Thoughts on the USEA Levels

I have held onto this since this summer but since the USEA convention last week I feel I need to address something that has been bothering me. It has to do with questions being asked of riders at the lower levels.  At the lowest levels, Beginner Novice and Novice- eventing is supposed to be an introduction to the sport. It is meant to teach horses and riders what it is like to do this sport we all so love. It is meant to be encouraging and fun. What it is meant to be and what it has become, to me, have strayed far from eachother.

Let me lay the grounds for this. I have a student who regularly competes Novice. She has ambition to go farther, but at this point Novice is her “Olympics” as it is with a lot of amateurs that compete at that level. Her goal from last year was to do a novice three-day. It was goal that was easily attainable but she was both excited and nervous. She worked very hard for that event. She had her horse beyond ready. She was even in 3^rd after dressage in a huge division. When we walked her cross-country course we came upon a question that I felt should have and normally would have been reserved for Training Level. There was a trakehner on the Novice course! It wasn’t just a “fake” trakehner where the ditch was either very small or fake, it was a true trakehner. It was even one that this particular venue usually uses on their Training courses. We had never schooled a trakehner because it wasn’t supposed to be on those courses. There are hardy any venues that offer schooling that also have trakehners that are appropriate for the lower levels to school. In the end, she didn’t make me aware that the particular fence was scaring her badly, and she was eliminated. When we went back to school the fence it went moderately well, but her fear still lingered.

In the end it was her decision to take the summer to school her horse properly and try again in the fall. She chose an event in the fall that usually is moderately difficult, but is fair. This year however we were wrong. They had included a Weldon’s Wall (ditch and wall) on the Novice course! In the end because of my students already bad spring run, and since she hadn’t run since that time, she was eliminated before that fence. WHO SCHOOLS WELDON’S WALLS at NOVICE??????

Weldon's Wall at NOVICE!!!

 

So my problem is this... The USEA feels we need to add another level between Training and Preliminary. I think we need to spend that money to help educate the amateurs and people who don’t compete at the upper levels. I don’t expect for my students to encounter either of those questions until they compete at Training Level and above. If they have no ambition or desire to compete at that level then I don’t feel they are required to learn those questions. If I had known they were going to start building mini-Rolex courses at all events then I would start demanding more and schooling my students over these questions. The reality is though, majority of your low level amateur riders have a healthy respect for those questions and have no desire to ever have to do them. And to me trakehners and weldon's walls do not represent a "good introduction to the sport."

So all in all before we go creating new levels that will require more courses, more volunteers, more officials, and more money which will incur greater costs for those of us competing, why not put some money and resources into better education, better officials training,  and better course design for the lower levels. Then, when people do try to compete at Preliminary and above they will be better educated and it will create safer sport?

signing off~
Mandy

The Importance of Clinics

It's been awhile since I blogged, but I really feel it is important to be reminded how much a different eye can help each and every one of us in our riding. This is why I think clinics are so important. I know some of us have trouble justifying spending the money for a clinic because horse shows are so expensive and what about regular lessons? Then we think about wanting another opinion at times and wouldn’t it be nice to ride with a person who we have seen do well in the top shows in the country? What about learning new training techniques or seeing if someone else has some new way of saying something that helps you? These are some of the reasons I decided to go to a clinic with Leslie Law this weekend.

               I was put in one of two upper level groups and even though we had a wide range of competition experience I quickly found Leslie had no problem helping each of us. I’ll admit I was a bit apprehensive about what I would take away from this experience, but was reminded that being open-minded and adaptive can prove helpful in many situations. The first day was about holding your line and staying quiet through some rather difficult cross-country questions. In warm-up Leslie gave us a great exercise to help get the horse to soften and use their back. He asked us to use one hand and hold both the rein and the breastplate. This keeps us thinking about where our hands are as well as naturally making us softer as well as steadier with our contact. It allowed the horse to come forward from behind and push while stretching out to the rein. Back to front people!

 After warm- up we transferred over to Cross-country where we did have a blow by at the difficult coffin question due to a spooky jump over a big ditch. Leslie reminded us that carrying your eye on through the combination will help you have a better ride. Too often people end up looking down into the ditch and then the third part of the element is a bit hairy. While we all had trouble to start, by the end all of the horses were successful at jumping through the combination. The other thing we worked on was riding an offset (bending) line both with a bend and straight. We all know I have a lingering fear of corners (thankfully Mira doesn’t share this) but with Leslie’s helpful reminder to “stay quiet” and “look at the next fence”, not only were we successful, but the ride was fun!

Chatt Hills scary corner!

 

Sunday was show jump work. This is where Mira and I have yet to mesh appropriately. Bless him, but Cameron was never really a good showjumper. Mira however is excellent. I just need to learn to ride her better. And let me tell you, when you don’t ride enough and you hardly ever go without stirrups and then the clinician asks you to go without stirrups for about 10 min, you won’t be walking well for a couple of days. The theme of the day was “staying quiet” and “keeping the horse straight”, two things I do not do well. At the end of the lesson there was a triple combination with a bending 5-stride to a vertical over a Liverpool. We biffed it a couple of times, enough that Leslie had to come to the beginning of the line and remind me to quiet my hands and stop trying to life Mira over the fence. He reminded me that holding her up was actually making her dive down more.

Leslie also mentioned that while Mira is good with her front end that she isn’t so tidy behind. He mentioned trying some Doda or Veredus Pro boots to see if it has any effect on her jumping. I’ll admit I am excited to try them seeing as any little edge that will help us is worth it. We all know how cantankerous I can be about gimmicks, but if someone makes a good argument I’ll usually try them at least once….ok….some of them. If you try to get me to try a horse psychic/natural herbal mare fixer/shoeless Joe the “horse spine specialist” person I am probably going to laugh at you. But if it is a tool that has some good science backing it, and it won’t harm my horse I will at least do some research it.
                                                                              Doda Boots Below

                                                                        

Clinics are an important part of our training regimen. They get us another set of eyes who we don’t see weekly. It’s another opinion, a way of seeing if someone can tell you something you haven’t heard a million times. Or even better it may be the clinician says something that is similar to what you have heard, but the way they phrase it is different enough that it clicks with you. At the very least it’s a chance to say you have had a lesson with an Olympian… and who doesn’t want to be able to say that?

I'd like to say a specails thank you to Tracey Corey for arranging the clinic, Leslie Law for coming to Kentucky in the cold to teach, Martha Lambert for allowing her facility for be the clinic site, and to Don (Tracey's husband) for being such a big help in fence setting and the like. It means a lot to those of us who attend!

So now that I am trying to get back into this blog thing I’ll let you know that I do have some fun stories that I haven’t shared in quite some time and am excited to share these rare gems. I will be posting my plan A-F for the competition season too, to see if there is anyone who wants to ride-share out there. You know, me and my delusions of grandeur and all……

Signing off~
Mandy