of the best riders. It is unusual however to meet a person who is as serene as they are powerful.
Rowan has a quiet grace about her and an obvious love for animals. I think that is partly what makes her the rider that she is. Her sense of humour is quick but never unkind, most often it is self-deprecating. She related anecdotes that showed me a whole other side to the Para Dressage circuit. There is a level of camaraderie and pragmatic humour less often found in competitive dressage among able-bodied riders.
Becoming an Olympic athlete was something that Rowan aspired to as a very young child, long before she ever sat on a pony. In fact she first expressed this wish when she less than three years old and it was all the more remarkable because at that point in Rowan’s life she rarely communicated verbally. In spite of speaking very little, Rowan told her parents that she was going to be in the Olympics. This was before Rowan had taken up any sport. When a person says something with that kind of certainty it often does manifest in reality. The earlier in our lives that we articulate such intentions then the more deeply embedded they are in our psyche. I will not be at all surprised to see Rowan Crosby on an Olympic podium. She has absolutely the right spirit and the right attitude.
When I drove down to meet with Rowan she was still in the middle of her GCSE exams. Rowan’s determination to take GCSEs and her plans to go on to take her A levels had necessitated her moving schools. Leaving the peaceful familiar atmosphere of a special school for the bustling environment of a mainstream secondary school has been a big adaptation. It is an added factor in managing Rowan’s energy levels. She is at school for half days, specifically tailored around her GCSE subjects.
So many times in the hours we spent talking Rowan spoke of her desire to make her family proud; of her love for her horse, a beautiful young Connemara mare called Tiger Lily. Rowan describes Tiger as her best friend and her ‘peace’ at the end of a long exhausting school day.
Rowan spends a lot of time creating activities to build her partnership with Tiger. Picnics together, wheeling around the arena learning tests with Tiger following behind her, grooming Tiger herself and hacking out with her friends. All of these things are strengthening an already firm bond. What I noticed though was that Rowan didn’t put the emphasis on doing things that she enjoys. Rowan spoke always from the perspective of what Tiger might enjoy and what she thinks might make Tiger happy.
Tiger has carried Rowan to high levels of competitive success in a very short time frame. They qualified for both Winter and Summer Championships and represented both Wales and Great Britain within their first year together.
I asked Rowan what it is about a horse that she likes, what enables her to build the kind of bond that she wants. She told me that what she loves about Tiger is her willingness, her friendly and interactive nature. Tiger is a horse that wants to please and make you proud. Her bond with her first horse Tex, a Welsh x Arabian was different. Tex was rather more aloof in some respects, but loving, willing, cheeky and loyal too. Rowan described his wonderful medium trot as something she really misses. He was a horse that needed a lot of support and input from his rider to do a really good test. A judge once commented that “you get no marks for free from that horse”. It all comes back to finding the perfect balance between brilliance and consistency. Tex was generous and always took care of Rowan, but the sensitivity to his environment made competition more of a challenge. After discovering dressage with a hotter type of horse, Rowan can now enjoy the wonderful pragmatism of a Connemara! As she said, it is wonderful to know that the horse is not going to spook; you can just relax and focus on the riding. Oh how true that is!
It is clear that at the heart of Rowan and Tiger’s relationship is mutual love and trust. As Rowan repeatedly said throughout our chat “the horse comes first”. When she and Tiger were representing Great Britain Rowan described hearing the applause and saying to Tiger “that is for you. That is because of you” whilst hugging her neck all of the way out of the arena. Some dressage combinations are horse centric and others are rider centric, where horses are the means to an end. Rowan is 100% horse centric in her approach to the sport and I just love that.
The bond which a Para rider shares with their horse and the challenges of being a Para rider’s horse were subjects that we kept coming back to. There are times when the horse must simply step into the breach and take charge, because in that moment his rider cannot. A Para rider’s horse can never be afraid of its rider, never be trained by force or fear. That would be far too dangerous. It is a strong, trust based, relationship that is required. In certain moments a Para rider can become extremely vulnerable and the horse has to be a true friend and partner. It must never, as Rowan’s mum put it, have been pushed to the point where it says no to the rider and learns that this is an option. The coaches who ride that horse and who work with that combination absolutely have to be on the right page in terms of training methods and personality.
