Are you ready for what comes next?
I had the good fortune of joining the USEF’s Eventing Owners Task Force cross-country walk golf cart ride on Friday afternoon. Since we’re all just killing time until the start of cross-country, I’ve included a few thoughts from David’s comments below. See Jenni’s post from Wednesday for pictures of all of the jumps. Happy reading!
1) David O’Connor and his Eventing High Performance staff “get it.” David said that he will be leading walks at all major international and national competitions, starting with Rolex this year. David explained that the purpose of these walks is twofold. First, he wants to get the owners and fans truly into supporting their riders. Second, he wants to give the riders time on Friday afternoon to walk the course by themselves. As we have been writing for a while — David gets that a successful eventing program is about way more than telling riders to shorten their reins. He’s backing up that belief with his time.
2) David teaches his riders to always think “next,” meaning, for example, to instinctively think about what combination is coming up next, rather than thinking about the combination that their horse just climbed all over. He said the difference between the veterans and the first-timers will really show in how they react to a tough/tense moment. Smart riders will put the tension behind them in the first two strides after the element and gallop on with a sense of purpose. Less experienced riders will let the tension cause a sticky moment at the next fence. Thinking “next” is particularly important because a four-star course is a lot about the cumulative effect of jumps over the entire course. A problem at the first combination (two brush fences with a small valley between them) will really effect how the horse looks at the coffin, which comes just two combinations later.
3) A major theme of Derek Di Grazia’s course, according to David, is riding forward through combinations. He said that the only combination that requires a consistent short stride is the sunken road — everything else demands a forward, positive ride. Watch for less experienced riders and horses to back off too much because of the crowd or getting tired late on course. Regarding the Head of the Lake, David mentioned that, as usual, the ride to the last element depends on a good ride to the previous two elements. He also said that Derek’s design of the second part of the HOTL is unique in that the organization of the options makes it impossible to change your line and take another optional route in the middle of the combination. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition.
4) People always underestimate the hills in Kentucky. David mentioned that most first-timers tend to underestimate the fitness required to get around the Kentucky Horse Park and he said that course designer Derek Di Grazia’s 2013 changes (particularly the new infield loop) only exacerbate the effect of the Kentucky hills. David identified Donner and Pirate as two OTTB horses who should be fit and ready to finish the course just as strong as they start it. One nice aspect of this course is that the second half is less dense (fewer jumps per minute) than the first half. The stretches to and from the Head of the Lake in particular give horses and riders time to collect themselves. In contrast, the course comes fast and heavy in the first three minutes.
5) Predictions: David said that he expects 7-8 pairs to get inside the time if we don’t get rain. At this point, rain seems likely. David explained that certainly rain changes a lot, but that the course has dried out a lot in the past two days and it can take a lot of rain and hold up. David ended with the understatement of the century: “you’ll be pretty happy to get home in time.”
If you missed Jimmy Worfford and Derek Di Grazia’s video course walk from earlier today, here it is again:
Go eventing.
