United States Eventing Association

Jo Whitehouse tells us what to expect at the 2014 Annual Meeting & Convention, which takes place at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel, Fort Worth, TX, December 3-7th, and Doug Payne offers a jumping exercise as part of our series on Training Tips.

Transcript:

Chris- This is the USEA's official podcast. Hello and welcome to the program. I'm Chris Stafford. On this weeks episode Doug Payne begins a new series of training tips but`before we hear from Doug, Jo Whitehouse joins us to tell us what we can expect at this years Annual Convention. With just a few weeks to go before the start of convention, are all systems are set to go in the office? It's one of the busiest times of the year for us Chris so it's all systems go. This year everyone heads towards Texas and going to the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. Tell us a little about what to expect when we get there.

Jo- We've been working very hard to create a very full calendar of events. And educational offerings are really interesting. I think there's going to be something for everyone. We are running an event college thanks to Jeffray Ryding who has helped put into track for us. There's something for the riders, something for the organizers, something for the officials, there's just, every constituency is covered. Hopefully the members will be very happy with what we have to offer them this year. I think one of the key things this year is that is we have an off site cross country building seminar and that's on Friday. That takes place at Gold Chip stables which is Mike Huber's farm in Texas, just outside Fort Worth. There will be hands on building of different types of fences there. Matt B, who developed the pin system for the deformable technology is going to kick the day off with how to install the pins and what it looks like and how you do. So basically, anybody that attends that will be able to install the pins at the end of that session. Obviously he's going to take questions and give answers. I think it's going to be really useful topics for people to enjoy. Then we're going to have 3 course builders on site there. James Atkinson who is a course designer, Dan Stark, and Tremaine Cooper will be there. There will be 3 stations of different types of fences being built so people can actually see what goes into making and building a fence. So anybody who is a course designer or a budding course designer or an organizer who wants to make sure they have all the latest techniques in fence building should be there. It's going to be really interesting. I should mention another trip we're going to be taking is Wednesday when Richard Jeffery is going to do his course design seminar. There’s going to be classroom session in the morning and then in the afternoon, they will be out doing hands on design and building courses there and Mike is putting together a group of riders who will then jump the courses so when you've designed it and built it you can see how it rides. That is always a popular thing. I have to say, a big shout out to Mike Huber and his team for making all of this available to us. That's two days of really intensive work with having visitors to your farm so thank you Mike. I don't think we could squeeze another thing into Friday. Outside of the course design seminar thats going to be taking place or the course building seminar, we've got lots of meeting taking place at the hotel itself. One of the things, we've got the riders helping us out. We've got Gina Miles come Friday morning who's going to be talking about bits, bandages and boots. Gina has a line of bits that she's developed based on what works for her horses and what doesn’t. She has become very knowledgeable about the use of bits and so that's one that people should be interested in. Then we have a real treat. We have a gentleman named Dan Marks. I'm not sure how many people are aware that Dr. Daniel Marks served as the team veterinarian for the USET and the US Olympic teams in jumping and dressage. He's highly respected around the world and was consultant to over a dozen foreign jumping and dressage teams. He was the team veterinarian for the Canadian team at the Olympics and world championships so he has years of knowledge that he has amassed. He is going to be speaking on the way horses jump, the biomechanics of the way horses jump. That's going to be fascinating from someone who is so knowledgeable. That is a must see. We have “Marketing Yourself as a Young Professional”. Frankie Thierot who is very, very experienced in the field of marketing and is a professional. She is going to be helping people learn how to best market themselves so they can approach sponsors and know how to fulfill their sponsorship, how to make sure the sponsors are getting everything they need out of the arrangement. One of the most popular speakers that we ever have is Dan Stewart. He does the Equestrian Sport Psychology seminar and does the fitness side of it too. This is where everyone is on the floor and they're rolling around and learning how to do exercises that increase their ability when they're actually in the saddle. You can hear those seminars taking place because of the laughter. These are one of the most fun, most educational things that you can treat yourself to. I hope everyone is ready for Daniel Stewart. It's a real treat. There are a lot of open forums. We've got the FEH open forum, the chair of the FEH committee, Susan Graham White, will be talking about all things to do with FEH, how to prepare your horse, what they're looking for confirmation, all of those critical things that go into having your 2 and 3 year olds out there at the YEH and FEH shows. The same day, we have the YEH open forum for the young event horse. We've got some really good committee meetings that are taking place. Speaking of YEH, we have a real coup on Saturday. We have Leslie Law, who is, as everybody knows, is an Olympic champion from 2004 champion from Athens with multiple wins with his 2 grey horses, Sheer Low and Sheer H2O. Leslie has agreed to be our key note speaker on Saturday at lunch time. Leslie has become a master at the YEH competitions producing some excellent young horses that are now moving way up the levels and so he's a real expert on the young horses now. Following that, at the annual meeting, David O'Connor is going be speaking. Normally David is following the talent search all year round looking for the next team riders and this time he's going to be talking about looking for those next team horses. So David’s presentation is going to be around 3:00 on Saturday and it's going to be entitled “Developing the Equine Pipeline- Breeding, Producing and Placing Young Event Horses in the US”. That's a real coup having both Leslie and David, two Olymipic champions with us to speak on Saturday afternoon. Couldn't be better! We have the awards on Saturday night and that is a real treat for everybody. It's where the Beginner Novice champion rubs shoulders with the top international riders who are receiving awards too. That's a real pleasure to be in store. The other thing there is that following that, we have dancing with Zack Stone. We first found him and his band at the AEC back in Sept. He was an absolute runaway hit with everybody just a very talented singer. He is going to be performing and everybody can get up and dance to Zack Stone and his band on Saturday night following the awards banquet. We have so much. This schedule is so packed. It's hard to figure if we can fit one more thing in. It's so full of information and educational topics and something for everybody plus a lot of business will be done and the committee meetings. We're looking forward to a really great weekend.

