Three CSHs in Mark Todd clinic

Three Canadian Sport Horses were among the mounts used by some of Canada’s top event riders in a two-day clinic with World Champion and Olympian Mark Todd in early November.

The clinic at Ghostwood Farm in Hockley Valley, part of a fundraiser for the Youthdale Treatment Centre Riding Program, was organized by veterinarian and eventing enthusiast Dr. Usha Knabe. The stands were packed with auditors who came to watch the eventing legend share his skills and knowledge.

Among the invited riders were 2011 Pan Am gold medalist Jessica Phoenix, 2004 Olympian Ian Roberts, 2010 WEG silver team medallist Selena O’Hanlon, 2007 Pan Am team silver medallist Waylon Roberts, Nicole Parkin and Penny Rowland plus  promising young riders such as Sable Giesler (individual silver medallist at the 2011 North American Young Riders Championships.

Karl Slezak was mounted on Ruth Armstrong’s talented warmblood VDL Ulando, a Canadian Sport Horse Association approved stallion, while Callie Evans rode her F1 mare Glendening Avis (by Ferrari GS) and Michele Mueller brought her new ride, Glendening Phoenix, an F2 gelding (by Hilton GS) bred and owned by David and Joy Levison of Glendening Farm, as well as her four-star horse, Amistad.

Todd initially worked on flatwork, asking riders for walk-canter and canter-walk to sharpen transitions. He said flat transitions should not be tolerated and riders need to repeat the transition until correct and to apply a stronger aid until the desired response was achieved. Even the downward transition must have energy, he stressed.

Todd was big on prompt corrections and equally prompt rewards, such as a pat or scratch. The fix for inattentive horses was shoulder-in, with collected and extended canters and varying sized circles.

He told riders with horses that were cantering with their haunches in to counter-bend to the outside to encourage the shoulder inwards. If horses fell into downward transitions, the fix was for riders to open their hip angles and keep the leg on.

On the second day of the clinic, Todd did a demonstration with Glendening Phoenix, working to overcome the horse’s resistance and improving the quality of the canter.

Gymnastics were a big part of the sessions, starting with low bounces over cavalettis and poles and progressing to an ascending  line of small verticals (less than two feet) and an an oxer, then building to a line of four ascending oxers placed one stride apart.

When a horse ran through the gymnastic, once the ground lines were removed, Todd instructed the rider to walk after landing and then rein back. If the horse continued to run through the gymnastic despite increased fence size, he created guide poles in a "V" shape and used objects such as a blue rain barrel or jacket and placed it in the centre of the fence to teach the horse to start thinking about where his feet are.

For horses that hang in the air, he instructed the riders to follow the mouth with the hand and keep the leg on. It encourages "forward" through the exercise when the supportive leg is added.

Riders finished their sessions over a course that called for precise riding and adjustability, using the tips and techniques they had worked on from the start of the sessions.