Photo with kind permission of Nico Morgan
I’m hardly original in being a huge fan of Francis Whittington, not just for his stylish and effective riding, but also for the considerable time and effort he commits to ERA, his passion for Eventing, his eagerness to share and give back to the sport, his messy lorry scattered with son Max’s toys, clothes and kit but none of his own, and for the fact that he can walk the Burghley cross country on saturday morning in completely unsuitable shoes for wet, dewy grass but still smile, laugh and carry on a conversation as if it were a normal day. For this and countless other reasons, it seemed like a good idea to ring him up and reflect on the last few months of competitions, and find out what he’s planning for during the winter.
Having ridden at Luhmuhlen CCI**** in the spring, (finishing 11th), Barbury and Gatcombe in the summer, and finally two horses around Burghley this month, Francis is as well-qualified as anyone to discuss cross-country, specifically Mark Phillips’ courses, and in what direction he thinks the courses are going,
“Barbury wasn’t as strong a three-star track as it has been. Luhmuhlen certainly was a question; it was a very different type of event and different type of track to Burghley. This time at Burghley, as Mark Phillips kept saying, he’d gone very “retro” with it, and I think he was just trying to do something different. What’s interesting to see is when you have Ian Stark doing a very similar thing – going bigger and trying to get the horses galloping and going forwards – I think they’re doing the right thing, and I think we do need to encourage the courses to become more galloping courses, and encouraging riders to be traveling forwards, not hooking backwards. I think that will play a big part in allowing riders to start riding in that rhythm again, and a rhythm that they can maintain throughout the whole course. By encouraging riders to keep traveling forwards, and by forwards I don’t mean faster but traveling forwards in rhythm and balance, it will allow them to jump the fences in a better way, and then over time they’ll find it easier to gallop and make the distance and make for a nicer ride as a result of it.”
Although at first riders may have been overwhelmed by the sheer size, on reflection some have since remarked that perhaps the Burghley course lacked technical questions, (ultimately there were 49 clear jumping rounds, 5 that completed with 20 jumping penalties, 11 eliminations and 9 combinations retired) and I asked Francis what he thought about that,
“I felt that once you’d got half-way round, you were coming home, but I think you have to remember you can’t change everything in one day and I think the concept of what Mark Phillips was trying to do there is right, and as it develops it will grow, and get better and better, as in as Mark Phillips and Ian Stark head that way, then so too will other designers, and we’ll start to get more questions using this direct approach of these more forward distances, and encouraging riders to ride forwards. I think the Burghley course still could have had a few more questions towards the end, not at the very end, but something that would have encouraged riders to have to pick up and ride their horses home a little bit more, and perhaps conserve a bit of energy mid-way through the track for the later questions. The main arena didn’t really cause the questions that the main arena should have done – you could have done it without tricking horses, just put some angles in there again, or just something that would have resulted in horses having an unfortunate glance-off as opposed to a stop or anything like that. I feel that time should play more of an important part of it; I don’t actually believe that the time should be attainable at four-star level.
We’ve got to have a competition, but it’s really important to create a spectacle for people to watch and see and enjoy.”
Photo with kind permission of Nico Morgan
Francis set off on course early in the day on his first horse, Sir Percival, the horse that he was named on as reserve for the British Team at the European Championships in Luhmuhlen right before Burghley,
“I had a wonderful ride around the cross country on Sir Percival at Burghley. When I heard about the course – that it was going to be very big and very forward, I thought that was good because I thought it would really suit my way of riding, it would allow us to get into a rhythm and continue to maintain that rhythm and travel around the course in a confident manner. When I walked the course, again I thought to myself, ‘Jeez, this is a proper, big track!’, and the fact that Mark Phillips had gone the full length meant you had to be sure your horses were fit enough. Although the track was maximum size, width and all the other dimensions, I felt very confident in the way that he’d built it and in the thought processes that he’d clearly followed, he wanted you to go out and ride with confidence around the course and get into a good, forward rhythm, and the track was built like that consistently right to the finish, and sure enough, it made for a really nice ride.”
(Francis’ cross country ride at Burghley 2011 on Sir Percival courtesy of Burghley.tv)
Sir Percival just covers the ground so easily, he’s very straight and really enjoys it, and I think that’s one of the main things with Percy is that he does enjoy his cross country; he focuses, he gets on with it, and you can trust him. That was very evident from the start when jumping off the leaf pit – he came to that in a lovely, balanced manner, just waited and listened, jumped down to the bottom with so much control, he felt very comfortable, and then just locked onto the next fence and I was able to ride up to the skinny, and that just shows his experience and also his confidence in that cross country phase. We got held (because of Oliver Townend’s fall) and I was worried that might upset my timing and rhythm slightly, but once we were allowed to continue we got straight back into that rhythm and had a fantastic ride around the rest of the track. I hadn’t intended to be so far inside the time, but I couldn’t be 100% sure that my watch was completely accurate after the hold, so I wanted to make sure I had a few seconds spare should there be a discrepancy in the timing, and that’s how I ended up being 16 seconds inside the time. It’s not that we go any faster in between the fences, because I don’t believe we do, but one thing about Percy is that he’s so quick to move away from the fences and he’s so quick to set up to a fence, that that’s where we save our time. I think if we ride with a good rhythm around the course and we stick to that good rhythm and allow the horse to jump out of his stride then my theory is that if you save a quarter of a second before and after each fence that’s half a second saved at each jump, then all you need to do is save a few more half seconds and before you know it you’re 30 seconds up, and that will make a big difference to your horse come sunday.”
