Firstly we would like to apologise for the change in the programme for this event. Following a serious accident, fortunately not involving any of our company, three of our demonstration horses, to be used in the first two sessions, were 'parked' for an hour and a half on the motorway. They all behaved beautifully, despite very many ambulances, police and fire sirens, as well as two air ambulances. We are pleased to see, following a news report, that the occupants of the car survived their terrible ordeal.
Fate was smiling on Caroline Ogden and her horse Akbar, as she missed the turning for the motorway and found herself heading towards Newbury! Fortunately our other two demonstration horses were also coming across country and made it to the venue in good time.
With the more advanced horses at the venue, Lorna had a difficult job to reschedule the sessions for the day, taking what was to have been a logical progression through the levels and turning the format completely on its head. She did a wonderful job for us under challenging circumstances!
An attentive audience got the full benefit of Lorna’s tremendous experience during her intensive 3 hour lecture demonstration on a blustery November Sunday afternoon. Luckily we were using the excellent indoor school at Boomerang Centre, so we all stayed dry, and a number of the guinea pig riders commented on the great surface in the arena.
Image:
Lorna started with two very different combinations; Caroline Ogden and the handsome, rangy, 18hh Akbar II alongside Elice Willets and her neat, 15’3”, 21 years plus schoolmaster, Ferdy. With these two Lorna ran through a wide selection of music so that we could all try and choose the most suitable for the paces of these very different horses. A lengthy exercise but one which just shows how easy some horses are (Ferdy) and how difficult others (Akbar) can be!
Next into the arena was Jane Higgins and her bay gelding Quinn to demonstrate building up the choreography for an elementary test. Lorna explained that Quinn was still green at this level and so she would concentrate on a simple floor plan that would help both horse and rider to gain confidence. We saw how she incorporated the compulsory movements at this level, such as the leg yield, as well as showing off the horse’s strong points – in this case Quinn’s rhythmic medium trot. As the audience could see, Quinn grew in confidence with the exercises and Lorna described him as a really “musical” horse who actually relaxed and benefited from being ridden to music!
Jane was followed by Karen Saunders and her grey eventer Captain Black (JJ), working at prelim/novice level and the more experienced combination of Amanda Irving and Shamen. Again, Lorna played a selection of music for walk, trot and canter and the audience became more confident at judging music with the right tempo for each horse. The combinations were very different and we were also asked to assess the style of the music against the personality of horse and rider to try to get the “fit” as close as possible.
The final rider in the arena for the afternoon was Lizi Hamilton riding her charming chestnut Manhal's Diamond (Fred). Lorna pointed out that this horse was at prelim level so she would aim to keep the novice level test as straightforward as possible.
Image: Lorna George and Manhal's Diamond
The novice test requires compulsory 15m circles in trot and we discussed the best place in the arena to do these; Lizi decided that she would prefer to do them from E and B which would make it easier for her to ride the size accurately. Lorna had already selected music for Fred and, as he has such a good walk, decided to make a particular emphasis on this i.e. doing both the medium and free walk on the diagonals to give the judge the best possible view. We discussed ways of disguising a weaker pace and Lorna recommended riding a circle which would normally help the horse to track up and step under better than on the straight.
We finished the afternoon with a question and answer session for Lorna and many thanks to all our guinea pigs; a number of whom had been stuck in solid traffic on the motorway so had only arrived just in time for the demonstration!
Finally, a presentation was made to Jane Higgins in thanks for her hard work as Hon. Secretary on the Isis Committee. She was given a set of travel boots and a personalised Thermatex rug for her horse, Quinn, and everyone wished them both well for the future.
All in all this was a very interesting lecture and an enjoyable afternoon for the audience and riders – my thanks go to Lorna George for giving up her Sunday afternoon and to Caroline Ogden and Lizi Hamilton for all their hard work in organising such a successful event.
Jane McWilliam
Other pages:
This is the text-only version of this page. Click here to see this page with graphics.
Edit this page |
Manage website
Make Your Own Website: 2-Minute-Website.com