What would George Morris say? Dream Big Blog Hop

Jan from Dream Big had a fun and clever blog hop idea to imagine a critique a la Practical Horseman's column Jumping Clinic with George Morris, using one of our own pictures.

George Morris is one of the most legendary and well-known trainers in the English-riding world. He's been a popular columnist for Practical Horseman magazine for decades, offering his critiques of riders and their horses from jumping photos they've submitted.

So, I went ahead and submitted the following professional photograph from our final event of the season at Fair Hill in September. Let's see what good ol' George had to say about it, shall we??

behold: our majesty. i swear, the longer you look at it, the funnier it gets. we r so gud at eventing
Fair Hill BN Cross Country, September 2017

George Morris critiques an eventer:

In riding, at first everything is hard, then it becomes easier, then habitual, and only now does it have a chance to become beautiful. With this pair we see an example of riding during the "hard" phase. It's easy to tell they are eventers, and not just by turn out. This is not a compliment.

The horse is turned out well enough. His coat is glossy and he appears in good health and muscling for his level, tho perhaps a little ribby. As is not uncommon in thoroughbred event horses. As for his eye and expression, it is that of a martyr. More on that later.

His legs are protected and he's wearing a contoured saddle pad in keeping with current trends. The fuzzy girth lacks style, and the black half pad on a navy saddle pad would normally be distracting or even jarring. Normally. These are not normal circumstances, however.

Likewise, I'm not fond of all these "blingy" browbands and find them too distracting, tho I understand the motive in this case.

The horse's tack appears to fit. The leverage bit is appropriately fitted with a curb strap and separate reins for curb and snaffle. Among the various other straps are flash and neck straps. At some point the rider must stop layering straps onto the horse and consider actually schooling him. There are bigger fish to fry tho, and clearly this horse is made of solid gold.

close up detail: rider and horse expressions

I can't assess the horse's jumping style and technique from a photo of him landing, as it's impossible to judge his back or bascule, or how careful he is with his front end and knees. We can infer from his outstretched forelimbs, tightly tucked hind end, and squeezed-shut eyes that he has flung himself across this fence (which I'm told is a BN table with ramped face) with nothing but the grace of sweet baby Jesus to help him get to the other side in one piece. And he was decent enough to bring his wayward rider along with him.

Hold on, horse! She's right behind you!

The rider, for her purposes, also had the decency to execute an emergency "sweet baby Jesus take the wheel!" release method so as not to interfere any more than she already has with this horse's Herculean efforts. Someone should remind the rider to not skip her breakfast next time. You're not supposed to eat the fence.

My advice to riders everywhere: Go with the horse, not against him. It's not rocket science. The most important thing to me is that you're not hindering your horse's back.

Points in the rider's favor include that she appears to be in balance. She's not relying on the reins (having already sacrificed them to the laws of physics), and upon closer inspection isn't relying on the stirrups either.

the rider submitted this helmet cam video encouraging me to tune in at 0:45 to relive the moment. it's impossible to tell from the wide angle lens.... but while the pair did not wait for the distance, that distance most certainly would have waited for me.

The definition of a seat is to be able to stick to the horse no matter what the horse does. While I wouldn't call this rider's seat "good," it at least exists and they appear poised to land well enough to continue riding forward (hopefully utilizing a higher degree of .... literally anything approximating skill upon reaching the next fence).

Likewise, I can presume from the rider's expression (which can only be called a "shit eating grin") that perhaps they've been in this situation before. That maybe they're used to it - or worse - it's become habit.

We must hope that this is instead simply the result of a green mistake either by horse or rider, or both. And that we should not see much more of this in the future. Go with the horse, not against. Accuracy is better than speed. Leg to hand. The rider should practice more trot fences.

Rider's turnout is relatively conservative as far as eventing goes. I'd prefer to see her wearing gloves and carrying a stick (she might feel more brave if she did). Many eventers wear a white or tan breech, tho she has opted for a darker color. Probably to hide the dirt.

Ultimately, should this rider's coach not be at the finish line upon her completion of the course, she ought not go looking for him.