Rowan’s highest priority in planning her coaching is to work only with people who have the horse’s best interest as their first priority. Rowan has worked with her coach Claire Cooper -Wyatt for eight years now. They have a very strong bond. According to Rowan’s mother they have very similar brains, with a shared love of analysis. This is something which struck a real chord with me too; analytical minds lend themselves well to understanding dressage. When Claire trains the horse that Rowan is riding she rides as Rowan would, one-handed, without using her legs. Coaching a Para rider is something that takes a strong nerve at times. I was once told that the first thing for a coach new to working with Para riders was not the be over protective. Rowan spoke of the courage that Claire has to coach her on the very bad days in terms of her health and her pain levels. I can really relate to how that would challenge me as a trainer. Getting to know the individual rider and their horse is part of the process, but getting to know the medical condition that the rider has and how it can vary from day-to-day is at least as important. As Rowan said, a Para rider’s horse may well have a subtly different rider to adapt to every single day and so in effect can their coach. When she began coaching Rowan, Claire was new to working with Para riders. It is a relationship based on openness, on a shared work ethic and a fair amount of humour too; every day is ‘pick on a Para’ day!
Claire is also there to support Rowan in competition, helping Tiger to adapt to the environment and helping Rowan to find the right state of mind in which to compete. This is something that she is very good at, having a strong understanding of the psychological approach to competition herself. Claire’s commitment to Rowan is incredible, using her holiday days up to ensure that she is able to give the level of support needed. Rowan is also unswervingly loyal to Claire.
Claire has been enjoying a lot of success with her beautiful AES Licensed Oldenburg stallion Devivo. Devivo (known as Albi) is by Desperado (Vivaldi) . His Dam by the legendary Rohdiamont. You can connect with Claire by following So Very Sportshorses on Facebook.
In addition to working with Claire as her primary coach, Rowan also goes to Sarah Rogers and Tracy Ormrod, both of whom are coaches that Rowan trusts implicitly to put the horse first. When it came time to find Rowan’s first dressage partner Tex a new home, it was Tracy Ormrod that they asked to help them. After meeting several prospective buyers, she instinctively recognised when Tex had chosen the right young human to be his next partner. Horses make clear choices if we give them the chance to, but it takes a true horse person to recognise and interpret the behaviours and body language of the horse at a time like that.
It is not just the choice of coaches that makes us successful as riders. We talked a lot about what it means to be a good pupil. Rowan’s work ethic, her manners, her attitude to her coaches are clearly a reflection of the values she has been brought up with as well as her own personality. The way a rider handles their growing fame and the ups and downs of their career matters as much as any other aspect of the sport. In fact I think it matters more than many of them.
As riders we all have influences who are not necessarily coaches or even people in the horse world. I believe that sharing who and what these are is a way in which we can offer great insights to one another. Sophie Chrisitiansen CBE is the rider who Rowan most admires, particularly for her elegance and accuracy. She produces the most beautiful, fluent tests; as Rowan said “if she can do it, I can do it”. A rider with a first class degree Masters in Mathematics, who has combined winning multiple gold medals in two Paralympic games with a career as a statistical analysis for Goldman Sachs is a fitting role model for Rowan and indeed for me too. A theme emerges here I think; dressage and quants!
Rowan cites Black Beauty as a book which influenced her. It was reflecting on the many changes of home that a horse can go through that made her determined to find the best possible home for Tex when the time came.
We spoke of fellow competitors who have impressed Rowan greatly over the years. Fellow Welsh team rider Lorna Lee for her kindness and for the gentleness she shows to her horses and Emma Douglas for her amazing test riding.
Riding competitively has been a part of Rowan’s life with horses from a very early age. I could see that it is a source of motivation and strength for her. Rowan has a wonderfully supportive family. This is always something that makes competitive dressage far more enjoyable and more successful. Whilst it is possible to go out there against all of the odds and succeed, it is far more likely to happen if the people you are surrounded by are on your side. We talked about the fun of putting together freestyle tests. Rowan and her mother Elizabeth collaborate to create her freestyle tests. They share a love of creating the floor plans and finding the perfect music. Fortunately Rowan’s grandfather is a sound technician and he helps ensure that her music is professionally put together. This highly creative aspect of competitive dressage is something that I love too. Music generally and specific songs also help Rowan to keep herself in the right zone during competitions.
Although Rowan grooms Tiger at home, she has help with this at competitions. In order to avoid the risk of her body going into spasm during the test, her entire day at a competition is geared around avoiding any unnecessary exertion. Rowan’s primary focus is her state of mind and riding the test itself. Her coach Claire is allowed to warm Tiger up and then Rowan takes over at a just the right moment. The game plan for each competition depends on variables like how Rowan is feeling, her energy levels, how much work Tiger has been in during the run up to the competition. Adaptability is very important. It is challenging to get on a horse that is already warmed up and ride well when you are not. Finding the ideal balance and judging the right moment is a real skill.
We talked about the experience of progressing from early competitive experiences to the full on formality that Rowan encountered for the first time at Bishop Burton CPDI. No matter how kind or well disposed officials may be at such competitions they are more aloof, more formal and quite rightly more focused on ensuring that rules are adhered to. They are under a level of scrutiny themselves that cannot be particularly comfortable. Her first International was a steep learning curve in itself but Rowan was genuinely able to enjoy her first opportunity to represent Great Britain, winning the Jane Goldsmith Award for the young person with the highest score. The most meaningful accolade of all to Rowan though was that Tiger was named ‘the pony that everyone most wanted to take home’!
