Make jumping the reward, and other Wofford-isms.

As I mentioned before I took the day off Tuesday to audit a Wofford clinic. Having never seen him teach in person, I jumped at the chance to go watch! My friend was riding in the Green Bean class and the Novice class (held at either ends of the schedule) which meant I got to stay and watch all of the classes in between. I'll admit, it felt slightly criminal sitting there watching him teach all day for free!

Because I am the biggest dork alive, I made a rough vector drawing of the course that was set up. The awesome part was that each group, (no matter what skill level) could ride a variation of this course. As the more advanced combinations came in, He would set various lines to challenge both the horse and rider, but he could essentially take everything down to ground poles if needed.


Here is the rough set up for the day: 

You know you love it.

Anyhoo, the first class was a mixed group of riders and horses. Some very green horses and some green riders on more skilled horses. It was really neat to watch everyone figure things out. JW had everyone start off through the middle line with just a few trot poles in place. He stressed keeping a soft (he even suggested a loopy) rein coming through and altering your posting trot on how the horse carries itself through the question. Then he made the first yellow and purple a small vertical and had the horse come over the placing rail and the vertical. Here he stressed straightness through the question without nagging your horse with the reins and letting them figure it out. He made a big point to say that when you've set your horse up correctly and you're letting them do their job it's up the THEM to get over the jump, not us. So when rails came down he was rarely sore at the rider if they had done everything correctly. As the questions got a little bit harder a few horses started getting VERY antsy, particularly a feisty mare in the BN class. She had a tough time settling and really wanted to attack the jumps. I was pleased to see Jimmy reinforce consistency and rhythm within the gait, so when she started anticipating, he would have the rider come at the center line question and then a stride or two out, bend the horse into a small circle, come forward again and bend the horse in the opposite direction, forming a small but focused figure 8 pattern in front of the grid. He would have the rider move the figure 8 closer and closer and when they felt their horse had settled they could decide to continue down the grid out of the figure 8. Essentially, making jumping the reward (this was emphasized all day and was fascinating to watch). As the questions got a bit harder (or when the first bounce entered the scene) it was cool to watch some of the greener horses figure out what to do with their bodies while watching the riders stay soft and positive. He had them come over the placing rail over a slighter bigger vertical and go straight, trot a circle and immediately come back down through the grid over (a now small vertical -- it was dropped after they came through) and back out over the placing rail. This helped set them up for the idea of a bounce and encouraged them to get their legs in the right place.  As the class progressed a few related distances were added (left side, rail-vertical-rail to small oxer) and the riders were encouraged to keep the rhythm after the vertical and not chase their horses over the oxer. I was really pleased after watching the first class and I was impressed by how much time and patience he had for the young ones. No one was over faced by height or difficulty and he encouraged circles between questions to get the horse's brains back and refocused before continuing. I think I got a lot out of watching this group because for one thing it was a level I would feel comfortable at riding and secondly, I love watching young/inexperienced horses figure things out. I don't think I'll ever get sick of riding greenies for this reason!

The second group was the prelim group of three riders. The horses could not have been more different from each other. One was a bay that rode like a hunter/jumper turned eventer, one was pretty seasoned looking, and the other was a feisty chestnut that had a LOT of opinions. I loved watching the chestnut go and JW did an excellent job at using the jumps to make him back off a little. He was very eager to get through the lines and by adding questions, it gave the horse something to think about, forcing him to slow down and use his body more effeciently. I actually got a little distracted during this session by a lovely woman (we wound up exchanging email addresses) who was supposed to ride in the training group but her mare hurt herself during the night. I didn't mind missing much of their ride because it sorta looked like they were just doing their own thing anyway (and much above my skill level) so it wasn't quite as educational.

The training group was probably my favorite group to watch (outside of watching my friend ride) and there were plenty of challenges within this group that I could relate to. One of the things I found most interesting was that Jimmy encourage riders to WAIT rather than push to the fences. If the horse was going at a steady rhythm he told the rider to wait for a closer spot to the fence. Keep in mind none of these jumps had ground rails and many of the riders pushed for the long spot. By waiting for correct spot (even if it was slightly chipped) the horse jumped in better and landed better. He said that at this height for jumping, he'd rather the horse learn to get to the base of the jump to learn how to jump correctly, rather than jumping long and coming out of the fence disorganized.  It was interesting to see the horses come through the outside line (placing rail-vertical-placing rail to the oxer), because it was the first time that horses had seen that question, the riders would get a bit flustered by the horse figuring it out and then drive to the oxer (not what JW wanted). In this scenario he was generous about the horse and rider understanding the question and many times would have them come again, sit quiet no matter what happened through the first element and ride quietly and WAIT for the oxer. The take away I got from this was that by waiting and getting closer to the base of the jump, you are reinforcing the idea that the horse "pat" the ground in front of the jump with his front legs, so he sits back and uses his haunches to power over the fence.

Here's a video of the final exercise in this group with all of the questions strung together:

The final class was the Novice group that my friend was riding her just turned 5 year old 17hh+ OTTB. He's only ever done one baby starter trial, but she used to ride advanced so it was a good class to put him in. What's neat about watching him go is that he is so big he has a hard time figuring out where to put all of his parts! JW made a comment that he's like a big firetruck where he needs someone steering the ladder in the back:) He's a good boy and he tries very hard to figure things out. There was also a feisty Irish Draft horse in the class who was 4 and was supposed to be in the morning green bean session. He apparently was shipped from Ireland after being hunted for a year at 3! Needless to say his brain was FRIED, but holy crap could that horse jump! JW LOVED him and as it turns out he rode the horse's great-great-great-great grandmother back in Ireland. The Irish horse managed to get a lot of the others pretty worked up as he acted VERY studdish and was not happy about having to wait his turn. JW was very amused by him. He was a great example for Jimmy's "make the jumping the reward" and by the end of the session he was much more relaxed approaching the jumps. I wish I had taken more photos during this session, but I was too busy being the jump crew! He did a few old school tricks with some of the riders including making one girl hold a crop in between her thumbs to prevent her from making piano hands (for the entire session) and another rider really needed a neck strap as she was punishing her horse unintentionally while he was trying to figure things out, so he took the reins apart, crossed them around the horses neck, creating a "neck strap" and forming a bridge in the reins for her to use for balance. This description probably doesn't make much sense, but her horse really improved once he knew he wasn't going to get caught in the mouth and she realized that her horse wasn't going anywhere after the jumps. After everyone finished up I was itching to ride -- I was going to ride my friend's new horse, but alas he was juuuust blowing an abscess... horses!?!

I feel like I learned so much by auditing this clinic and I am so thankful that I took the day off. It was freezing and I was cold, but watching someone like him teach is worthwhile. He is a kind and generous clinician who has something to teach every horse and rider. I like that his exercises were simple but still asked a lot of the horse and rider. The woman hosting the clinic said, "it's never new information, but you learn something every time he teaches."

True story.