The Sally Cousins Clinic

It happened yesterday. A jump so perfect it felt like we were flying. So perfect I didn’t feel like Surya and I were jumping and I was trying put all my pieces in the right place; I was Surya and Surya was me and we jumped. It was like water flowing over smooth stone, or exhaling with a hard struck electric guitar chord. Or…whatever, you know what I mean.

It happened because Sally Cousins came and taught a clinic at our barn. Sally is an eventer that has competes horses at the highest level, is aiming to compete at the WEG 2014, and was the Leading Lady event rider in the U.S. the past five years running. She has many well-known horses, but her most famous is The Robber Baron, who was the 2011 Intermediate Horse of the Year. Sally’s website is here. My trainer is a student of hers. So I was very excited but also worried that our (my) jumping ability was not up to snuff.

To make me feel better, Surya got her mane and tail brushed yesterday morning, and then we headed to the jump arena in a slightly nervous state (okay, fine, it was more an “I” than a “we”). We warmed up fine, albeit with one dropped rein and slipped stirrup. We stopped, and I gave myself a mental talking to. Get your shit together NOW. And stop being such an irritating wuss. okay Sufficiently motivated, we were prepared to jump. Sally had us warm up for jumping by trotting over a cross-rail in both directions. That went fine, and I relaxed into the saddle a bit. Sally then watched us go over verticals, oxers, and a four-stride at the canter.

I still have a problem of swinging my lower leg too far back and landing on Surya’s neck. I try really hard not to. My trainer tells me to ‘land in my feet’. Sally said ‘keep your leg forward’. I did a little better with that phraseology, but still lost it over the jump. But THEN Sally changed tactics. She squinted a bit, watched my body over the jump, and then said ‘hold on with your thighs and knees’. It would maybe appear that I do not need to do this, as I completely lose my lower leg and it seems that the only thing I am doing is holding with my thighs and knees.

But I wasn’t really. I was pivoting on my knees, and losing my balance forward. She clarified, ‘hold on in the air’. We went to another jump and I tried it. It worked perfectly! I was following Surya over the jump, and I could use my lower leg, which meant I could swing it forward! Which meant that I didn’t land on Surya’s neck.

Now, my trainer has told me many times to ‘keep my knee next to the tack’. First, that is not the same thing as squeezing. Second, I think I felt reluctant to hold on too hard, because in dressage, squeezing with the thighs and knees means to slow down, become more collected, or stop, and that is not the reaction I wanted while jumping. But I guess with the more forward seat combined with continuing to apply lower leg it doesn’t mean the same thing? At least, Surya didn’t interpret me holding on better as a request to slow down or stop.

Sally had me jump a corner and a bounce, both of which I’ve never done before, and a chevron, which we’ve only done a few times. It went great! And then the perfect jump happened over the corner, and we were done.

Plus, Sally Cousins said she liked Surya!

A technical question that I asked Sally: A horse takes off a certain distance from a jump. If the horse is jumping the same jump at an angle, should it take off the same distance away from the jump, or from further away? I’m not asking about seeing a distance, but rather holding all else equal.

Answer: The horse should take off from the same distance in both situations. That being said, taking off from further away is less risky because the horse can be lazier with its inside hind (the one closer to the jump), and so you are less likely to get a rail. But, the distance will be ‘gappy’ and coming out will be more awkward. So jumping closer is riskier but more technically correct.