It is difficult to say sometimes why a particular rider ends up on my radar. In Rowan’s case I can pin point the very moment I realised that she was a particularly interesting young rider. She posted a photo to her Facebook page of her sitting in the car before a competition. She was taking time out to get into her ‘zone’. I commented that it was so good to see a young rider focused on optimising their mind-set.
As we talked I realised that Rowan has a wonderfully mature and professional attitude to managing her mind-set. I really believe in riders at all levels learning how to do this. Finding the optimal mental approach to what we do is important for all riders but for Rowan, who lives with a level of pain that I cannot even imagine, it is vital. She has times when her condition and the pain it brings can induce a state that her mother described as ‘dormant’. Rowan described how this closed down state of mind feels, how it feeds upon itself in a vicious cycle when she is too ill to ride.
It is at those times that the people around her need to let her know that she is not being the version of herself that she really wants to be. At just the right time they can help her come back to herself and start fulfilling her potential and her choices again. I have never known that level of pain but, like many of us, I can relate to experiencing a state of mind which in which we become a different version of ourselves. Getting out of that without external help is next to impossible. For Rowan what helps is to re-visit her short, medium, and long-term goals. There is one key question that she comes back to
“What are you going to do today, to change tomorrow?”
That is a question I realise I ought to ask myself on a regular basis. In good times and bad it has a beneficial effect on the mind. There have been occasions that Rowan’s mum has booked her in to competitions in order to give her a focal point in time to work towards. Riding clearly plays a huge part in bringing Rowan back from dormancy to the positive state of mind she wants to exist in. Once she is riding again, she is happy.
“I would rather be outside, riding a horse whilst being sore than inside being sore and doing nothing”
Hearing Rowan say that she actively uses pain to help her focus as a competitor surprised me at first, but on reflection it made perfect sense. It is a spur, something that brings out an even greater level of determination. In this respect Rowan acknowledges that she has found possibly the only positive use for her pain. We talked about mental health issues too, including my own, and how any pain could take us into upward spirals as well as downward ones. As Kenji Miyazawa said “We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey”
Working with Jennie Killilea, World Class Programme Sports Psychologist, has been a massive help. With maturity and a growing awareness of psychology Rowan is increasingly able to lift herself out of negative states, with less and less assistance. Rowan’s mother put it this way. “It is never that she has fallen out of love with the riding; it is just that other things have muddled the way.” I think that is something that a lot of us can relate to.
Rowan and I have both worked with visualisations to help our riding. She pointed out that it is a very tiring thing to do if you do it right. I would totally agree with that. Your mind has had the experience, it is very real and you will feel a sense of expending energy even though it looks like you are doing nothing. We also agreed that getting the technique right is more difficult than it sounds. The need to make it multi sensory and keep it in real-time are two important factors.
These elements are increasingly recognised as beneficial for all dressage riders but they have of necessity been a bigger than average part of Rowan’s life. Para Equestrian athletes are accostomed to taking thier bodies towards limits which might seem downright alarming to some people, less alarming perhaps to the able bodied equestrian than to the non rider though. All riders share a common determination to let nothing stand between us and our particular goals. Within the equestrian community those of us who are able bodied tend to be quite in awe of our Para equestrian colleagues.
With this in mind I was dismayed, though perhaps not surprised, to hear, about the attitudes which some Physiotherapists have taken to Rowan, an already established Para Equestrian athlete. A non rider might look at Rowan and form the opinion that she ought not to engage in so physical and potentially dangerous a sport. That would be a failure on their part to understand the importance of riding and competing to Rowan. A failure also to estimate the impact of suggesting that she remove from her life the greatest achievement and motivation of all. Rowan knows that certain activities, like cooking for example, are difficult and even too dangerous for her. The fact that she is independent on the back of a horse, that she is doing something that she does well, is very important to her. It is where she feels free. It is her element.
Some therapists have even suggested that she should stop doing whatever she is doing if she feels pain. As she said, the pain is a constant regardless of what she does. Like her RDA first teacher, Anne, I am of the opinion that Rowan can do whatever she sets her mind to. She and her family know best of all how to decide what she should be doing and what risks she should be taking. The role of a physical therapist is to support her in her choice. I can see how that takes courage, but if anyone deserves the people around them to keep their nerve it is Rowan.
Rowan has Hydrotherapy twice each week, she sees a Neurophysiotherapist through Alder Hay hospital occasionally, and she sees a functional physiotherapist on a regular basis. Finding the right people, with the right attitudes has been a key to successful treatment. Alongside the professional skills there has to be a belief in Rowan and what she is achieving.
