United States Eventing Association

Top Takeaways From Day 2 of the USEA ECP Symposium

Temecula, Calif.—Jan. 15—From Starter all the way to the top of the sport, the rider’s ability to identify and influence the rhythm, relaxation, balance, straightness, and adjustability of their horse is key, whether you’re riding on the flat or over fences.

That was the big focus on Day 2 of the USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP) Symposium, held at Galway Downs.

Yesterday’s focus on flatwork carried over to today with the ECP faculty giving a short lecture before three sessions with demo riders over show jumps in the arena.

Mary D’Arcy, a member of the ECP faculty, discussed the importance of that flatwork and jumping connection. “Horses should never stop or runout on a regular basis—it’s not the same if the horse sees a fence and is spooked by it or the rider wasn’t straight—I’m talking about a horse that’s constantly lied to; brought in with no rhythm, too fast, too slow. This is eliminated by linking the flat work to the jumping—by being able to ride straight lines, being able to turn correctly in balance both directions, by keeping a rhythm, by keeping the horse in an uphill canter.”

Next, ECP faculty member Jennifer Rousseau spoke about different balanced positions.

“We are in this interesting sport where we have to do more than one discipline, and therefore we have to have and understand two separate balances,” she said. “One is balanced over our seat bones and our feet under our seat bones. Then we have to have this other balance that we use for jumping and galloping on the stirrup irons. That balance is not secured by the seat bones. These two balances have to be interchangeable, and we have to be good in both.”

She added that it’s much easier to teach somebody to sit down, either in a dressage saddle with longer stirrups or in seated position for jumping. The second balance, for galloping and jumping, can be a challenge to teach and to do.

“The balance on the iron is much harder to teach,” she said. “We sit in the car, sit the office, sit in the couch, sit for dinner, but we don't balance on two stirrups under our feet very often, so that balance can be practiced over and over. Pay attention to the length of the stirrup; so many times, I see people with their stirrups too long, then their hips end up in front of the vertical or in front of the center of gravity.”

Finally, ECP faculty member Bec Braitling discussed the five rider responsibilities—line/ direction, speed, horse and rider balance, timing/distance, and rhythm.

Line/direction and speed are simple—where are you going and how fast are you going? Balance—is the horse in the correct balance for what they’re being asked to do? Rider balance—is the rider able to be in the best balance possible?

A correct rhythm is important as you’re heading into a fence, and timing/distance comes in a little later for riders. “I think it’s that instinct—riders really need to know, where are they and they can really understand the timing of when the horse is going to leave the ground, and that ties into distance. Where am I going to leave the ground?” she said.

The participants broke out into groups of 10-11 as they did on Day 1 and watched three riders with experience from Starter through Training level throughout the day. For each rider, they chose some things they’d like to improve, explained which exercises they would use to do so, and sent the faculty member assigned to them to teach the concept.

Throughout the day, the five rider responsibilities and the correct jumping position came into play.

The faculty used Starter rider Lauren Herman to show correct jumping position in trot and canter and had her come to single trot poles in jumping position, working on regulating Thomas’ speed as he wanted to jump over every pole.

Herman jokingly said her legs were burning after trotting in jumping position for several minutes, and D’Arcy had pointed out earlier in the morning lecture the importance of knowing your intro and Starter student’s abilities as you teach.

She said it takes an average of 13-15 seconds to canter a 20-meter circle, but she’s had people guess anywhere from 3 seconds to 45 seconds. “If you’re only able to canter one circle before it falls apart, how are you going to do six minutes on a cross-country course? How are you going to do 90 seconds in a show jumping arena and put in obstacles at the same time and turns? You’ve got to make it real [to your students] in some way. If you’re not able to canter in one circle, start them at the place they’re able to start at.”

Dot Hamilton, who was also participating in the Symposium as a coach, rode her Novice horse Mykey, who she said has major issues with straightness and falling in on a turn.

“The main thing I want to help you with is feeling a little bit better in how you can use your position, both using your weight in the saddle and also using how you’re moving through your hip and how you’re using your position to be able to slow him down, speed him up, and check that straightness,” said Mastervich.

