WFP Clinic @ Sprieser

My pal Katie and I made a somewhat impulsive trek down to Marshall, VA at the end of last week to capitalize on the rare opportunity for auditing William Fox Pitt. The clinic was organized by Zaragoza Acres, and held over two days -- cross country at Zaragoza on Thursday, and show jumping at Sprieser Sporthorse on Friday. 

Originally these two days were intended to be held in reverse order -- but organizers swapped things around when Friday's forecast called for lots of cold and windy rain. We went down on Friday, and were perfectly satisfied to be seated indoors!

this chestnut gelding Laddie was such a ham, totally photobombed WFP and has #noregrets lol

We saw most groups (except for the earliest), plus sat next to an auditor who attended the previous day and could give insights on each horse and rider pair.

And guys, wow. These were some very impressive riders and horses. It was an interesting mix of professionals and amateurs, and horses ranging from fancy homebreds working their way up, to made schoolmasters - plus a few OTTBs!

behold, my notes -- warm up exercises

I obviously love watching all manner of horses and riders get out there and Do The Things (evidenced by spending so much time volunteering!). But at clinics, my main objective is to glean useful little nuggets that might be adapted specifically for my work with Charlie. 

So, here are notes I took throughout the full day of groups, and some synthesis on what it might mean for us in our own approach to jumping.

course work diagrams, also repeated below

Warm Up Exercises

• Everyone started by trotting a random assortment of small jumps
• First formal exercise was to canter in a normal stride down the outside line, then repeat the same line but adding 2 strides (for most horses, they did the 'normal' in 9 and the 'add' in 11)
• Notably, the prelim and intermediate groups skipped this exercise
• Next - canter into the same line; gentle halt in the middle; proceed out in canter
• Continue in a half circle around to the other side of the arena, approaching a single oxer -- but again, halt before the oxer, then proceed

lunch break tacos were ahhhhhmazing

My Thoughts:

- The adding / removing strides in a line of jumps (or even just ground poles!) is an oldie but goodie that Charlie and I play with often

- Halting in the middle of a line... Ehhh I don't see us doing this. Mostly bc... Charlie has a lovely habit of slipping behind my leg, and I feel like going into a jump thinking about halting on the backside might be a perfect recipe for maybe practicing the wrong thing in that regard

- Halting ahead of a single fence, then proceeding at trot or canter, tho? Absolutely want to do this. We actually practiced a variation of this in a recent clinic; and it's something I want to continue experimenting with in our schooling.

video of Chris Talley and YEH winner Gina

Serpentine of Four Jumps

• Four single jumps placed more or less in line on a plane were to be jumped in a serpentine pattern
• First go round, riders made wide turns outside little cones placed on the ground
• Second time, inside turns made inside the cones

Additional Notes:

- This reminded me of a lesson with Isabel wayyyy back in early 2016, actually, and is definitely something I need to spend more time on with Charlie

- We tend to get a little bogged down in turns, but the whole point here is to keep going, keep moving forward

- Relating to lead changes in this exercise, WFP said to just get on with it. Change legs or don't, but carry on and let the horse figure out how not to be

- Similarly, WFP observed that you might have to twist over a jump in the show ring, but should not practice that at home -- keep the horse straight over the jumps in this exercise, no twisting

deeper dive into course work and notes

WFP Quotables on Warming Up:

• Create a horse and situation where you have achieved enough to go into the show ring and face whatever's there
• Stay with him -- don't just go "Lah!" while walking and trotting jumps
• You don't need to be "so much" at the trot, take a level off it, for the sake of softness. Quality over expression.
• Sometimes you put the hind leg out, sometimes you put the hind leg in!
• In canter, more swagger, softer outline, "Angry Canter"
• Interchange sitting, interchange half seat, interchange elongating and collecting
• Push him around and make him more malleable, less brittle -- not so precious and tight
• C'mon, change leg! Don't dawdle, kick and ride!
• You're not allowed to hope for the long one, take your time -- whether it's 6 or 7, it's always the same stride 
• Allow. Not fast but flow

it goes on

Regarding the course work, this often ends up being a bit more granularly specific to each individual horse and rider, IMHO, so there are fewer takeaways to adapt for myself. 

It was an interesting set of exercises, tho, and definitely a few turns in the mix that likely would have proven distinctly challenging for me and Charlie -- like short turns to big oxers, for example. Most riders did about 2 complete courses, then went back to repeat whichever line or segment needed smoothing.

damn, Gina!

Not all of that was super relatable, tho it was interesting to see how WFP adapted and adjusted the construction of the exercises as needed. A few upper level horses were kinda surprisingly... not great at compressing their strides, and tended to get a bit close to the jump. Similarly, a few tended to be too "up and down" vs "across" in their style of jump. 

For these groups of horses, WFP advocated significant use of more generous ground lines to really help the horse change his takeoff point. He also deployed descending oxers (which you can see in the video), something that kinda caught us off guard at first when we first noticed it. 

He used that construction a few times, explaining to Chris (who organized the clinic, and rode literally half a dozen horses throughout the day for personalized WFP instruction on his drool-worthy string...):  the Descending Oxer, especially built with a plank as the front rail, can help "go-y" horses realize, "Oh there's more!" and remember to use themselves over the full jump.

made new friends too <3

Overall, WFP essentially preached a message of patient, forward flow. He encouraged riders to make a difference when warranted (see the note on "Just pull the reins!"), then get on with it, and otherwise stay committed to a forward, straight and adjustable stride. 

My takeaways are mostly around just being damn freakin eager to get back into some degree of instruction myself haha. A girl can dream! And nobody tell Charlie about me plotting, m'kay? He doesn't need to explore any new and exciting creative solutions to getting out of work lol....

Anyway, anybody see anything here that you want to try at home?