More Auditing: Boyd Martin Clinic

One of my goals for the last few months of 2015 was to audit all the clinics. Many of those goals became laughable after I broke my leg, but actually the clinic thing has sorta serendipitously happened. Most recently, I learned from Austen that Boyd Martin would be in the area teaching clinic-style show jumping lessons. So obviously I had to go watch too!

time to start teaching!

I think there were three total groups - from green beans (rider or horse) to more advanced. We saw the first and last splits, and everyone worked over the same exercises. Tho some grew in complexity (think shorter distances) for the more advanced groups.

this farm had all kinds of neat details. i particularly liked this old fire truck

The host farm was just stunning - gazebos everywhere and incredibly scenic vistas of Maryland farmland in every direction. Plus everyone was super friendly. Had I been in riding condition it would have been seriously tempting to actually join in on the lesson too.

But sadly I can't ride yet (soon!) .... which is probably for the best bc Boyd's exercises and style of teaching are similar to Dan's, but double the cost. Sooooo.... haha I'll stick with auditing for now (tho actually Dan's gone for the season anyway, womp womp).

horse weighs whether his intense desire to bite Austen's hat is outweighed by the consequences of said nip

Anyway, I didn't see any of the warm ups except for the final group of the day (two advanced riders), so idk if it was the same in each split, but Boyd was very hands off during this portion. Both riders warmed up on their own and it was interesting to see how they chose to do so. Particularly, both went through some similar exercises - canter to halt, then striking off in canter again on the other lead. And also testing the flying changes and some lateral work.

see the gazebo in the background? 

Once they were ready to jump, Boyd sent them through a set of three cavaletti on a bending line (the white lines at the bottom of the course diagram). They were spread farther apart for earlier groups (maybe 2-3 strides) and changed to 1 stride distances for the last group. Riders circled through until it was smooth and relaxed looking, and Boyd also took this opportunity to assess each rider's position. Particularly, he wanted to see a softer lighter half seat.

oxers were square and everything rode in both directions. you're gonna need a LOT of poles and standards haha

Next the group moved to the cross rail exercise, starting with just a line of two on the end to get the horse tuned in. Then the full serpentine line. Riders were supposed to "show the horse where to go" and start looking for their changes of direction early.

every split worked on some variation of this bending line exercise

The jumps themselves were not particularly large, and the distances looked pretty inviting - an easy 3 where they changed bend (only tricky if you had a longer-strided horse).

Boyd wanted an exaggerated but soft opening rein to cue for the changes of direction

Again, riders worked on this until it was smooth. A consistent theme was getting the horses to jump 'slower' - don't race off the ground. Boyd didn't want to see any sharp turns either.

big pets for a good boy!

He also wanted riders approaching the serpentine of cross rails (ridden in both directions) from a roll back left turn. The idea being that, whenever possible, riders should approach a fence from the opposite direction of the bend they will land in. This helps the horse jump straighter and is preferable to using rein aids for straightness over the fence, since rein aids can get the horse's head out of alignment mid-jump.

horse JUMPS

The course work itself was actually very straight forward - the outside line rode in an easy 4 (occasionally a 3) to a 3. Boyd introduced that line by having riders come in off the rail to just the end jump on a right lead and land with the idea of turning left back to the rail to loop back and catch the middle oxer to land right and repeat. A figure eight, essentially.

Particularly catching the end jump to land left (the jump pictured above, tho that pic is from a different exercise) proved challenging, as the jump was very close to the rail and corner and horses were anticipating a right hand turn, not left.

Another challenging turn was coming out of that same outside line, then turning sharply right to the red and white diagonal line. Boyd wanted to see smooth turns with riders looking early.

airy oxer on the diagonal. and gazebo, natch.

As mentioned previously, he also stressed the importance of not rushing the horse off the ground. He says horses jump best when they jump slowly (as in, move through the air slowly, not necessarily slow-paced). And when riders get too quick with their upper bodies it makes the horse jump faster too. That's obviously a good little nugget for me to remember lol.

A final sorta take away from him was: "Never be afraid to put the jumps down." The value in these exercises is not derived from fence height - it's the turns and speed and smoothness that's really important. Cavaletti or ground poles can help put you on the right track just as well.

So all in all it was a very fun clinic for me to watch - esp with the caliber of horses and riders participating. Super impressive! I'd also really encourage anybody to audit a similar clinic with Boyd too. Personally I'm not likely to fork over the cash to ride with him, since his philosophies and exercises match my current program with Dan and Trainer P so closely. But I always love hearing how different trainers explain similar concepts.