EN would like to thank Julie Poveromo for sending us this great clinic report from Area IV with Leslie Law. Julie and her friend Nora Endzel have contributed to EN before, with an article from the ICP Symposium in Ocala. Thanks, Julie, for writing and thank you for reading.
From Julie:
I was lucky enough to ride in the annual Illinois Dressage & Combined Training Association Leslie Law Clinic at TopLine Equestrian Center this past weekend. This clinic fills quickly every year, so I only got to audit last year but I made sure to get my entry in early this year! My horse is No Trouble, a 7 year old OTTB who I’ve had for about a year, and we were in the Novice group. I also stuck around to help set fences for the other groups and audit – once again I was very impressed with Leslie.
He started out watching each group warm up on the flat and made adjustments to rider position as needed – overall about a 15 minute warm up consisting of trot & canter with 10 meter circles and half circles thrown in to help supple the horses from the inside leg. On the first day, he took the time to go over the training scale with each group andexplained how it relates to the way we should be training our horses. The exercises that were set up for Saturday were relatively simple, yet difficult to ride well! Here is a short video of one of the exercises:
Videos by Nora Endzel and Jenna Sack
On Sunday, we worked on Cross Country related exercises. We cantered through a bounce on the short side of the arena, which caught a few horses off guard initially. Next there was a corner set up on centerline, then a coffin-like exercise with 2 one strides and a Liverpool as the middle element. Several horses were not a fan of the Liverpool, and Leslie helped each one work through their particular issue with it, breaking down the exercise so the horses could understand it better. Finally, we jumped an oxer on a five stride line to a very narrow skinny. Leslie stressed that even though we won’t see exercises like these on lower level courses, it is never too early to start introducing them to our horses.
Videos by Nora Endzel and Jenna Sack
Leslie rode several of the horses to help their riders understand how to make small changes that made the horses go better. He explained that many riders sit at the canter to encourage their horses forward, but this actually sets them off a bit and makes them more “buzzy”. He encouraged a position with the seat out of the saddle, yet shoulders only slightly in front of the vertical, and never in front of the knee. He talked about making the horse settle to your position and rein, instead of letting the horse dictate the position. On a green Warmblood that was having trouble with staying on the contact, Leslie stressed following the horse’s mouth with the height of his hands, whether his head was up or down, not taking the pressure off until the horse relaxed and gave. Another horse he rode was quite forward for the rider, so Leslie stayed very quietly off the horse’s back and let the horse settle into a rhythm at the canter. The horse found the perfect distance to the jump every time when the canter was more rhythmic and relaxed, to the point where Leslie was talking to and looking at the rider without looking at the fence as the horse jumped!
Some of the other points I took away from various groups during the weekend:
-don’t change the canter in the turn and again a few strides out from the fence, “set the canter” & rhythm and make one small adjustment to the length of stride if needed.
-the horse does what you tell it, make corrections if needed to show them what you want (asking them to land on correct lead after a fence, make it a habit so you don’t have to think about it, especially at shows when the pressure is on).
-stay in the center of balance, the only time you should be behind the horse driving is at a show if the horse is backing off from a jump. If you have to drive the horse forward at home, it’s not responsive enough to your leg.
-the horse’s center of balance is more towards the withers than people think. Sitting too far back hurts the horses’ backs and makes them hollow and run. Sit more forward towards the pommel or out of the saddle to help the balance. He used the example of Show Jumpers moving the saddle forwards a bit before their round to help the horse.
-for tighter turns, use a neck rein feeling to help the horse turn and block from falling out, don’t pull back in the turn. Keep the impulsion from the inside leg in the turn so the horse turns and keeps going forward. i.e. reining horses using neck reining and how they are able to spin from rein pressure.
-use the wall of the arena to stop if you need it, this will teach the horse that you are serious about stopping!
-press your knuckles into the neck when galloping, don’t stay against the horse with your hands and lock arms down.
-using a bridge is helpful on horses that tend to pull, cross your thumbs over top of the bridge for more support.
A group from the clinic enjoyed going to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner on Saturday night, and we all had questions for Leslie. When asked how he met his wife, Lesley, he responded that they met a Rolex, and he had just won the Individual Gold Medal at the Athens Olympics, so it made things much easier for him! It was a wonderful experience and I’d highly recommend riding with Leslie to anyone!
