Vicky Madsen is a British event rider who currently competes at 4* level on her homebred horse By Crikey (William). William is not your traditional 4* horse being 1/16th Exmoor Pony and 1/16th Clydesdale and a good dose of Anglo Arab from his sire Tracey X. Last year Vicky and William competed at Luhmuhlen 4* coming 20th and this year achieved their highest ever placing at CIC3* coming 5th at Arville. Vicky has one horse competing at this level and last year contemplated selling William because the finances did not add up. William is not a natural dressage horse but he is fast and clever cross country so can often make up for the dressage.
Vicky has recently made the move to the South of France from Belgium and this blog will follow her as she prepares for Pau 4* and a leap into the unknown of life in France.
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Vicky Madsen and By Crikey at Luhmuhlen CCI4*
From Vicky:
We’re now 8 weeks into our move here. To recap William’s season so far for you we tipped up at our first event of the season at a really straight-forward fence when I saw the most unreasonable stride ever, then it took us a few events to get it back together, but come together it did for both a win at Tongeren in Belgium, and a 5th place at Arville CIC***, both with decent dressage and show-jumping results.
After Arville, which was the end of June, we gave him a 4-week break, which also gave me the time to organise our move here. Once here he began walking work again. After a break of this length I do just one week walking, followed by a further week steady walking and trotting, before schooling work and canter are re-introduced. Had the break been longer I would have extended the walking time. I know it’s becoming less fashionable to do the slow work, but I really can’t see how it can do any harm, and it may well do lots of good!
Although I’m used to moving around quite a lot we’d been in the same town for the last 4 years, and I’d really come to rely on a great team of professionals to help me keep William in top shape. I’m not even sure you need to have the best technicians in the business, but you do need to have confidence in them! For me it’s also really important to be able to discuss stuff, to learn from others, and for dialogue to be open. I can’t be doing with my vet not speaking to my farrier or things like that! Moving here was quite daunting from that perspective, as it takes time and, inevitably, trial and error to find the right people.
Today I tried a new trainer for our dressage, Jean-Paul Bardinet. He has a delightfully French moustache, and I liked what I saw when I went to watch him train the venue’s own riders prior to their trip to the French Young Horse Championships last week. Until you’re on the receiving end of the instruction yourself though you don’t really know if the click will be there, so that was what today was about. Jean-Paul has trained both the French and Italian event teams, and has probably forgotten more than most of us will ever know.
I was really excited to be going to the lesson, I love the lightbulb moment and was looking forward to hopefully having that once or twice if possible, however I was also a little apprehensive that he might want us “Up”, “Forward” and so on and so forth, when William is simply not a horse you can grab in front, niggle with your spurs, and expect light, soft, rhythmical movement from! Well I’m delighted to report it was a great lesson, that somewhat taxed and gymnastified my brain, let alone William!
First he let me warm him up in the long, low, soft outline I have found works best, without insisting on a big trot to start with at all, just waiting for it to be offered. Respect already earned from my end! Then he got us doing a slight quarters-in on a half circle, followed by a diagonal, then same the other way. Instead of riding quarters-in though I had to put the shoulder out using the inside leg at the girth, then ride him through the outside aids. Subtle, but such a difference, and led to a lot less twisting in my own body, and better acceptance by William of the inside leg. Then to ride it in trot! Interestingly to increase the spring offered by the inside hind-leg I was asked to rise to the trot on the inside diagonal, not the outside as I’m used to. I wouldn’t like to say what percentage of my brain power was taken up by this simple feat, but either way it worked a treat. We also did some work in the canter, much of it counter-canter, and riding transitions to a “big” trot from this, then back into counter canter.
All the work was punctuated by lots of walk breaks, and discussion, then Jean-Paul got on himself and worked him a little. He spotted that William likes to have very little contact, then if the leg demands more engagement he will throw himself onto the hand and does not naturally soften. He felt the quarters-in exercise will help a lot with this, especially in the 8m volts in the 4* test that I identified as a flash-point for our various weaknesses! Maybe he knew I am easily pleased by anyone who flatters William, but he said that he liked his absolute concentration, that he is a very serious horse about his work. He also complimented his build, especially the chest and the head-neck set, plus the hind-quarter, which has never been a part of him I’ve particularly thought of as a forte. So then I was even happier!
Anyway, we finished by repeating the same exercises, but seeking a more uphill, self-supporting frame, and we finished with some nice stretching work. So it would seem that I have had the good fortune to find someone who works in a similar vein to the one we already work in to help us in the short time left before Pau. Jean-Paul clearly appreciates the need not to upset the applecart when working to this kind of time-frame, and also realises the other tough physical demands being made on the horse. I’m looking forward to my next training session next week, always a good sign!
Thanks for reading,
Vx
