One of the things I miss most about the UK is the opportunity to train with different instructors. There is often a bit of a faux pas with riders training with multiple instructors, I know I sometimes felt like I was doing the proverbial dirt on some of my previous trainers if I went off the yard for training but I really do believe in having as many eyes on you and your horse as much as possible. Not only will different trainers pick up on different things or offer you alternative ways around fixing bad habits, it is also great to meet various people in the industry because you get considered for fun hoolies such as team events or additional training.
I am incredibly lucky to be based at a fantastic dressage yard with a really super instructor, but I have missed being able to go out and have lessons off other instructors because it’s something fun to look forward to without having the pressure of competition. So when I heard Matt Burnett was coming to our yard to do a clinic (from my own instructor, I might add...kudos Sandra!) I jumped at the chance.
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| Matt Burnett and the 'lush' Treliver Decanter |
Not to be mistaken with Wikipedias suggestion of who Matthew Burnett is (a multi-platinum selling hip hop and R&B producer from Toronto, Canada), Matt is in fact a professional dressage trainer and Grand Prix rider competing internationally, who has trained with world famous trainers, including Carl Hester and Conrad Schumacher. Matt trained the renowned palamino British warmblood stallion, Treliver Decanter, to Grand Prix and I managed to embarrass myself in the midst of a discussion about palaminos (which I hadn’t caught the beginning of) by saying ‘You know that famous palamino dressage stallion...something Decanter...he’s a bit lush isn’t he’...cue confused faces around the table and a ‘Erm, yeah, he’s my ride’ from Matt. Oh THAT palamino. *Blush*
Romy has been a little on and off over the past week and I realised that he was throwing some shapes because he was pulling a Princess and the Pea situation on me. Except in this instance the princess is him and the pea is his sheepskin saddle pad which we didn’t have on so it made him cranky. Diddums. Washed, dried and fluffed up for our day with Matt, the forevermore needed saddle pad was donned and Romy was on his best behaviour.
I gave Matt a brief run down of Romy’s history and asked to pay close attention to his leg booboo. We had to make sure he was comfy and didn’t work too hard as he is essentially still coming back into full work and is still a little stiff behind the saddle. After the warm up, we started with spiralling in and out of a circle and making transitions between walk and trot. Matt picked up on Romy falling on to the forehand in trot, losing the connection a bit and lengthening too much through the frame so when I felt him get heavy I needed to make another transition down to walk by squeezing inside leg to outside hand but actually releasing my inside hand a bit, rather than let him fall onto it for support. This helped him to lift his back and create more throughness and suppleness. Romy tends to get tense in the walk, I believe because any type of collected walk makes him think passage, so when we made the downward transition we used more of a wide turn on the forehand before picking up the trot straight out of that. This helped him to keep supple and on my aids and the lateral movement meant he didn’t lose rhythm by getting tense in the walk. After a few of these transitions we could go in between walk and trot with a better balance, better rhythm and a better quality walk. The moment he was feeling heavy in my hands meant he was getting too straight in the hind leg so it was time to do a transition. The aim wasn’t necessarily to get him more active but to help him stay supple behind the saddle and carry himself.
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| Checking our position down the long side |
Next came the canter left, which is Romy’s UNparty piece. He is overall more supple and balanced on the right rein and is very, VERY sensitive to the spur on the left rein. I’m also much stronger on my right side so I think his weak left side plus my strong right leg can be too much for him. I need to consider canter left by using my seat and upper body, rather than touch with the spur. He is very ‘stallion-like’ and when I put the leg on he gives a reaction but it’s not always the reaction I want, which was evident by a massive kick out which echoed around the yard when I touched him with my right spur. Matt said I need to direct Romy with the flat side of my leg and my upper body but keep my knees and toes facing straight rather than out so I don’t use the spur for anything other than quickness. We worked on leg yielding along the long side, facing the wall and then going straight but by using my upper body and opening the outside rein rather than using my legs. Keep. Your. Legs. Steady. Actually on that note, I’ve recently transitioned over to hard boots after some mild bullying from friends. I was always a fan of soft leather boots which moulded to my legs but after getting used to the harder boots they definitely put me in a better position, which I think my horse appreciates too rather than have my tree trunk legs flopping about all over the place.
We finished with shoulder out in canter and Matt said I was holding Romy a little in the reins so rather than hold on to him let him cover the ground and use my seat to keep the rhythm (see, I’ve learnt how to spell it from my judging days). If I felt him coming a little too collected in the shoulder out I would use my upper body to straighten him out again before putting him back into the shoulder out position. Romy was so well behaved, there was lots of carrots for him that evening and I parked up at the end of the menage with my nerd book to make some notes on the other lessons of the day. Anyone interested in watching a clip of my lesson with Matt can find it here.
Helen and Felino were next in the ring and straightness and forwardness were the key ingredients in their session. Felino, the wiggly worm, finds lateral work easy so Helen had often used that as a tool to get him forward but Matt tried to bring it back to straightness so Felino could set himself up for a more powerful hind leg. The theme of straightness continued through the up and downward transitions as well as around the corners. Similar to Romy, Felino collects more when Helen used the spur so Helen had to think of alternative ways to encourage him forward. They worked on improving the suppleness over the back by encouraging him forward and out (rather than down) and by the end of the session Felino had a lovely swing through his back.
Last in for the day were Katarina and golden oldie, Jack. They had many of the same corrections as I had with Romy...keep the contact and ride him into it by stabilising the upper body. Katarina was encouraged to turn from the upper body without collapsing the shoulders, which would then mean the leg comes up and that in turn would allow Jack to fall out through the shoulder. So maintain the contact, shoulders back and BOOBS OUT, WHOOP! If he got too heavy in her hand she would make a transition while maintaining that contact. Matt had them work on the shoulder out, straight, back to
shoulder out along the long side by turning the upper body. Use of leg was for forwardness rather than bend so he discouraged her from using too much inside leg for the angle.
They then moved on to canter half pass and Matt asked Katarina to sit tall and open her hands to allow the sideways movement, rather than lock her hands by his withers. To encourage suppleness in the canter half pass they first worked down the long side with transitions from straight to haunches in and back to straight again. It was a tough session and Katarina was matching her burgundy bandages by the end of it but it was accompanied by a big smile and it was the best I had seen them go so I’m sure the rosy cheeks were worth it! A divil for punishment, Katarina had another lesson with Matt the following day but I couldn’t attend because as Donna Summer once described me; ‘She works hard for the money. So hard for it honey. She works hard for the money so you better treat her right’. #truestory
Katie and her lovely mare Polly also had a lesson while I was busy trying to keep the economy together and Matt worked on their overall connection through transitions. Katie commented that Matt was able to relate to the couple as he has a mare similar to Polly...not straightforward so they needed to come up with alternative ways to encourage the connection.
We finished off the first day with beers and a barbeque and I’m hopeful that this clinic was the first of many more to come because I loved Matt's sympathetic way of teaching and he seemed to already know Romy inside out after watching him for ten minutes. These bloomin Grand Prix riders knowing it all. I've had the horse a year and I'm still trying to figure him out! The two words that are ringing in my ears from it are 'transitions' and 'connection' and I think it was a common theme across all riders from the clinic. It made me so excited for Romys future...why can’t I just have a job where I ride my pony every daaaaayyyyy. Oh well, I guess finance is the second best thing...pause...nooooooot.
Till next time,
V x
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