Chris- A terrific mix of business and pleasure, isn't it?

Jo- It is. The business has to be done and there are some serious items on the agenda for the board to discuss this time around. It’s the end of the season, the horses are put to bed and they can now come and relax a little bit and have a really good time. Our annual meeting is one of the most fun things I look forward to it every year. That is from December 3-7 in Fort Worth, TX. There is a lot more information on the website useventing.com. Just click on the convention news.

Chris- We should mention the upcoming dates of venues because people always wonder "well, where's it going to be next year and the year after?" You've decided that already, haven't you?

Jo- We have. Next year, in 2015, it's going to be here in Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham right downtown. It's almost downtown DC. It's very easy to walk, taxi to the museums and the art galleries. It's right behind the Kennedy Center. There are a lot of good things happening there. It will be a hall of fame year. It's going to be really exciting for next year. The year after that, it is going to Fort Lauderdale at the Westin Diplomat. We signed a contract with them for Fort Lauderdale. You can go and look at the website for the Westin Diplomat. What a treat, right on the beach. That's going to be a lot of fun. Fabulous hotel and then the year after that it will be in Long Beach, CA and that is again, another beautiful hotel. There are a lot of good things to see there including the Queen Mary. We've got the next 3 years tied up!

Chris- Thank you very much for coming on the show and telling us what's in store for this year. Again, that's the Omni Fort Worth hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. You'll come back on the show and tell us how it went, won't you?

Jo- I will. I know I’m going to be able to tell you the raging success. Thanks a lot Chris.

Chris- Thank you Jo. Doug Payne joins us now to start our new training series. Doug, welcome back.

Doug- Thank you very much Chris. I appreciate the invite and always welcome for sure.

Chris- We're going to start with a jumping exercise. You always want to mix it up and keep the horse interested, keep them thinking and keep the rider thinking.

