Guest Blog post # 25: "Adventures with Lucinda Green" by Amy Wright

"Over the barrels, through the two angled jumps, hard right then up the blue skinny, bend right to the skinny in the middle and then quick left to the other skinny then back down over the oxer to the other set of angled jumps...” or it was something like that.  Riding in a Lucinda Green clinic is a little bit like playing with one of those wooden labyrinths that tips too and from, but you are on horseback, hoping that neither you nor your horse falls through one of the holes. 

I was a late entrant into this amazing clinic.  I thought that the questions asked of our riding would be too much for Paco and me.  Andrea Waldo had extolled the virtues of getting the opportunity to ride in a clinic with with Lucinda, but even though my Paco has come a long way in his jumping skills and can be a gymnastics machine, I wasn’t feeling like we have been consistent enough in our training this spring to be able to participate.  But Cindy Strate (clinic organizer extraordinaire) reached out to me and said there was going to be a “baby” group and would we like to be included.  I had to respond with a resounding “Yes!” even though the clinic fee seemed a bit steep and, Wow! it was completely worth it.

We were supposed to have the first day in the arena at High Wind Farm and the second day out on the lovely x-country course there, but the weather gods had a different plan for us.  The first day was overcast and a bit steamy, but perfect for our first day.  We rode bending lines of skinnies and angled lines and jumped barrels from a walk followed by slipping our reins loose urging our horses to take off and learning a great trick of spreading our hands to shorten our reins and regain control and come to a stop.  

As is the case with many of these great clinicians, the first order of business is safety.  We are on a mission to learn to ride complicated courses confidently and safely.  With Lucinda, there is no talk of seeing the spot, it is about riding the horse to the fence and creating a “tube” with your eyes, hands and legs and channeling your horse through the course and over each obstacle.   Easier said than done.  We jumped a lot of skinnies, both with and without standards, and my good little pinto Paco and I missed a few, as well.  The big no - no is letting your horse run past a missed obstacle.  It’s way better to pull them up and back them up and then have them approach again and hop over it.  Others in our group were much more competent at the stop and back up thing, but when we missed something, we usually flew past it, but did fine to come back and hop over it again.

One of Lucinda’s tenants is that with the approach to each jump, your horse is either asking a question or making a statement.  It is our job to make absolutely sure that the horse has a chance to see the jump and that we are clear that we are asking him or her to jump it.  This is pretty challenging when you are making tight turns into fences and have little room to get lined up, but what evolved for me over the course of the two days was the sensation of really riding the entire time.  Really getting a sense of riding through the tube from gut and instinct.  Because there was a lot of turning and jumping at acute angles, there was not a lot of time to ponder how to get it done, you just had to get focused and get it taken care of.  

One of my struggles has been with getting myself organized quickly enough after a jump to move on to the next one.  Another is with keeping my leg on and using it as a consistent tool to guide my horse.  After two days with Lucinda, I was kind of doing both of these things without thinking.  Paco is awesome, but he is little and quick and if he can twist himself out over the side of something to get out of it, he just might.  Lucinda kept at me until I stuck to it every millisecond and kept him on track.

This was especially important the second day.  Fortunately, the ring at High Wind Farm in Monkton, Vt. provided us with a necessary ark amidst the down pouring rain.  We were all sad not to get to ride out on the gorgeous cross country course, there, but Lucinda made the best of it by setting us up to learn a great deal.  The ring turned into a large water jump with great footing.  We all splashed around to warm up and hopped over some of the skinnies and over  the out jumps of the some of the skinny coops and roll top combinations.  There were also plastic matts and tarps to cross over and conquer.  For these, it was handy to have a brave horse to follow the first few times through.  And looming in the middle of the ring was a rather gigantic (by my standards) red roll top.  

Well, in full disclosure, I got yelled at a fair amount that second day.  A clinic with Lucinda is meant to toughen us up to ride cross country, right?  Well, toughen up we must.  My excuses?  It was raining hard, I couldn’t hear very well, I saw other people try stuff and I thought - oh, are we allowed to do that?, my brain was overwhelmed and at a certain point I just wasn’t absorbing all of the directions so well?  So she had to holler at me a bit to get the messages through.  Oh well, I’ll live.  On the flip side, I think Lucinda likes my silly little horse, called him “cheeky,” repeatedly said “Now you are riding!”  and when she decided to split our group into two (a few of the horses were real greenies), she put  us with the big kids and had us jump the stuff that pushed the edges of my comfort zone just enough.

We jumped through narrow combinations to corner jumps and rolled back to hop over a narrow chevron to another corner and then around and over the “liverpool” and then we were to get a good gallop going around the outside and down over the big roll top.  We needed to let our horses really move to the roll top, no gathering them in to get a perfect spot or playing pretty show jumper.  Lucinda extolled the virtues of the great Irish riders who start out on snarly little ponies with no saddle and barely a halter and lead and have to crash around the country.  Those blokes get a strong, solid seat.  They sit back and wait for the horse to leave the ground before following along because, especially in hairy situations, once you get in front of the motion you are done for.  

I don’t think I will be able to capture with words the feeling of really getting your horse galloping through the mud and pouring rain, literally hell bent for leather (even though I am not completely sure what that means, I think I know the feeling, now) pointing them at a big jump and letting them rocket their way to it and over.  It’s a glimpse at why we do this crazy sport.  A taste of something sweet and spicy and all consuming.  If this were a drug, I’m quite certain it would be illegal, but, for now, the FDA hasn’t caught on.  All I can say is, if you get the chance, pack up your horse, your big kid knickers and probably wouldn’t hurt to bring good rain gear, and get yourself to one of Lucinda’s clinics.  She will remind you of how lucky we are to get to partner with these brave, intelligent creatures who so wish to please us. The specificity of your riding and your taste for adventure will surge to new levels, and if you are really lucky, the weather might be horrible and you might feel yourself transported through time and space to some wild and wooly cross country course where you darn well better really ride that trusty steed of yours. 

A few pictures and videos I took of friends during their rides.  Only a snippet of Paco and me as we had some technical challenges with the camera, but my friends will give you a real taste of how to get it all done :)