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opening your body already so he can land. Half halt, land with a high short rein, half halt. Keep your hand in front of your body.” “Watch German riders,”
he says. “They are here off the ground, letting the horse come up. If you let them go, then you have to catch up on the backside. If he lifts his head, your hands follow him up.” For a horse that attacks
The rider opens her body on the landing, looking ahead to the turn.
the jumps, the rider may need to slow the rhythm. Kyle cautions, “Every stride you lose in front of a jump, you add two in back!” For a turn on course,
Kyle reminds riders to hold a vertical seat and maintain the rhythm. “Sit in the turn. Find your seat bones.” Balance means the equine athlete moves straight
forward. He does not lean in the turn; he keeps his shoulders up. The rider helps by sitting down and pressing his hands up through the turn—not dropping the hands, or the horse. “Hands up! Press up, soft hand, bigger strides,” Kyle
instructs. “Shape the turn, your outside leg against the horse’s belly. Look for your turn. Look up and around.” He nags riders about leaning, telling one, “On the first turn, you lost time. You got leaning, and you could have been five seconds faster.
Riding for the Power Kyle has three key tips for jumper riders,
which he teaches in his clinics:
1 Between your spurs and the hip is where the riding is done, with your shoulders still.
2 Sit really open, and push the hip forward. 3 Shoulder back, hip forward. The horse can’t get away from you when you have that hip into your hand.
He recalls that when he rode in George
Morris clinics, George reminded him to keep his thumbs up. “There’s a reason for it. Carry your thumbs up. It engages your shoulder, your back, your whole body. Then you can use your back. Push your hip into it and then you have all the power.” He adds another comment about George’s
teaching. “He was big on heels down. On Warmbloods, look at German riders—over the top of a big jump, they have a level foot.”
yle has done plenty of catch riding, starting as a youngster. “When I was growing up, I always catch rode horses. So I got a lot of good help from a ton of different people. I rode for one man who wanted me to carry my right rein up here, my left rein here. It was my job. So I got pretty good at being told something and it sticking, because otherwise I would lose the ride.” He’s a second-generation horse trainer, fortunate that both of
K
his parents are trainers. His father Scott King ran Banner Farms and Atomic Farms in southern California. Now based in Thermal, Califor- nia, Kyle’s been showing Quigley in Grands Prix since 2013. They’ve won at Thunderbird, and at Spruce Meadows they won the Puissance at the CSIO 5* in 2014. Their latest win in Canada was at the Calgary Stampede Park CSI 3*, November 2014. Quigley, a 2003 Oldenburg, is owned by Paul Politeski of Victoria, British Colum-
bia. This is the chestnut gelding’s third year in big competitions and Kyle shares his 2015 plan. “My goal this year is to try to do the three Millions at HITS [Thermal, Ocala, Saugerties]. Not that many horses in North America can do that course.” At Thermal’s Desert Circuit I in January 2015, Kyle started showing a young stallion
in the five-year-old Young Horse classes. Christian is a son of his former Grand Prix ride, Capone I. Joyce Pedigo owns Christian.
Photo: Kyle King instructing from the sidelines last year. Warmbloods Today 25
When you sit, you have power. When you lean, you don’t.” For a U-turn after a fence, he asks for the wheelie. “Be in position before the apex of the turn. Sit down in your tack so you can roll back, and he can land balanced. Quicken up on turns and you leave out steps.” And he continues, “Gallop through the turn, and keep turning over the tops of the jumps. Get the horse to bend his ribcage. And keep him up so he’s more of a horse underneath you.” On a course, Kyle suggests tactics to shave seconds off
the first four fences. “Cut off the track. Jump one fence a little right to left. For the next fence, see your options. Gallop with a nice rhythm, jump, and try for a tight rollback. After that fence, turn to fence four. That’s your moneymaker.” On a line set for a comfortable seven strides, Kyle predicts,
“I know there’s a six in there.” With enough speed and rhythm, the rider can move the horse up to six strides, again saving time. “The young horse has to learn how to turn, and how to think,” he says. “The turns and the jumps come up quickly, and that makes the horse think and get alert. A horse with a big step, get him to do the half-strides. Even hunter derbies now ask these questions.” On a line set with a half-stride, the rider can go on the
outside track of four, or an inside track of three. The four strides mean “shaping” the track, a little on the outside bend. “No chipping in,” says Kyle. “Put a banana in there,” meaning a slightly bent line. When fences are raised in the jump-off, both rider and horse adjust to the shorter distances. “You’ve got to find that magic step—enough step through the turn,” says Kyle. That step—a technique that a horse can learn to repeat—short- ens the time, and can earn the win in the big class.
About Kyle King
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