Competitive lull: how not to discourage the horse from working

Photo courtesy of eventingnation.com

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, almost all tournaments were canceled and the athletes remained at their home bases. One of the questions many riders have is how to motivate a horse to perform well every day. Brazilian show jumper Rodrigo Pessoa, individual winner Olympics 2004, shared his experience of everyday work – how and why he gymnasts a horse, works on poles and what gives work to relax. “The horse should be happy during training” – this is the motto with which he approaches the matter. Rodrigo.

“Nobody was ready for such a turn of events. The pandemic has rebuilt all our plans and shown how fragile human life is. We should treat the disease with due care и be mindful of social responsibility everyone.

Luckily, equestrian sport requires us riders to come to work every day because horses need movement. I consider ourselves lucky that even under the current circumstances, we can continue to work and do what we love so much. Not everyone can boast of this.

However, we are also unsettled – no more the usual rhythm of equestrian life with weekly international tournaments. Therefore our a task — adapt to new circumstances.

Being on a home base and working day to day, without the ultimate goal of a tournament, can be a challenge for some riders. Therefore very it is important to maintain a good moodespecially in horses. In my understanding this requires maximum daily activity и diversity at work. Horses should be allowed to spend more time outside the walls of the stall – take them to the levada and work on horseback in the field.

Photo from edubilla.com

I think that schedule weekly work, which the athlete usually makes up, must first of all be interesting for the horse. Do not do the same exercises and elements every day. Today – lunge the horse, tomorrow – work on relaxation, the next day – work in the field, then – gymnastics, and leave one day completely free from riding – let the horse walk in the levada.

In terms of relaxation work, I don’t deviate too much from my usual workouts. By doing a lot of lateral elements and letting the horse pull down, I focus on getting his muscles working properly.

More experienced and mature horses only would benefit from such a respiteand from tournaments – this will benefit their musculoskeletal system. I will still do show jumping with them, but I’m not going to work at serious heights – jumps are still needed in order to keep them in shape. When the time comes, they will only need one or two tournaments to get back into the competitive rhythm.

For young horses who do not yet have enough competitive experience, I will make routes once a week and jump them. Perhaps these horses will be a bit unsettled by this break, but on the other hand, they still have a lot of time left, it makes no sense to force the work and panic.

In this situation, there is another positive moment – we are all equal. When tournaments start again, all riders will have the same position. Perhaps this pause will serve as a good respite for all of us.”

Source: worldofshowjumping.com