Report from the North West Training day with Andrew Bennie FBHS

Myerscough International Arena, 20th June 2019

The topic of the day was ‘Suppleness and Straightness within the Jump Arena’. We were all looking forward to Andrews’s wealth of knowledge and experience, plus the opportunity to catch up with friends and fellow peers.

The morning started with a couple of hours of flatwork, Andrew worked with horses of various levels, and throughout, the theme was ensuring the rider maintained their own balance and posture, therefore enabling the horse to balance and cover the ground in a correct rhythm and tempo. Riders were encouraged to improve the suppleness of the horses by being clearer when performing lateral movements, ensuring the horse was correct and soft around the inside leg, lighter in the shoulder and showing greater self-carriage. A perfect chance to brush up on correct positioning, and get test ready. Some very helpful pointers, greatly received, to get the extra mark in our next test!

The rest of the day consisted of jump sessions, Andrew started each session working horses over a grid, assessing the horses confidence and ability. The 4 year olds had chance to play with some poles first, giving them time to think and work out what was required, then progressed to the grid in a sensible manner. Each group went from the grid, then linked two related distances around the arena, so to encourage forward thinking and fluency.

Much was discussed about the technique and suppleness of each horses jump, and how the grid could be altered to assist with the training and development of the individual horses. Wide parallel’s/ double of cross poles as a spread/ V poles and straightening poles were all used throughout the day. Andrew explained he wanted to encourage the horse to think more, and during the day, referred to the horse’s confidence or lack of security and how as riders/ trainers we can offer so much support to the horses, by our feel, giving the horse time and again… encouraging the horse to think and assess what is required.

During the jump sessions, discussions and feedback from each rider was encouraged, riders were engaged and very keen to improve the feelings they were experiencing. At one point in the day, even though much was discussed about stride patterns and what the horse was comfortable with, Andrew still encouraged ‘Riding with your Instinct!’ as ‘sometimes you have to just go with what you feel’

Andrew was clear, calm and explained everything in an easy manner, he promoted the harmony within the horses and riders and everybody took much from the day, and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions.

The only complaint of the day was ‘Please turn the Air Conditioning on! This must be the warmest indoor arena I’ve been in!! I can assure you its lovely in winter!

From all that attended, Thank you Andrew for a fantastic day!

Report by Kirsten Owen BHSI