Eventing legend Lucinda Green - still happy to drag in the rails
'Let the horse think for himself’ That was the overwhelming message given to those who participated in the Lucinda Green Clinic held at Bicentennial Park, Camden recently. Instead of perfectly measured distances, fences were randomly placed leaving the horses to work out what they had to do. The idea of the rider not being in total control was certainly foreign to many riders but as Lucinda said “You are not going to get it right every time so you might as well get used to how if feels to jump a fence less than perfectly so it doesn’t come as a surprise when it does happen.”
Rachel Lee tackles the blue barrels
Lucinda believes a horse doesn’t always need to be out on a cross-country course to learn the necessary skills to do their job. She worked with the riders, in the main arena of Bicentennial Park, over a variety of small fences, which really helped sharpen up the horses, and got them thinking for themselves. “I’m not worried about your position but I am worried about your safety. I see the horse like a seesaw: sit a little behind the centre the front end will come up, sit a little in front of centre you push their front end down more. So where do you want to be sitting? You can work that out for yourself. I want the horses to dance. Horse strides aren’t just 12 feet – they can be anything. I want them to learn that they can shuffle, find a fifth leg or whatever they have to do to get over the fence safely and I want the riders to be in a position that makes that easy for the horse.” One rider sounded so relieved when Lucinda pointed out that just because the distance between one fence and another is three strides it is all relevant to what you were sitting on. This particular rider was sitting on a very neat, short striding little horse that would probably perfectly easily put four strides into that three stride distance. “You ride it as it comes up. You know your horse and as long as you get to the other side safely that all that matters. Sure sometimes things aren’t pretty but that’s not important”
All the horses were a little spooked by the tarpaulin
Once the horses were going down the arrowhead, skinny line of fences they progressed onto an offset line of four fences which included a single rail, barrels, a water tray and a piece of tarpaulin. The tarpaulin had been used prior to the line of fences and caused some interesting reactions from even the experienced horses.
Some decided that jumping the tarpauline was the best option
“There is nothing here that you can’t get over from a standstill if necessary. If your horse stops you just keep going and asking him to go forward. Take down one side of the rail if you have to or get a lead over the tarpaulin but the horse must go forward because you have told him to go forward – it’s as simple as that.”
Other decided to play it cautiously and have a good look
For those riders who wanted things to be perfect and pretty and rode circles to get the correct leg before coming to a fence she only had one thing to say. “We don’t do circles. We just kick on a get on with the job. You wouldn’t circle on a cross-country course and get 20 penalties so we don’t do it here. We learn to deal with what we have and get on with it. It is 30 years since Lucinda was up on the podium receiving her gold medal as the World Champion but her enthusiasm for the sport has not altered. She is passionate about cross country and equally passionate that everyone should go out on cross country on a horse that is going to try it’s hardest to look after you.
Derek Pascoe looks serious about his job
“I’m not saying I do this sort of training day in day out. Of course you need to get on the cross-country course and jump fences, just as you have to practice the technical side of showjumping and perfect the art of dressage (something I don’t think I ever have!) But I believe what I have done here today will go towards keeping you safe … so why not practice it!”
Alison Duthie chats with eventing legend Lucinda Green at the clinic in Camden, NSW about her passion for safe eventing
