Anne's gymnastic work started by having the riders work at a posting trot over a cavalletti, 9 feet to a crossrail, then one stride to an oxer. After the oxer, the riders dropped their stirrups and halted between a set of standards.
When Chelsea stopped a little early, Anne instructed her to move up so she was exactly between the standards. She scolded Taylor when the rider forgot to drop her stirrups. The function of halting exactly between the standards and dropping your stirrups is so that "you're thinking after the jump and of accuracy. The work without stirrups also helps riders to be balanced and centered. You naturally get in the center of your horse or you fall off," Anne said to a chuckling audience. "You either get it or you don't."
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- Anne had riders turn their hands over on the reins while jumping because, she says, the hands can't be as stiff this way.
- Photo by Sandra Oliynyk
Once the horses and riders were warmed up, she began to work on the automatic release--"a real pet peeve of mine. Look at photos of me and you see a straight line from elbow to bit." To practice, she had the riders turn their hands over on the reins (see photo). Approaching the gymnastic, Anne instructed riders to stay in a two-point position and spread their hands apart and lower them by the sides of their horses' necks.
"Don't touch your horse's neck. Treat it like it's a hot stove," Anne said. She also told the riders that because they were already in a two-point, they didn't need to do anything with their bodies, especially not lean. "Chelsea, give your horse space to come up to you."
Riders continued practicing the automatic release over a series of bounces. They started on a right-lead canter over a crossrail-to-oxer bounce then cantered three short strides to a crossrail-to-vertical bounce.
Again, Anne told the riders to get into two-point so they'd be in a light seat while keeping their hands open wide on either side of their horses' necks. "The wider your hands, the more you engage your center," she told Taylor. Riders repeated the exercise several times so they could feel their positions.
The next gymnastic was trotting over a cavalletti to an oxer, steady two strides to a vertical, followed by a steady one stride to a vertical. Riders had to halt straight. Anne instructed them not to use stirrups. "Feel your position and hopefully your horse getting round and using his head and neck."
Anne then tested the riders' ability to continue using the automatic release by asking them to canter to a square oxer, transition to trot to jump a Swedish oxer, ride two strides to a vertical-to-vertical in-and-out.
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- Taylor Land practices the automatic release by spreading apart her hands and lowering them by the sides of her horse's neck.
- Photo by Sandra Oliynyk
Many of the riders reverted to the crest release when they had to slow down their horses for the tight two-stride. "That's what happens when you have something new, you go back to what you're familiar with," Anne explained.
The problem with reverting to the crest release is that you stop communicating with your horse. "The beauty of the automatic release is that any time over the jump you can influence your horse. Once you go to the crest, you're just a passenger."
Anne concluded the session by saying that the riders were going to be seeing different systems and to take advantage of that. It would be up to them to take away what was most helpful. "To me, that is the fun of riding," she said. "That you do things different and you're always learning."
Sandra Oliynyk is the editor of Practical Horseman magazine.
The training session is hosted by Bates Saddles and Equestrian Sport Productions and supported by the U.S. Equestrian Federation. In addition to Bates, supporting organizations include Purina Mills, the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation, the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association, the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament, Nutramax (Cosequin ASU), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Practical Horseman.