One of the most surprising things Rowan told me was that she has taken up Boxing. It was initially a response to being told that her physical strength would only deteriorate. Not only does it help to counteract this loss of strength, it is also, according to Rowan, a great way to use your pain and work through it. Inspired by Rowan, her boxing coach has set up his gym as a fully accessible facility for disabled people. He found that Rowan’s ability to lift weight and to punch is way beyond what her appearance led him to expect. He likens her to Yoda and I think this comparison works on a number of levels! Together they work on a customised blend of Boxing, Strength and Conditioning and on Kick Boxing.
Rowan has used her competition winnings to invest in gym equipment for her to use at home. There is an exercise bike in the barn so that Rowan can cycle on it and chat to Tiger at the same time! The riding itself is part of her physical therapy and she finds that lots of hacking helps to keep her strength up. There is a fine line between exercise helping Rowan’s body and sending it into spasm. This has a direct bearing on her training schedule with Tiger and the decisions she makes around warming up at competitions. Warm ups are limited strictly to a maximum of twenty minutes. Training sessions can last up to twice as long but Rowan can do nothing the day before.
Tiger, of course, sees a physio regularly – Laura Clinton helps to Tiger comfortable and thus working optimally. Laura is a wonderful physio and although at the time of writing this she is away on maternity leave, you can find out more about her work at http://www.equiflexion.co.uk
I asked Rowan what advice she would most like to pass on to other riders, as a result of her own career experiences. This is what she said:
To Para and Able Bodied riders – that you can do whatever you put your mind to, to enjoy what you do, and that in training or competition there is always something good to take away from the session. Sometimes, when a competition goes badly, all you can take away from the experience is that you get to take your pony home safe and well. Then you realise that this is everything that matters.
Another maxim that Rowan lives by is
“Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail”.
Expanding on that point we talked about the importance of preparation at all levels of competition, from local unaffiliated to Internationals. There is no competition that is unimportant when you are representing yourself, your horse, your coach and the people who love and support you. It always matters. You don’t need permission from anybody to take yourself seriously as a competitor.
Having started her journey with horses through the RDA, Rowan is keen to make her contribution and qualify as a coach. Clwyd Special Riding Centre sounds like an idyllic place, which Rowan describes as being more like a social club. She has grown up there with a group of young riders who still spend a lot of their free time there together, this long after she moved through from RDA to Para Dressage. The volunteers and coaches at the centre have been a constant source of support for Rowan and I think she, in turn, will make an excellent teacher.
I am so pleased that I contacted Rowan and that she agreed to be interviewed. There were so many instances, during the time I spent with her, that I felt my gut instinct about her was utterly vindicated. To me, the most important quality of a horsewoman is love for the horse and seeing Rowan interacting with Tiger made it clear that this is a quality she has in abundance. I wish her the very best of everything for her future and I am looking forward to staying in touch and keeping you all up to date with her news and achievements.
It is often said that competitions are won or lost in the warm up arena. There is a perfect point at which to leave the warm up and go ride your test. The trouble is that, even when you have learnt to identify that moment, you realise it will be different with every single horse. Not only that but, even with the same horse, it may be quite different from one competition to the next. There are variables outside of your control. Day shows and stay over shows both have advantages and challenges built-in. On the whole I would say that the longer you spend in a particular environment, the more relaxed you and your horse will be.
Relaxation is key because it is the foundation of good dressage; which is why good dressage is harder to produce in an unfamiliar place. Relaxation for your horse starts with you. There is a learning curve with competitions that is quite unique; no matter how experienced a rider you are when you begin competing there are pitfalls to avoid and best practices which will make your life easier. Chatting to other riders, to professional grooms, reading blogs and watching the Vlogs of competitive riders could yield really good ideas and advice. Take on board a lot of ideas, filter it all to work out what suits you and your horse.
For my part I think you can distill the raft of important things down to two main elements:
Some horses don’t care if the humans around them flap like budgies but the majority will. Generally speaking a flight animal is not going to be a steadying influence. Your horse will look to you for the leadership and reassurance that it needs. Be there for your horse and be calm at all costs. Organisation and timing are the things which will allow you to do this more easily. You might know that your heart rate is up and your voice has turned shrill because you forgot thread and a plait has come out; your horse will possibly suspect that imminent death is looming because you’ve spotted a mountain lion on the edges of the lorry park.
One familiar sight at day shows is a bunch of horses getting into social mode because they are in the presence of horses they have never met before. It is a bit like walking into a full bar or nightclub. You have fairly formidable competition for your horse’s attention. The stronger your leadership / friendship bond is on a day-to-day basis, the more of a chance you stand of keeping your horse’s mind on you.
