EN’s Got Talent: Lysander’s Learning Curve

EN’s Got Talent is Eventing Nation’s newest series. We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? This series introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].

Doug Payne and Lysander on their way to winning the Training Horse division at this year’s American Eventing Championships.

We met Lysander, Doug Payne and Kristin Michaloski’s 5-year-old Oldenburg/Thoroughbred gelding, in last week’s installment of EN’s Got Talent. Since I started interviewing Doug for this series, he and Lysander won the Training Horse division at the American Eventing Championships. That’s the goal of this column: to scout out the top up-and-coming horses in the sport. Let’s jump right back in to addressing some of the training questions Doug has faced while bringing Big Leo through the levels.

One of Doug’s major challenges with 18-hand Lysander has been teaching him to compress: “It’s critical that a big horse like that can shorten because you’re going to get caught in tight distances all the time. The longer distances will ride normal, normal distances will ride snug and short distances will be very short. I’ve been working hard to teach him to adjust his stride while maintaining energy.”

Lengthening and shortening exercises, gymnastics and ground-pole work have all helped Lysander tremendously with his flatwork, Doug said. Doug also made an effort to expose Lysander to numerous schooling jumper shows, as well as events, at the beginning of his career.

“I think that’s a huge benefit in the beginning — if you can get the horse out into the world. It’s difficult for people financially to take them to these bigger events with travel and stabling expenses, but it’s a huge benefit to go when you’re able, so you can be in the circuit and let the horse become accustomed to it. I would rather attend fewer events of better quality than more events of lesser. Then when you hit preliminary and get to a one-star, it’s not a big deal to be competing against a huge division in lots of atmosphere.”

Doug and Lysander made the jump to preliminary at the Stuart Horse Trials in July. The pair sat in second after dressage on a 32.2, picked up 6.8 time penalties and pulled three rails to finish in eighth on a 51. Lysander went preliminary again at the Horse Park of New Jersey Horse Trials in late July, sitting in first after dressage with a 26.5. A run out on cross country and rails in show jumping pushed Doug and Lysander down the leaderboard.

“One of the biggest challenges with him is he can get long and strung out. The run out at New Jersey was a green mistake, and one that was all my fault. There was a 90-degree turn in the woods that opened into a field to a narrow. I saw a longer stride and rode for it and he never saw it. With a more experienced horse it wouldn’t have been an issue, but at his stage I should have known better,” Doug said.

“That said, for the next couple of weeks I set up a similar question in the ring and jumped it at every angle I could think of. It’s so important to do that now since you’re going to see many corners at the upper levels. You need to ride it almost on a loose rein and they should lock onto it.”

Doug emphasized the importance of exposing young horses to “forward-thinking, open cross-country courses. Try to avoid smaller, trappier courses. The horses don’t come off learning as much as if they run on bigger, more open courses.” Doug loves courses like Pine Top, Southern Pines, the Fork, Maryland Horse Trials, Virginia Horse Trials, Millbrook, Stuart, New Jersey, Richland and Plantation Field — to name a few — for introducing young horses to more open courses.

Doug knows that training a young horse is a process, a fact he understood all too well while running preliminary with Lysander at Richland in August, where the pair pulled two rails in show jumping to finish sixth.

“It’s all about getting more exposure. They were spooky fences, and rails are going to happen. You can’t beat yourself up over it. Learn from each mistake, and keep in mind that young horses are going to need time to develop. It’s not about winning; blue ribbons will certainly come as a result of a good training process. Be patient.”

When it comes to bringing a young horse through the levels, both good and bad days will abound. Considering Lysander’s recent win at the AECs, I think we can assume most days in the future will be good.

Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Covert Rights, Colleen Rutledge’s 6-year-old homebred gelding who recently finished fifth in his first two-star at Richland. Wendy Woodall sent me a tip about this exciting horse: “I know everyone always talks about Colleen’s horse Shiraz, but I think people need to look out for this horse of hers. He is probably going to be her next four-star horse.” Thanks for the tip, Wendy!

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