Francis had spent altogether too much time gloating on twitter and various social media for the last couple of days about how hot it’s been down here in Ocala (relatively speaking, let’s remember he lives in England where it rains constantly!)
so it was hardly suprising when the heavens opened on the first day of his clinic and barely stopped – even his wife texted him and told him it served him right for boasting about his sunburned arms so much, and it has to be said, the glow on his nose is certainly much less red now!
Nonetheless, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for learning, and we had levels of horses from beginner novice up to CCI* come before him. Regardless of the level, the basic principles remained the same, they just became more nuanced as the courses got bigger and more complicated. Rhythm, Balance and Control: the perfect triangle – once you have two the third will come, and with them, harmony with your horse! At the lower levels control may be as simple as steering and dictating pace, as you progress in your training, the definition of control shifts to encompass things like lead changes. Actually Francis, naturally, explains it much better than I do, so here are a few snippets from the first day
Leslie Hicks, a local to the area, brought her nice, grey Thoroughbred to the clinic with a specific problem she wanted to work on, and I talked to her briefly in the rain,
It was also a real treat to catch up with World Equestrian Games Silver Medalist and Rolex CCI**** winner Dorothy Crowell who brought two horses and watch her go round with a huge grin! Normally teaching most of the time herself, Dorothy admitted how nice it was to ride in front of someone else for a change, especially someone of Francis’ calibre, but just to have “eyes on the the ground”.
Dorothy Crowell on Distinguished
Anna Kjellestrom also brought a string of horses over, including, but not pictured the lovely Marvin, who was featured as one of the research horses in Dirty Jobs, but is now going gangbusters in his second career as an eventer.
Anna Kjellestrom
Francis emphasised using your body rather than your hands to slow down, as it will affect the balance, and rhythm of your horse less, but also enable you to maintain the quality of the canter more easily in the approach to the fence. Every time you use your hand to check, you take the control away from your horse, whereas Francis would rather see the horse have more freedom in his head and neck, while the rider takes care of….the rhythm, the balance and the control! I’m not doing a very good job articulating it, and the second day is cross-country, and supposed to sunny so I hope to be able to bring you much more from there, and from the riders and Francis himself. Two quick notes: A huge EN congratulations to Missy Ransehousen who’s just been named USEF Para-Equestrian Coach of the Year, I can’t think of a more deserving person to receive any award, especially such an honour. Secondly, somebody asked about Francis’ boots, and they are Portugese hand-made to measure by Celeris. Thank you as always for reading, and Go Eventing!