Your test depends on the warm up and your warm up depends heavily on the kind of day your having. So plan well, be calm and happy. You’re well on your way to a good warm up and a successful test!
Get the horse tacked up in the stable or on the lorry. Get yourself ready to go, down to the last detail, and then wait a moment. Take a moment with your horse and send everyone else away. Look your horse in the eye and have a quick friendly chat. Remind yourself that you are there with your beloved animal who does not understand what winning or losing even means. You are just going out there to do what you do everyday in training. It is no big deal, even and perhaps especially when it is a big deal. Ground yourself and take a few deep breaths.
I’m going to quote the wonderful Charles de Kunffy again!
Your test, however accurately you ride it, can only reflect the quality of your horse’s way of going. We will assume that the test is at a level that is quite easy for you and for your horse to do. We will assume you know that test inside out and backwards. There are three times to think about a test prior to riding it:
From the moment you enter the warm up until the moment described in point 3 above there is one rule – you will not think about your test at all.
You will think only of riding your horse as well as you can. Ride as though the test were cancelled, or as though it had never existed in the first place. Horses live in the moment and you need to be in the moment 100% with your horse, not thinking about something that is about to happen in half an hour’s time.
This advice is probably going to be superfluous for the more experienced competitors but for anyone who feels that they are not yet warming up in an optimal way then here is a quick checklist of things to include:
You need to feel that you have control of the shoulder mass, that the horse is able to bend both ways as well as possible and that the longitudinal balance is good enough to navigate the test movements at your chosen level. At the most basic level you need brakes and steering; everything else is a progression from that! Hopefully with your focus off of the test and onto the horse instead you will have a much better way of going by the end of your warm up. Knowing when to stop warming up is very important too.
If you are going to give your horse a little while to relax before going through to the test arena, deciding when to do that really matters. There are some horses who you couldn’t let down at all once you get them to the right pitch but they are rare. There are no rules to this business, only generalised guidelines. Identify the point in daily training that you think would be optimal if you were going in to ride a test. Memorise the way your horse’s body feels, how the contacts feel. There is always that sweet spot where the horse is tuned in mentally, physically supple, balanced and pinging off the floor. Now work out what you did to reach that point; there is the blueprint for your warm up. It will need some adaptation for sure, but there you have the basis. So many people say that the horse they ride at home is not the one they ride at competition. That is true, the horse has challenges there that don’t exist at home, but we are often not the same rider or even the same person to our horse that he or she has at home. It cuts two ways. We can understand this and work on it, the horse cannot and so the ultimate responsibility lies with us.
Nobody knows your horse as well as you do, with your coach probably a close second! Every horse warms up differently and changes over time as well. That is why they say it takes a year to really get to know a horse. Talk through your ideas with your coach or even consider paying them to go along and help you warm up a few times. Ultimately success is down to thought, to honing your show day strategies, and careful experimentation until you find what works.
Listen to your horse, keep an open mind and be responsive to its needs.
Good luck and most importantly, have fun!
Today’s quote comes from ‘Dressage Formula’ by Erik Herbermann. I chose this photo of Emile Faurie because he is a rider who embodies the spirit of the quotation – in his work there is beauty and joy because there is love and respect for the horse. As riders we all inevitably encounter difficulties in training but it is how we approach those challenges that comes to define us.
Photo Copyright – Dressage Perspectives.
You will always see some very interesting dressage at a Premier League competition. I usually gravitate to the arena where the Prix St Georges class is taking place. This is always the most interesting class to me because it is where the equine stars of the future are to be seen; horses that have been on my radar for a few years in some cases, and sometimes horses who have been more or less kept under wraps. PSG reveals a lot about the future potential of a horse. All of the building blocks for the future are shown at this level.
I was looking out for the horses with the balance, the suppleness, the strength to go higher through the FEI levels and to do it well.
Aside from Young Horse classes, there are two key competitive levels for me – Elementary and PSG. Each is an important milestone in the training and I have a personal theory that you can see the PSG horse in the Elementary horse and you can see the future Grand Prix horse in the horse at PSG.
Premier league competitions are an inherently interesting mix because of the riders that they are designed to appeal to. There are many motives for riders to attend these prestigious shows, but some of the main reasons to be there are
I saw a lot of lovely horses and some very nice riding yesterday but there were those who stood out from the crowd. Deliberately setting aside the matter of fame or prior accomplishment, I will say this:
The best work was, in every case, produced by the riders with the best seats, the riders who’s aiding was both subtle and precisely controlled.
They had the most engagement, the most suppleness, the power in balance; they produced the best dressage.
One indicator that a horse is developing along the right lines is the ability to flex the hock joint and bend the knee more. Engagement that comes almost entirely from articulating the stifle, where the hock is not bending so much, is often seen when a horse is travelling too quickly and is offering a the type of movement that one of my coaches used to call swan paddling! To succeed through from PSG to GP the horse will need to flex the hock and sit.
