Hotter weather, big events, and words of wisdom from the UK (part 2)

British eventer and Eventing Nation contributor ‘lec’ has kindly sent us a report from England. Thanks for writing this lec, and thank you for reading.

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From Lucy:

This week I have no plans to write about anything specific so this could be interesting!!  

So at the moment in the UK it is hot, hot, and hot (well for us!!). In the UK we normally have showjumping after the dressage and before cross country. We have to wear the same outfits that we have for dressage in the showjumping arena as in stocks/ties and jackets. In the Uk last year it was 32 degrees and I was at Stonar doing Prelim on the laziest warmblood known to man. I had a short sleeved shirt and tie on to do my dressage and then it came to the show jumping. I was told by the steward that I had to have long sleeves on for showjumping. So in 32 degree heat I had to put on my wool tweed jacket. I was roasting hot and fairly fed up. I did my round and came out and thought I was going to faint as I was so hot. I then get changed into my polo shirt with body protector for xc which has short sleeves and that was fine! This is how pedantic eventing can sometimes be in the UK!  

In the UK we are anal about the ground. At the moment the going is hard. Lots of people are withdrawing or competitions have to make a large effort with a special machine called an aggravator. These put holes into the ground to soften the concussion the horse might have when galloping. At a local event to me they have special tracks cut to make them all weather, all weather takes offs and landings and they also water the ground all to make it as good as possible. I have to say there is nothing more disappointing than going to an event to see they have made no effort with the going. In event schedules a lot of organisers talk about what they do about the ground and events which normally get lots of entries are because they know the going will be perfect whatever the weather. At the recent CIC3* at Belton there was a lot of complaints about the ground as it just was not up to scratch. At anything which is CIC2* and above competitors expect to see an effort has been made to the best of the organisers ability. 

Talking about organisers! This year I have been working on a project with Eventing Worldwide to try and get recognition for lower level events. It drives me crazy that these lower level events can put huge amounts of effort into running a beautiful event and yet they get no recognition by British Eventing. There is an event of the year but every year a massive International competition walks away with the title like Barbury or Burghley. Lower level events will see sometimes 600 people from all walks of life over a weekend get no recognition. This year I organised a poll for riders to vote on and then followed this up by talking to the winning organisers. The organisers were so thrilled that their event had been chosen by riders and when you talk to them you realise the huge amounts of time and effort put in. I always try and say thank you to the organiser or send an email after a great event (even if it has not been great for me!) and if I have been a pain in the arse like asking for different times or to move classes then I always reward with a bottle of wine. After all just imagine the time and effort it takes to deal with all these small requests especially if 20 people have them! Its small gestures like this that take 5 minutes of our time yet mean a lot to organisers. 

Upcoming are two big events –  Bramham 3* and Luhmuhlen 4*. In particular I just want to look at Luhmuhlen briefly. For many of the British entries this is a final shot at proving themselves to get to WEG. Lucy Weigersma recently came 2nd in the CIC3*W at Chatsworth and will be hoping to put her disappointing Badminton behind her. Likewise for Piggy French and Oliver Townend. A lot rides on doing well. I think it will be interesting to see how the US riders get on against the Europeans as it will be a good bench mark to compare as these are some of the best US combinations going. I have heard that one incredibly well placed British combination at Badminton will not be going to WEG because they have been told the horse is too old. This combination has been on fire and are a proven combination so it seems a shame that this decision has been made so early on.  

Finally I want to end with some words of wisdom from Yogi Breisner (British Team Manager). I am not sure where I have got them from as I have just found them on word document on my computer! But they are small snippets and the type of thing I love of just common sense that can sometimes be forgotten or overlooked. 

Develop skills through good basic training using one method in the first instance then once established move into specific training, using different trainers/methods if necessary  
 
· Have a mentor and a trainer (don’t need to be the same person) 
 
· Practice makes permanent – stupidity is doing what you’ve always done and expecting different results. If it’s not working change it. 
 
· Top eventers can be made out of average horses (unlike dressage and SJ where exceptional horses are needed) – it’s all about consistent, effective training methods 
 
· When training the horse – repetition of correctness not repetition until you get it correct – don’t stop when you do get it correct as a reward (except with youngsters) practice the correct way otherwise you have practiced 5 wrong ways and 1 correct with the same emphasis. 
 
· Practice dressage tests – inc the full test, if the horse anticipates they are not correctly on the aids. Also ride sections of the test. This has really helped the British Team improve marks. 
 
· Training the horse stages –  
o FUNdamental – young horse, learn to go forward and have fun, hacking, hunting, etc 
o train to train – the horse needs to learn how to settle into consistent training sessions  
o train to compete – more specific work for the intended role 
o train to win – the finishing touches
 

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