Behind the Scenes I
1 YEAR REFLECTION by Randy Sherman
recently passed my one year anniversary of competing in Europe, and I began to reflect on what the whole experience has meant for me thus far. I arrived here
with a set of goals, have added many to the list, and have also checked off a few. I have made some incredible friends and business partners, and have surely ridden more horses in the past year than I ever thought possible. I can say with some certainty that my riding
has improved by leaps and bounds. I came here after an eight year break, and
I have found the biggest benefits have come
from simply competing in Europe, observing other riders, and keeping my eyes and ears open to absolutely everything. Training as a young rider in America has
many advantages to learning to ride in Europe. More often than not, riders in the states are placed in a very good learning system that teaches fundamentals and basics, before em- phasizing competitive performance. The ma- jority of young riders in Europe have little to no training stylistically, but are pushed to win
darts will always remain a mystery to me). Another big reason that has enabled me
to make quick progress has been the cost of owning, boarding, and competing. Across the board, show jumping is relatively affordable, especially when my budget is far from unlimit- ed. Show jumping is not as much of an “elite” sport in Europe as it is in many other places. Except for actually driving the van for the hors- es to the shows (I haven’t got around to getting my license yet, to the great consternation of my mentor Vincent Lambrecht), I pretty much do it all myself- from taking all of the equipment from the truck to the stable, to feeding, mucking, and preparing the horses for each class. And as much as people may think I am a “crazy American” for moving to Belgium, this is normal for many riders.
The relative inexpensiveness of
being based in Europe has given me access to many more shows over the season than I would be able to com- pete in elsewhere. It also fosters a much more competitive show scene in general. Once you get outside of major cities in Europe, you don’t have to look very hard to notice that many houses have horses with ad- joining fields, barns, and even their own rings. Not only are there plenty of horses
to ride, but also there are plenty of other people riding and competing as well. I cannot recall a single class at any level in which I have com- peted that had less than 30 horses. And when the level of competition increases from regional to National and on up to International shows, the
clearly while I am a better rider than when I ar- rived a year ago, more than that, I find myself riding better than I ever have before. There are numerous obvious reasons for this…….such as riding every day, riding many different horses, and taking dressage lessons from a top Belgian rider (one of the best decisions I could have made). And then there are some less obvious reasons.
from the start. That is a big reason you see so many different styles from top European rid- ers, the system is “do” instead of the look. For the most part, the riders with the greatest suc- cess know exactly what to do when they are in the ring, how to get the best jump out of any horse, regardless if they click their heels behind the saddle over every fence (how some riders do this and manage not to become regular lawn
entries per class either remain the same or even increase, depending on the show. Europe is a very different place to ride and
live with both benefits and drawbacks. There are so many insights to be learned, not only about horses, riding, or one’s self, but also about why Europe consistently produces so many top riders and horses. One year down, many more to go.
◊
32 |
iJumpSports.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72