If you look at the front of the hock joint you will see that these horses are closing the joint well and if you look at the degree of knee bend you will see that it gives a soft, suspended impression. Horses that are pushing from behind and not lifting enough through the shoulder will rarely if ever show this quality.
In extended gaits this quality of suspension can give the (false) impression that there is a lack of power. Good power, that is to say balanced power often looks quite different to how it feels! The wrong kind of power, rapid motion and excessive pushing from the hind legs will feel tiring and produce tension in the horse and in you. Soft, balanced power is a wonderful feeling, exciting for the rider and soothing to the spectator! The skilled eye will always know which horse is travelling powerfully in slow tempo and which horse simply lacks impulsion.
There is nothing so necessary at higher levels as this balanced power; it is the foundation of all of your work in higher collection. The lack of it is why many combinations get to PSG and hit a ceiling. As we develop higher collection and greater extension in the gaits there is more airtime at every step so one thing to keep in mind is this:
Air time takes time!
Several horses showed strong indications of future talent for the higher levels. River Rise Escarla is confident, strong and admirably supple. Her work was consistently lovely. This mare has an expressive face and she looked utterly happy and positive about her work, very enthusiastic and focused. A horse like that in the hands of Charlotte Dujardin is bound to be quite something! Quentano 2 ridden by Emile Faurie, was my favourite though. This horse had moments of insecurity and in less tactful hands I think things could have gone wrong. Emile provided the horse with mental space and the lightest hands at just the right moments and together they produced a stunning test to take second place. This horse showed a more developed ability than any other in the class to sit and elevate the forehand. The balance was consistent and the cadence breathtaking. If he progresses in training, as I imagine he will, then he will really shine at Grand Prix.
The stand out combinations in the Grand Prix class reflected the same principle I mentioned earlier, that a good riding style leads to a superior way of going in the horse. It was a competitive class with some superb riding. I am often rather disinterested in the results of a competition, watching it more for the key skills and general impressions rather than for the sake of the competitive outcome, but in this class the placings reflected very clearly the quality of the skills in question. Matt Frost, Isobel Wessels and Michael Eilberg all rode superbly but it was Carl Hester that really surprised me. I have seen him develop as a rider over a couple of decades but it has been almost two years since I have seen Carl ride in person. Many riders rest on their laurels well before they reach his level of excellence but Carl Hester just keeps on improving.
There was a memorable moment during his test when Hawtins Delicato surged out of the canter pirouette to the right with more power than he had gone into the movement with. That in itself is impressive. The movement was beautifully executed and as the horse lifted out of it and cantered straight forward Carl reached down and rubbed the horse’s neck in a gesture of reward and thanks. It was a private moment between horse and rider, blink and you’d have missed it, but it is indicative of the kindness and the intelligence which Carl brings to the training of his horses.
Dressage as a sport can accidentally encourage the mindset that we measure success by what a rider wins. Another measure of success is how we sit and how we communicate with the horse. There are dressage riders who sit well enough to do the job, then there are riders with very good seats and then there is Carl Hester! He had the basis of this seat at nineteen years old and it has just got better with time. That was what struck me as he rode into the arena, before the test even began. It is not only that he produces one fabulous horse after another, he has continuously improved as a rider as well. If I had to choose two factors which set Carl Hester apart I would say that
Before I went over to watch the Prix St Georges tests I made some time to watch the FEI Pony Team Test. For those who are not familiar with this test it is a moderately challenging one, with elements from Elementary and Medium levels in it. For riders between twelve and sixteen years old, many of them on ponies they have trained themselves, this is a challenging prospect.
The arena in which the ponies were competing was closest to the trade stands and at one corner of it there were several flag poles, complete with flags whipping in the wind. Some of the ponies were more disturbed by this than others but I noticed how calmly and kindly their young riders dealt with the situation. One rider in particular impressed me because, when the tension became too much and the work deteriorated as a result she simply patted her pony on the shoulder and withdrew from the test. She did the best thing to conserve the trust and confidence of her pony and handled what was no doubt a disappointing situation with professionalism that a rider of any age would be proud of!
There was one pony rider whose test I knew I simply couldn’t miss and that was Mollie Whitham! Mollie has a massive following on social media and I have seen her progression as a rider over the last few years through her Twitter account @poniemadmollie. She is a very dedicated young rider and has owned and brought on her young pony DZL Royal Sunrise from backing.
I understand that last year Mollie watched this event at Somerford Park and declared the intention to ride there the following year. I am delighted to have watched her do just that!