She had Hamilton go back to the flat, using the long arena as a runway and testing her walk-trot transitions on the straight line.

The groups quickly agreed that straightening poles on the takeoff and landing sides of the jumps would help the gelding and help Hamilton know where to place his body.

Five-star rider Tamie Smith had a short commute from her home base across the street from Galway Downs and taught an informative session on simulating cross-country questions in an arena.

One of Smith’s training philosophies is to keep the riding and the questions at a level that’s safe and can set the horse and rider up for success, but also challenge them for the next step. She likes using the arena to work on rideability over cross-country questions.

She explained self-carriage, an important key to rideability, and why it’s important over fences. “It’s where the horse isn’t running through you. I can almost visualize a box around the horse—it’s not going out in front of the box, it’s not falling left or right, and it’s not dropping behind me. It’s just in this box going around and staying within that,” she said.

She set up a challenging exercise for her two demo riders, her daughter Kaylawna Smith-Cook, and Savannah Gwin. Smith-Cook was on a horse preparing for Intermediate, while Gwin was on a Novice horse, and both were able to ride nearly the same exercises at different heights, demonstrating the benefit of the challenging exercises.

The first was an 11’ bounce and a one-stride “three feet short,” set up in a square so the riders could do them either way. Then Smith had four verticals on the outside of each corner of the square with no set distances in between.

“I don’t pace off or know what striding anything is,” she said. “What I’m trying to do is get my horse in a light balance that he’s not towing me forward, and that no matter where he hits the jump, he’ll either pat the ground or he’ll just canter over the jump nicely.”

She had Gwin just jump every other vertical on the outside with her greener horse, and Smith-Cook was able to start immediately with all four.

“When I teach, I find it really useful to teach by asking the rider questions about what they felt, what they liked about what they were doing, and what they didn’t like and then whether there was anything they would change,” she added as each rider completed the exercise.

“I think it’s important that the rider has an understanding of why they did something, and I think that’s an important piece as a trainer to about about. Why did you do that? You never question them because they did it wrong, it’s more that they’re part of what’s going on,” she continued.

When she introduced a skinny brush and a narrow brush roll, she had both horses walk up to the jump and back up a few times, allowing them to understand what they were jumping. Then from a safe distance, they picked up a trot or canter and jumped it, never turning them away from the fence. Gwin’s horse gained confidence as he went along and had no trouble with any of the skinnies.

“My philosophy when I’m teaching a horse a skinny is, how can I set the horse up for success the first time?” she said.

She also had both riders work on controlling their horse’s shoulders with the “thread the needle” exercise, angling tightly over two verticals. The riders then worked on short courses incorporating the square exercise, skinnies, angles, and bending lines.

“The goal here is to achieve this exercise in a very smooth, seamless manner,” she said. “If I were painting a picture, it would be with beautiful, long strokes, not splatting paint on the canvas. When I teach and talk to people, I say, when I’m across the field and I see a horse in my peripheral, I don’t want to notice it. I either want to go, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ or not notice it at all. I don’t want to be like, ‘Who’s that?’ ”

Tomorrow’s final day starts at 8:15 a.m. with a lecture from sports psychologist Natalie Hummel, then participants will head out to cross-country to observe riders.

Helpful Links:

• 2025 ECP Symposium Fast Facts
• ECP Homepage
• Event Coverage

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USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP)

Coaches are essential to the training of riders and horses for safe and educated participation in the sport of eventing. The USEA Eventing Coaches Program (ECP), formerly known as the Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP), was initiated in 2002 to educate all levels of eventing coaches with crucial training principles upon which they can continue to build throughout their teaching careers. ECP offers educational workshops and assessments by which both regular coaches, Level I through Level V, Young Event Horse (YEH) coaches, and Young Event Horse professional horse trainers can become ECP certified. Additional information about ECP’s goals, benefits, workshops, and assessments as well as names and contact information for current ECP certified coaches, YEH coaches, and YEH professional horse trainers are available on the USEA website. Click here to learn more about the USEA Eventing Coaches Program.

The USEA would like to thank Galway Downs, Parker Equine Insurance, the United States Pony Clubs, and Strider for their support of the Eventing Coaches Program.