Gavin Makinson wrote awesome IEF report he did for us last year, and you may remember a profile Samantha did on him as well. We also mentioned a few weeks ago that he’d kindly be reporting on this year’s IEF for us, and Gavin created his formal introduction video on Wednesday. Many thanks to Gavin for coming on board and presenting this wonderful write up of the 2013 International Eventing Forum.
Gavin Makinson and Oliver Cromwell
From Gavin:
The International Eventing Forum 2013 – ‘Journey to the Top’
Hartpury College, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
#IEF13
@eventingforum
Review by Gavin Makinson
@gjmeventing
Monday 4th February saw the 2013 International Eventing Forum take place once again at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire. (www.hartpury.ac.uk) The FEI, British Eventing and the worldwide eventing community gathered in Hartpury’s (heated!) indoor to meet, greet and above all learn.
Last year’s IEF very much focused on a count down to a very big day, specifically those four spectacular days of eventing in Greenwich park.
This year, the IEFs organiser and creator, Eric Smiley (FBHS), former international event rider and worldwide eventing coach explained that with the Olympic four year cycle now back to year one, it was a time to re-assess the Journey to the Top. And as such this year’s training sessions had an emphasis on correct training, good practice throughout, and an arc to horses’ and riders’ education.
Compared to last year’s four sessions, this year saw three working sessions. It offered a more streamlined day albeit with no less brain ache at the end.
The three working sessions were led as follows:
- How Both Ends Meet – Ian Woodhead
Dressage from the beginning to the finished product…
- The Steps Through the Levels – Sir Mark Todd
The jumping ladder…
And lastly:
- Course Designer vs. Coach –
Mike Etherington-Smith and David O’Connor
In addition, there were two information sessions centered on the significant changes the FEI have made to the rulebook for 2013. It’s clear the last few years have seen a period of reflection and a real desire to change and update the sport from an FEI point of view, so we had specific Veterinary updates from Graeme Cook and John McEwen and then a rule book update from Catrine Norinder and Giuseppe Della Chiesa, with Q&As afterward.
A summary of the main changes can be found here on the FEI website:
So to the sessions; today we’ll cover part 1 with Ian Woodhead. Check back the next few days for Parts 2 and 3.
- Ian Woodhead – How Both Ends Meet
Ian Woodhead is now one of the UK’s foremost trainers of dressage, in particular of top-level event horses. He was born into a family steeped in horses, and trained in pure dressage from an early age. Firstly at home, then at Talland, and later with renowned trainers worldwide.
Towards the beginning of a successful career as a competition rider, Ian was asked to coach a pony dressage rider. The seeds of a career as international trainer were instantly planted and with sheer graft, Ian quickly reached the top of his game. In more recent years, the focus of his training career has shifted, thankfully in our direction and he now almost exclusively works with event horses.
Guinea Pigs:
Rider: Tom How
Horse: Belco HRS, 2006, KWPN, owned by Hows Racesafe
UK Lycetts 5yo champion 2011, UK Lycetts 6yo champion 2012
Rider: Matt Frost
Horse: AMD Don Rosso
Justine Sole
Matt and Justine both from AM Dressage
The session was divided into 3 areas focusing on:
- Day to day training as opposed to competition riding
- Presentation
- Test riding and Arena craft.
Working with Tom How and his talented young horse Belco, Ian talked about his system, day to day training and how that differs from competition riding.
As a rider, pupil and occasional coach, I am obsessed by knowledge and smart people working at the top of their game. I worked with Ian as a junior event rider myself and it was fascinating to see how his system has developed and evolved along his 20+ year career. As a pupil you long for those days where somebody gives you a gem of information, that revelatory light bulb moment that makes you instantly want to get on a horse and challenge something fundamental about the way you’ve always ridden. Ian provided that at the Forum.
A few things were noticeable. Ian was very quiet. He’s a man that doesn’t waste words, but what he does say is golden. There was a noticeable lack of drama or of confrontation, with the emphasis on a clear explanation in the horse’s early training of the head position, movements and behavior.
Once the horse had settled, Ian explained some fundamentals of his system. The horse is taught two head positions. A lower head position used for warming up, intermittent stretching but also as a familiar, safe zone for the horse to return to if it gets tense in the warm up. And then a higher test frame. The concept of two head positions is not new, the explanation and use of them though was clearer, especially in using the lower frame to allow the horse to settle and feel safe under pressure.
My own light bulb moment came when Ian described educating the horse in the movements. As riders, we are taught the aids for a movement and then to use them, but Ian added a slant that was refreshing.
He was keen that the horse was never over-ridden, but was taught skills and an empowerment that few trainers teach. He explained that once a rider rides correctly, the next step isn’t that they just ride the horse, but that time is taken to properly explain to the horse each movement. In practical terms, by Ian’s method you wouldn’t just ‘ride’ shoulder in along the whole of a long side, but that you teach the horse the specific aids for the shoulder in, it says “I know this… this is shoulder in’, and with your support does it until it is given a new set of aids for something else. This was my light bulb moment… A small shift, but a vastly different idea that the horse learns the FEI Handbook for Judges rather than just is trained to be passive albeit reactive.
Ian thinks that this way, a horse maintains its brain, feels empowered and loses no ability to think on its feet, something you might need in a risky moment across country.
Later on in the day I quizzed Ian about how this part of his training had developed… Was it a particular trainer, a rider or a horse that had left this legacy? He explained that his training methods changed drastically during his years of coaching the GB Pony Dressage team. ‘When you’re working with very young children, it all has to be simpler, clearer and without drama…’ And this then transcended into his education of the horse.