Seeing riders who are right at the start of their dressage careers is a positive thing and also thought-provoking. I saw some beautiful ponies and some very promising young riders. If those riders are to fulfill their considerable promise and make their dreams come true I would advise all of them to look very carefully at the best available role models. On a day like yesterday they need to look at Emile Faurie, at Matt Frost, at Carl and Charlotte, at the Eilbergs and decide clearly what kind of rider they want to become. Look at how those riders sit, look at how they aid, and at the quality of the connection they develop with their horses. There is nothing more important than that and it is never too early in a rider’s career to begin honing those key skills.
That thought has brought us full circle, back to the idea that how we sit and how we use our legs, seat and hands, will ultimately come to define the quality of work we create with our horses and ponies. Excellence in those areas will often lead us to success in competition but it will always earn us the respect and affection of our horses.
All of the above images are my own and are subject to copyright.
I was told once that the horse world polarises people; that I would see the best and the worst of humanity within it. That has been so true. On the whole I have seen far more good than bad. I have been lucky and, where necessary, I have been ruthlessly selective. My advice to people entering the industry – find the good people, walk away from the wrong ones quickly and keep putting the horses first.
The creation of Dressage Perspectives arose from a conversation with a group of friends. One of the issues we discussed was the trend towards celebrity riders and the need for riders to represent themselves, or be represented professionally, in a more aggressive way than ever before. To consumers of publicity it is easy to imagine that it just happens, as a natural consequence of having talent or being in some way interesting. Of course this is not so. How does an article usually end up on the pages of a magazine, digital or otherwise? For that you must explore the synergy between Public Relations and Journalism. The mechanics of that process might shock some people; for me it just invokes a wary cynicism. Too much hinges on what riders win, which studs they ride for and the market value of the bloodstock that carries them to victory. The commercial wheels of the industry have to turn, I guess, but there is far more to the horse world than that. There are so many really wonderful people out there. My mission is to discover the inspiring teachers, the small-scale horse breeders so passionate about what they do that they operate for decades at break-even point, and the riders who, win or lose, plainly adore their horses. Those are the kind of people I want to write about.
There are those who would have us believe that media will only appeal if it is seamlessly slick and relentlessly aspirational, that the attention span of our audience is currently around a nanosecond, and that all we merit is the victory of style over substance. I disagree and this is why. Equestrians might enjoy escapism as much as anyone but the reality we inhabit is bounded by mud, love, discomfort and joy. Our best friends tread on our feet and sneeze all over our clean clothes. We struggle to forge careers that make no sense to our friends, families and bank managers. We have to be tenacious if we are in it for the long haul. Our stock can rise and drop with the state of an animal’s health. Oblivion is always beckoning. There are those around us who only love a rising star, those who want your style to cover for their lack of substance. Those people will be gone quicker than a rat up a drain if your luck turns for the worse. Knowing this, it is vital to identify and cherish the people who will still be around, those sponsors who will stick with you through a dry spell, owners who will say no to those who covet your rides, pupils who are there for what you know and not who you know. One of the more valid measures of success in our careers is the relationships we build and sustain.
A lady I know once said to me ‘it is all about bred by, ridden by, trained by and owned by’. Initially I shrugged off her cynical take on an industry I thought I knew better than she did. But, in a way, I must admit she was bang on the money, she identified exactly where the money is to be found. She was very wide of the mark when it comes to finding happiness, friendship, decency and humour though. I suppose that in life you find what you go looking for. I have found kindred spirits, equine and human, in the most wonderful and unlikely places. For me this world (not just the horse world) is all about the connections we make with other creatures. The connections between teachers, pupils, friends, mentors, grooms, owners, sponsors and above all that between the horse and its rider; these are the fabric of our world. It is those strands of connection I want to explore.
This Featured Riders series is an opportunity for me to talk to those riders who I think deserve to be talked about for all the right reasons. So far this year I have had the absolute pleasure to meet with Rowan Crosby and Alison Kenward, both of whom are true horsewomen with fascinating stories to tell. I am currently trying to do those stories justice as I write about them. We never know who will turn out to have a positive influence in our lives, however great or small. The more we connect with others and find common ground, the better our own lives and our horses’ lives will be. Sharing our stories and finding inspiration in one another is something I really believe is important. I hope that this new dimension to Dressage Perspectives is something that proves insightful and enriching!
I believe that test riding is an art in itself. Good dressage exists quite separately to it and equally good dressage can exist within it; though perhaps, because of it’s origins, slightly against the odds. There is Dressage the sport and dressage the process; the two are indivisible of course because the sport could not exist without the process. The process can, and for millennia did, exist perfectly well without the sport; the sport is a new development and needs to be seen in context. This is not a negative perspective at all; I believe that riders need to know where dressage competition originated in order to understand it’s particular nature. Only when we understand something can we be good at it.
