Training Feature


Joey started off a bit tense, but soon settled into a good rhythm during the warm-up D


uring the winter months, most of Kitty’s schooling involves getting the


horses ready for the eventing season in the spring. “Winter is a great time to get all your training issues ironed out and build up the young horses’ confidence,” she explains.


For many of us, however, the winter weather and limited daylight prevents us from schooling regularly, unless we are fortunate enough to have access to an indoor school or a decent outdoor surface with lights. Even then, it takes a lot of dedication to jump out of bed early to ride, or tack up in the dark after work, when it’s pitch black and cold.


However, the nights are getting lighter and it’s not too long before the clocks go forward, so now’s a good time to put Kitty’s exercises into practice. All you need are trotting poles and some blocks to raise them on, and a few jump wings or blocks to raise the poles higher. You can buy blocks designed specifically for this purpose, but if you want to


save your pennies, cheap potties make perfect pole raisers.


On the day of our photoshoot, Kitty set up three poles on a curve in the F corner, putting them on the lowest setting at first, and three poles alternately raised onto jump wings, also on a curve, in the M corner. The distances between the poles were set to canter strides, around 9ft (2.7m) apart from centre to centre. “I like to keep the distances the same, whether I’m trotting or cantering,” Kitty says. “The idea of these exercises is to get the horse thinking about where he needs to put his feet, which will be helpful out on a cross-country course if he gets himself into trouble.”


Getting started


As both horses are at different ends of the training spectrum, Kitty adapted the exercises to suit each one. She watched the riders have a walk and trot warm-up, making an initial assessment of both as she had never worked with them before. “Joey is a bit tense and onward


Being more experienced, Carlos settled in the new arena straight away


bound in trot,” she told Aimee. “It’s like he came into the arena and went ‘Oh my gosh, there are jumps everywhere!’. You can help him relax by taking some deep breaths and making half-halts.”


Turning to Lizzie, Kitty added: Carlos looks more relaxed but he’s older and more experienced, so you would expect him to be.”


Kitty asked the riders to think about rideability. “As you go around on the left rein, think about the quality of the rhythm. Is it the right speed? If so, does it stay the same?” Kitty asked the girls to ride a 20-metre circle around the set of poles at F, so the horses could have a good look at the poles before being asked to come over them.


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