In day-to-day training it is so easy to get over emotional. It was a real breath of fresh air for Ian to compare the young horse’s education to forming the impressionable young mind of a child. If you want a successful child, you educate it well, explain right and wrong clearly and give the child skills. Ian pointed out that there are many top horses that have very little idea of what they are doing. Horses being ‘carried’ by very talented riders who almost always press the right buttons, but occasionally you see that horse go cross country and in a moment of crisis looks to the rider for those right aids and he/she is not there or has frozen or got it wrong.
Sound bytes:
“Energy, not speed…’
This was repeated a lot for this particular combination, especially in building the bigger, more advanced trot of a horse of his age. Adding speed pushes the balance whereas quick, light reactions build a light, expressive trot.
‘Allow mistakes in training’
Ian was adamant the rider shouldn’t cover up mistakes in training…
‘The competition hat has to come off and the training hat go on’…
Mistakes must be rectified and weaknesses addressed, not disguised… The cover up is used for emergencies only… (competitions).
‘Show off on the short side’
Ian pointed out that very often the judge can only truly see the horse’s profile on the short sides, so it is important to really show off the horse here.
‘Add collection in the corners’
In order to rebalance and truly show off on those short sides, you have to coil the spring in the corners.
‘Collect to improve’
Ian was keen that the rider taught the horse collection and hence strength to improve the work and basic paces. The competition outline had to come from strength at this point, not a rider holding the horse up.
‘Leg yield straight, no inside bend’
Ian told us he prefers his leg yields to be ridden absolutely straight. He explained that if you ride with the ‘technically correct’ inside bend, often the horse just pushes its quarters out, and takes weight off the hind leg that you want it to engage. By doing the movement straight, you build more strength into that hind leg that crosses, which can only be a good thing for the later half pass and collected work.
‘Teach a working pirouette on circle in walk’
As an introduction to lateral work Ian demonstrated the horse doing a large working walk pirouette. He pointed out that the aids for a walk pirouette are the same as for travers and half pass, so once the horse knows the pirouette and foot work, the others should follow easily.
‘Eventing half pass’
Ian talked about the lines and difficulty of the ‘eventing half pass’ compared to a ‘pure dressage half pass.’ Because of the way the movement is positioned in eventing tests, Ian explained that the horse’s front feet don’t need to cross. Instead, the horses shoulders should be positioned on to the line the rider wants and then the hind legs should cross…
‘Cosmetic aids vs. real aids’
Ian talked at length about the use of ‘cosmetic’ and ‘real’ aids for the half pass i.e., Cosmetic aids… inside bend, outside leg back… horse moves over. By just using these you get a half pass, but the ‘real’ aids involve a lot more inside leg, which will generate the energy and lift required for high marks.
PRESENTATION
Ian used another guinea pig rider Justine Sole from AM Dressage to demonstrate his pet peeves about bad presentation and show us a before and after picture;
In no particular order;
- golf ball plaits
- dirty boots
- badly placed spurs
- badly fitting bridles
- saddlecloths placed too far forwards hiding a horse’s shoulder
- untidy hairnets
- badly placed top hats
- paper numbers on tail coats
TEST RIDING:
Ian used Matt Frost, a now pure dressage rider, but one who had previously evented to demonstrate test riding. Matt was riding his own Advanced Medium horse AMD Don Rosso.
The point of using a pure dressage rider was to show the different approaches between riding a test from a dressage rider compared to an event rider.
Ian pointed out that event riders essentially love cross-country, otherwise we’d be pure show jumpers or pure dressage riders. So generally event riders in their training tackle dressage last and are to some extent scared of it.
He added that also we have 3 opportunities to prove ourselves at a three day, which subtly alters the way we approach the dressage test. It’s not quite so make and break for the event rider compared to the dressage rider with just one test at the Nationals. Added to that, there is little risk of loss of life in a dressage test compared to a CCI**** XC track, which alters the approach for some riders. However most event riders don’t approach a dressage test relaxed and on the back foot, they arrive at it tense.
So, using Matt Frost and his impressive dressage horse, Ian tried to show us how to ‘attack’ a test (FEI CCI**** A ) in the same way we might attack a four star XC track. The test was broken down into movements, with gear changes within the movements and the level of detail within each movement well described. The initial run through saw the horse get tight, and losing movement but with subsequent attempts and short training breaks, the horse settled and produced a much smoother test 2nd and 3rd time round.
As the session progressed and concluded, it became clear that Ian is a master and not only the training of the horse and rider, but also at the top of his game in terms of sports psychology, especially of the event rider. He showed us a couple of his tips for dealing with a rider’s mind…
Here are a couple highlights:
– By practicing the first 3 or 4 movements of a test in the arena, then having walk breaks, and repeating that two or three times, Ian set up the idea that the rider can feel good about the first bit of the test that is normally the most tense. Hopefully with rehearsal, and by having nailed the early movements the rider is then in a position to relax into the rest of the test and really show the horse off.
– Explaining dressage to an event rider in a language that they really understand is paramount to their success. For example… Flying changes are historically difficult for event riders to time in the dressage arena, but Ian explained often it’s down to the quality of the canter. In Ian’s words, ‘Say to an event rider collect the canter for the flying change and they kill the canter and the change is late or they don’t really get it’, but say ‘You’ve just been galloping down a really steep hill cross country and at the bottom is a very tall, upright gate with no frangible pin’… ‘that’s the canter you need’… and they’re there.
Ian finished the session with a questions. Asked what he would change about dressage, he answered that ‘we’re all working to the same end… share your ideas’.
An inspirational hour and a half.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the IEF, jumping with Mark Todd.