An unlucky rail on the final day saw Francis and Sir Percival finish in 13th place. Although thrilled with the final result Francis said he was disappointed with his dressage test which he felt was not his and Sir Percival’s best effort by far, and left them playing catch-up for the rest of the competition.
Easy Target, Francis’ second ride, was attempting his first four-star CCI, a culmination of years of training as he’s been with Francis since a lucky encounter at the very start of his career,
“We don’t actually know his breeding, I stumbled across him in a dealer’s yard when he was four, and we’ve just been building a great relationship up between us over the years now, and I think he’s a lovely horse. He isn’t full thoroughbred but I believe I can get him fitter, and I believe that psychologically he’ll be a bigger, better, stronger horse for his Burghley experience next year, and it will allow me to ride him in such a way cross country that I’ll be able to save time to make up for those seconds that we used up around the course at Burghley this year. Bearing in mind also that I had that early run-out, so I then dropped off the pace slightly as well, so I think I can get him pretty darn close to the time, and in the time. He’s incredible, he’s got everything there.”
Francis’ cross country at Burghley 2011 on Easy Target courtesy of Burghley.tv
(Fun fact: Easy Target is owned by Catherine Witt who can obviously spot a good horse AND rider as she also took home the prize for winning owner of Parklane Hawk ridden by William Fox-Pitt!)
Impressed by Francis’ analysis of the course, and the thought that he’s obviously put into his rides since the competition, I ask him if he’s ever considered course designing,
“It does interest me, but with my involvement with ERA, long-term I’d like to be able to see that I can play a really important role in the development of the sport world-wide, as well as on a national level.”
Francis is also incredibly popular as a trainer and clinician in England, and this eats up a lot of his time, especially during the winter months. He talked about his teaching philosophy,
“I believe that in order to really train and to learn, it’s knowing what the real problem is, and addressing that, not just the symptom that you can see. I try to keep things as simple as I possibly can, and provide people with the information in a way that suits that individual. We all absorb information in a different way, and learn on a different level, and it’s about tailoring a lesson or a session in such a way that each individual within that group is able to take something away and learn from it. My theory has always been that if somebody doesn’t understand what I’ve said, it’s not because they’re being stupid, it’s because I haven’t explained it clearly enough, or in a way that suits them.”
photo with kind permission of Nico Morgan
“The training is about building and creating a solid foundation that they can then build on, and one of the principles I work with is a three point principle of rhythm, balance and control. If you have your rhythm and your balance, you’ll be able to have control. If you create control to find a rhythm, you’ll be able to give your young horse balance, and it goes around in a circle with those three points – you only need to have two of them to create the third, it doesn’t matter which two of them you have.”
“When I go to teach at a clinic I don’t feel that I’m there necessarily to teach somebody, as such – I’m there to provide them with the information that I have, and to share that information with them, and allow them to take as much information away from me as they want to take. I just want to use the experiences that I’ve had in my career, where I’ve been fortunate enough to train with some of the best trainers in the world, and to be able to share that information to help make it possible for everybody else to enjoy a sport that I love, and also to give them the ability to become more secure in their riding, and therefore safer, and therefore be able to enjoy the sport even more.”
Which of course begs the question who Francis trains with, and who would he consider as a mentor?
“I train with a number of people who help me. Yogi Breisner’s always been extraordinarily helpful, both in the way of training and on a mental level. Tracie Robinson, who works with the dressage with the British Team, has been fantastic and a huge support, and not only for the dressage, but in a funny way for the discussions that we’ve had before I’ve gone out on cross-country, I hold her in high regard, I think she’s been a wonderful asset to the team, and a great support to myself. Over the years there’s been many other different teachers and instructors. I’ve always believed you can learn something from everyone – everybody’s got information to give and the older I’ve got the more I’ve understood that, and I like to think that I’d be more open to listening to other views and ideas because they might not work with that horse that you’re on, but they might work with another horse later on sometime, later on in your career.”
I’m very excited to be able to announce that Francis will be coming to do a clinic in the US on November 19/20, the weekend before Thanksgiving at Chattahoochee Hills, and more details will be announced soon. After that, his focus will be on the Olympics next year, with a prep run at another historic British Three Day Event,
“The way I see it at the moment is Easy Target and Sir Percival will be coming out of the winter aiming for Badminton.”
Wishing Francis and his team the very best of luck for next year, and many thanks for his time. We look forward to welcoming him to the South (never thought I’d write that!) and I’ll be sure to bring you full reports – what a treat! Go to clinics and Go Eventing!
For more information on attending the clinic with Francis please email [email protected] or [email protected]
