United States Eventing Association

I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that Lucinda Green was going to be teaching a two-day cross-country clinic in Area II. The cherry on top was that it would be held at one my favorite venues: Loch Moy Farm! For those of you who didn’t have her poster on your wall growing up, Lucinda won Badminton Horse Trials a record six times on six different horses. You don’t get much more high-caliber than that!

However, as many of us have found out the hard way, not every great rider can make a great instructor. Being a great clinician is an art unto itself. I can honestly say that I have never met a better horsewoman, rider, or clinician than Lucinda Green. Taking part in this clinic was such an honor and I will cherish it as one of the highlights of my riding career.

Day One

I arrived on Day One full of excitement, and joined the four other women that made up our Novice group. Lucinda asked us one by one to introduce ourselves and tell her a little about our horses and experience as she looked us over, fiddled with loose keepers, and took some notes on our responses. Lucinda explained that the lesson of the day was to use a variety of stadium fences to practice and develop our technique, which would be transferred tothe cross-country course tomorrow. She sent us off as a group to jump the various fences she had set up for us in whatever order and direction we wanted to warm up. The only rules she stated were that we were not allowed to have any run outs, we couldn’t turn our horses away from the fences if they stopped, and we had to maintain whatever gait we chose to ride the fence.

As we all found our way, hopping over the smaller fences, Lucinda observed us, quietly taking note of each of our strengths and where there were holes in our training. Once we were warmed up, she brought us in and began sharing the first gems of knowledge with us, which by the end of the clinic accumulated to a trove of treasured wisdom. She would relate something from her experience to what she saw in each of us. She then sent us through one exercise after the other, each one building on the one before in a masterful way. Jumps got higher, turns got tighter, and her inspiring demeanor had us all rising to our best.

She had a variety of bits on hand to try if she felt one needed another option. The horses were very proud of themselves and seemed to feed off each other’s successes. Lucinda had a subtle yet effective way of getting us to all come out of our nervous shells and participate as a team instead of individuals. She soon had us all shouting reminders to each other to perform a straight line halt after the exercises and we all offered each other positive encouragement whether our horses performed well or had a challenging go. At the end of the day, horses and riders were energized and proud of their accomplishments. The best part was that we all got to come back and do it again the next day!

Day Two

On Day Two, I arrived to see Lucinda finishing up with the other Novice group. As she watched the half dozen horses and riders zig-zagging all around the competition course, she sighed and turned to the auditors and said, “Is there anything greater than standing here on this glorious fall day, watching these beautiful horses gallop and jump to their hearts’ content at this amazing facility?” Her passion for horses and the sport was infectious. She sent our group to warm up by trotting and galloping around the field. We could jump anything in our scope except ditches, banks, and were permitted only to pass through the water.

The horses were energized and thundering hooves echoed off the mountain as we all found our stride. We met up at the water complex to begin our first exercise of the day. Lucinda first asked us to walk off the bank, walk out of the water and go between a pair of separated barrels that we had used the day before. She then pushed the barrels together to create a jump, and gradually changed the exercise until we were all jumping in and out of the water, over the barrels, and up and down the bank with confidence.

Then we were to jump off the bank into the water and slip our reins, jump out over the barrels, and gallop away into the woods and halt all without gathering our reins up, which taught us how to ride with “emergency reins”. This is a technique where you widen your hands to take up the slack and is done when you have had to slip your reins and there is no time to pick them up again before you are faced with another fence.

We moved on to the ditches in the woods. One by one we worked up and down over the ditches, gradually increasing speed and adding in challenging approaches. Lucinda built a small skinny in the ditch and as we had success over it, she increased the height to lay the foundation work of a Trakehner fence. Once we had our fun over the ditches, she turned us loose to go string whatever we wanted together and have a marvelous time galloping and jumping the course with only the instruction of having fun and keeping it within our scope.

We all met back up after about five minutes of exhilarating fun to have our final wrap up chat about how we did and what to work on going forward. As one by one dismounted and thanked Lucinda for a wonderful experience, another rider and I lingered on our horses. We had both been contemplating a move up to Training level and the other woman asked Lucinda if she might follow her as she strung a few Training fences together. Lucinda eagerly jumped in her golf cart and zoomed after her shouting inspiring words of encouragement and instruction when necessary.

I sat and eyed the Training level Trakehner while nervously gnawing on my crop. I could easily dismount, thank her for the experience, and head happily back to the trailer, but I knew I would regret not taking advantage of the opportunity. Lucinda came back to the group followed by the other rider who was beaming ear to ear from her successful run.

I asked her in a small voice if she thought I might be able to try the Trakehner. Without hesitation, she told me a course of fences to ride that would end with the Trakehner. Her matter of fact style lit a fire in my spirit. I gathered up my nerve and reins and headed off.

With each stride and each fence we leaped we both grew braver and bolder. Lucinda had strategically set us out on a path that would culminate in a success if we applied what she had taught us over the past two days. It was an ultimate test of trust between my horse and me.

When learning to fly, there comes a moment when you just have to let go. No one can tell you when that moment will be. It has to be your choice to let go any doubts, fears, or anxiety that dwell in your spirit from a previous experience or that were put there from someone’s words. This was my moment. I let it all go and now my horse and I no longer fly... We soar, and it's glorious.

I want to thank Carolyn Macintosh of Loch Moy Farm for making this event possible and for continuing to work tirelessly with her wonderful support staff of generous volunteers to provide us with not only a top-notch facility and well-run competitions, but for the variety of educational opportunities.