Jock Paget Christchurch Clinic

Although many of the New Zealand top eventers may be based in the UK, ESNZ Eventing makes sure that young riders have access to their expertise when the top guns are in town. Olympic Team bronze medallist Jonathan (Jock) Paget is currently in New Zealand and the ESNZ Performance Programme invited Junior and Young Riders to training opportunities with Jock in various locations. On the 15^th and 16^th of January Jock taught at the National Equestrian Centre, McLeans Island in Christchurch; Libby Law was there to snap some photos and two of the riders, Madison Crowe and Louise Turner, gave us their impressions of training with Jock

19 year old University student Madison (Maddy) Crowe was riding Citadelle (above) at the clinic, a nine year old gelding by Centaine. Citadelle is owned by Stephen Montgomery and Maddy borrowed him especially for the clinic; she usually competes her horse Brogan at Intermediate level. Here is what Maddy had to say about the clinic and her first experience of training with Jock

"Eventing New Zealand organized Jonathan Paget to take a number of clinics around New Zealand for the Young and Junior eventing riders. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Christchurch clinic. The clinic was show jumping based and Jock made it clear that the focus for the two days was to make a plan and commit to it.

The first day we were faced with an exercise that was made up of five jumps all placed in lines on a regular five stride canter. Two lines were straight and the others were on a curving line. We had to complete straight lines, curved lines and angled lines all on the stride we were told to do. It made us think about the quality of the canter and the length stride we had. By the end of the lesson we had completed all of the specific lines in four, five, six and seven strides. This gave us the control we needed to adjust to suit a plan and ride to execute the plan whilst in a show jumping round.

The following day we spent the lesson riding around a set show jumping course executing the plans decided on for the course. After our first rounds we edited the strides to what we thought would work better for our horses and rode the course again to the new plan. Jock watched us carefully and directed us on what he thought worked well and continued to remind us to ride to the plan.

Jock reminded us how important it is to have a plan and to always ride to it no matter what happens as a show jumping round is just a mathematical equation. If the canter is right and the planned stride is right it will work, if not it will not add up. He was amazing throughout the lesson and was always very clear about what he wanted to see happen. He made the lesson seem so straightforward yet it was so valuable. I would really like to thank Jock Paget, Jean Johnstone and Eliza Reidel for organizing and allowing the clinic to happen and Stephen Montgomery for allowing me to ride Citadelle."

Another attendee of the clinic was 18 year old Louise Turner who was riding seven year old Lucky (above), a horse she has had since March 2012. When Louise got him he had done a couple of low level events and since then they have moved up to Pre-novice (1.05m). This season they are planning to stay at Pre-novice level to make sure he really confident and also get some good results, before moving up to novice/1*. Like Maddy, this was the first time that Louise has had a lesson with Jock. If you think that Louise reminds you of another famous NZ eventer, she is the niece of Caroline Powell!

“I was lucky enough to attend the Jonathan Paget clinic in Christchurch on the 15th and 16th of January.

On the first day the emphasis was on stride adjustability. The exercise which was set up included two s-shaped lines of 3 fences where we could put 4, 5 or 6 strides between each pair. By adjusting the canter and the line, each distance came up perfectly. Jock was fantastic at explaining the different lines and once we were out there, allowed us to make a few mistakes and learn from them. The exercise highlighted any weak points in our horses’ training that can now be addressed. For example, a horse not always landing on the correct lead after the fence or perhaps dropping their shoulder to the inside on one rein. When this was happening the distances simply wouldn’t come up correctly. Everyone went away with at least one thing to improve that this exercise had highlighted.

Overall, I had an awesome time on the course and learnt heaps! Thanks so much to Jean Johnstone for organising the clinics around New Zealand and of course to Jock for coming. I can’t wait for him to come back, it was a great learning experience.”