The dressage test is derived from late 19th and early 20th century military equitation. It has mutated and adapted over the decades to a sports format and is under pretty constant review by the FEI. If we choose to engage with dressage as a sport it is worth understanding what a test is designed to do and what it cannot do. A dressage test is exactly what it says on the can. It tests the training of your horse. It was not created to allow you to showcase the training of your horse, in the way a freestyle test or display riding can do. They are not easier than test riding by any means, as those who have done them will know very well; the challenges are simply different.
The way in which a standard dressage test functions is very like a course of show jumps. The designer is asking you a set of questions.
The biggest mistake I see riders make is to imagine that the question they are being asked is “can you execute this list of movements required for the level.”
The need to be proficient in the movements for the level is a given, but that is far from the heart of the matter.
The real questions are around the horse’s way of going and the order in which the movements are required to happen.
The way in which one test movement flows into the next is where you must focus your analysis. It is analysis which makes for good test riding.
My horse might be able to perform all of the movements for a given level and yet to perform them in a test format might seriously reduce the overall quality of the work. Why would that be? In day to day training we can use one movement to perfectly set a horse up for the next. We might take shoulder in to assist in setting the green horse up for a canter transition or we might wind a travers circle down into a working pirouette. Tests are not set up like that. Often a movement is preceded by the very last thing that you would want to use in order to set that movement up in training; that is the whole point of it being a test. To compete successfully we need to treat the dressage test as though it were a course of jumps and work out exactly what question we are being asked.
I will always help a pupil prepare for a test with equal seriousness regardless of the level they are riding at. There is no such thing as an easy test, no matter how experienced a rider you are or how basic it’s elements.
From the start of the test to the end ask yourself this “when I ride from movement X to movement Y what is it that could go wrong, why is is difficult to do that?” Because it will be difficult, it is designed to be so. Knowing what could go wrong tells you what you must do, because that is the inverse of what you must not do.
Understand the possible negative outcome, acknowledging it is perfectly healthy and necessary. If you know that it is realistically within your power to ride the movement really well then work out how you can best ride from movement X to movement Y. It can be useful to talk someone through it, as you might walk a course of jumps with a pupil, explaining your thinking as you go.
We want to end up in a place where we can focus our mind purely on the positive, on the desired outcomes. In order to get to that place however we need to look closely at the potential pitfalls which the test designer has put in place for us. Once we have examined them and we know how to avoid them we can create our positive visualisation. Then, having visualised how, we can ride from movement to movement calmly, happily and in the best possible way.
My process is something like this. I will use one set of movements from from a mid level test as an example. If the test is asking me to make extended trot over a diagonal and then to turn onto the centre line and make half pass back to the wall there are three main elements to consider.
Let us suppose that the diagonal was set up well and the horse began the extension in good form. It was attentive, engaged and supple throughout. But many a diagonal in extension begins well and ends not quite so well.
With every test I look at the link between the first movement and the second, the second and the third, and so on in this way. I recognise the potential pitfalls and I think about how I can strategically avoid them. That is one aspect of the process. The second is to look at the composition of the test in more general terms.
In early levels there is more use of a mirror image format. Something is done on one rein in one gait, then often you return to a lower gait for a while, and then on returning to the higher gait you repeat the earlier movement to the other side. This provides respite for the horse’s cardio system and the transitions allow you to rebalance. In more demanding tests there is less and less respite as you go up the levels. The canter work is often more of a block and it requires a higher level of cardio fitness if the movements nearer the end of the test are going to be executed well. You need to be realistic about the level of fitness your horse has relative to the test and build that up if necessary. Your own fitness needs to be far greater too, if you want to get the very best performance from your horse. In Rider Fitness I wrote about how your performance as a dressage rider can be greatly improved through physical fitness.
The final, and the most important, thing I want to talk about is the horse’s way of going, relative to the test. It is no coincidence that many good riders compete a level or two below the training level of the horse. They have not fallen into the vanity trap of competing outside of their comfort zone in order to say that they are at this level or that. It is far better for your confidence and that of the horse to know you are competing well within your training limits. It is a huge advantage to work with a coach, one who will be kind but honest with you! It also helps to go watch a range of horses at your chosen level; it is wise to pay most attention to elite combinations. See how well the movements are performed but also pay attention to the way of going, the level of fitness and most of all the muscular development of the horse. To succeed at competitive dressage it really is a case of ‘its not what you do, its the way that you do it’.
When the way of going is right for the level, when the horse is fit and strong and when you learn to strip down the test, look at it’s components and then put it back together you will be well equipped for success. Most importantly of all you will feel confident and enjoy the experience of competing!
It is you versus the test, not you versus the other competitors!
If you would like to find out more about riding better lateral work have a look at these earlier articles –
Dressage Perspectives 
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