Doug- Absolutely. It's an exercise I use quite a bit at home and then also when out teaching clinics. You just start with ground poles, a series of 3 poles set to 4 strides apart each. It's often times best between the first and the second an even 4 strides and then from the second to the third we'll just have it set to 6 or so feet short. I think that the challenge that many have, and you see why at show jumping competitions, is often times people come in with a 6 canter and 6 distance and pace and then they try to alter their striding or alter the canter in between the few jumps of the series or line. Often times you can probably be a whole lot more successful and get a better quality jump and less likely to have rails if you can set yourself up well before. We're talking 8, 10, 12 strides earlier. Try at that point to say "ok, I know this is a little bit shorter distance here so I'm going to end up shortening the canter well ahead”. Once you've got that, if you have a good line and have decent balance and a good amount of energy, then you'll be able to just test the jump. If the rail on the ground is out of a good, clear rhythm, then the striding will just work itself out. The trick with an exercise like this is you go from either the short sides of long or long to the short, is that you want to produce the canter you need for the first series well ahead and get that. Then be able, as you're going over the center rail or later on as you raise them up to jumps is that at that point, then make an adjustment in landing. If you're going from the short to the long, land, then soften and allow your horse to get up to the second one. Vice versa which is often times the most challenging. Once you're comfortable and able to get the striding well, it's just a rail on the ground. Put them up and not very big. It could be 18 inches to 2 feet. It's very important to have a very clear understanding of how the take off distance has an impact on the style your horse jumps and also what happens on the back side of the jump. From the long to the short distance, it's best to keep coming through the turn. You really want to cover the distance so you get quite close to the second jump. So if you're going from one to two to three you want to think, from one to two carry the distance. You get right up next to the base of the second jump and the closer you get to the base of that second jump within reason, your horse will actually jump quite a bit rounder and he's going to land a little bit more shallow on the backside and then in better balance. Then the shorter distance will just work itself out. Many riders, and myself included, have a difficult time with it because if you don't quite cover the longer distance initially then you're long to the second element and that tends to set your horse on the backside a bit on the forehand and sort of rolling and that short distance becomes quite a challenge. I think ultimately, thinking ahead, figuring out what the best way to produce the best jump throughout the line will help you tremendously. Also having a very good, clear picture of how the shorter or longer distance is going to impact their jump and then in fact, their canter and their stride afterwards. The great things is that the rail is on the ground and you can do it daily It's not more stress on the horses legs but it will certainly get you fine tuned and your horse fine tuned and be ready for the spring season when everybody comes out next Spring. With that, certainly give it your best shot. The other slight variation you can do on it is actually keep the distances equally so maybe an equal 4 strides to an equal 4 strides but put the first jump right up next to the wall or the perimeter fence line of your arena. A tighter turn in will tend to have the same effect. It will make that first distance a bit longer. Use the winter time you’ve got and practice as much as you can. This is something that in the end, becomes second nature, you can produce the canter you want and the jumping just becomes quite a bit easier. Certainly you'll have more success in the coming year.

Chris- And this is an exercise from young horses through their career as a gymnastic exercise?

Doug- Absolutely. We have some very green horses that have been under saddle for a month now that are just starting to canter over poles. With them, we probably keep the variation between the long and the short quite small. Maybe only vary it by 3 feet so you just introduce the idea. It's not a tremendous shortening or lengthening you need to do. Then on the high end, you can start to stretch that out. You can make that longer distance and shorter distance quite a bit more. Maybe vary for the advanced and prelim horse, add a stride to the first and subtract one out of the second. You can sort of build in that elasticity that will allow your horse to make adjustments quickly. Everyone wants to be perfect in competition but inevitably nobody will be 100 percent at times so you really want your horse working with you and ultimately be able to help you out when you get into a bind.

Chris- Are we doing this in a straight lime or is this on the bending line?

Doug- You can do all sorts. The one variation on the bend that you want to be very careful about is if you're going to do a 4 stride on the bending line, if you want to fit in 5 strides make sure you stay on the exact same line that you were initially on the 4 stride. You see it, myself included, you almost end up bowing out a bit more to fit in and in that case the horse isn't learning to compress as much as they should as they would otherwise. I think the stuff on a bend is excellent but just be very diligent that you keep you and your horse on the exact same line you intended to. Don't allow yourself to cheat because in the end, it’s not helping your horse out. He won't be learning quite as much as you should have.

Chris- Good advice Doug. Thank you very much for that and for kicking off out series here. Will you come back with more training tips for us?

Doug- No doubt about it! If anybody out there has any questions or suggestions or things they might be having a little bit of trouble with , I'd be more than happy to help. They can post their comments or questions on our Facebook page. Just look for USEA, the official USEA Facebook page or tweet us at useventing. Doug, thank you so much for coming on the program again.

Doug- Not a problem, I enjoyed it.

Chris- A reminder, if you have not registered for the Annual Convention, please visit the website at useventing.com and click on the link on the right hand side to the convention page.