Standing in the midst of her gymnastics course, show jumping legend Katie Prudent put her hand up to her purple visor to block out the sun as she squinted up at six young riders trotting around her. Her floral shirt blew in the warm breeze, and she took a deep breath before she spoke. 

“You are the first person of the day to feel your horse,” she began, “and it’s your job to say, ‘You know, the first 10 steps didn’t feel right on his left hind.’ If you know a horse better than others, you may know it’s stiff for the first few minutes and needs time to warm up. That’s your job as the rider. You have to be the first ones to let people know there is a possible upcoming problem.”

Unlike in previous years, gymnastics day in the USEF Horsemastership Clinic did not start with a demonstration ride over the course. Prudent went right to work with the 11 young riders, who were split into the same two groups as they were the day before for flatwork with Anne Kursinski. Prudent began by taking both groups through a warm-up of walk, trot and canter with a few leg yields and flying changes. 

When Prudent asked the riders to execute a left leg yield, some of the horses did not move off easily their riders’ legs. They were the same riders who struggled with leg yields during the flat session. 

“If your horse does not like doing an exercise, that does not mean you don’t do it,” Prudent said. “That means you need to do it more. Don’t ever forget this, guys: You will never be stronger than your horse. You have to figure out how to make them listen through feeling.”

Before they moved to jumping, she asked the riders to shorten their stirrups a hole while still mounted—a simple task with an unexpected consequence. One could see the surprise on Prudent’s face as she surveyed the first group and none of them were safely shortening their stirrups. She immediately turned her attention to Kursinski, who was standing along the rail. “How to properly shorten one’s stirrups needs to be addressed at some point,” she said. “That’s an hour lesson I don’t have time for right now. We need to do that for the future, Anne.”

The gymnastics course Prudent and the riders had set consisted of four parallel lines across the entirety of the ring with an open water jump placed directly in the middle, to be jumped toward the barns:

• The first bounce line had four plain green-and-tan striped verticals (with one ground line at each—the intent was for it to be jumped in one direction) with one trot rail set 9’ before the first vertical and another set 9’ after landing from the last vertical.

• Directly next to the bounce line sat three plain black-and-white striped verticals set 21’ feet apart to make a “1-to-1” stride between each of the fences) with two rails and two ground lines so they could be jumped in either direction.

• An open water jump sat next to the 1-to-1 line with a rail over the open water.

• Next to the water on the far side were a line of two purple-and-orange square oxers with no ground lines and floral standards, set 38’ apart on a forward two-stride line.

• At the far side of the ring stood the final line of one-strides: a plain black-and-white colored line consisting of a canter rail, a short 16’ one-stride to a very small vertical, 22’ to an oxer, 24’ to another vertical, and a long 26’ one-stride to an oxer. This line was set to be jumped both ways with no ground lines.

• Separately, a small blue-and-orange skinny panel jump with no standards sat just along the rail closest to the in-gate.

 

“At your riding level, you need to be able to do anything I tell you,” Prudent said. “These are all great exercises for that.” 

Prudent had the young riders begin over the low trot-in, canter-out bounce line toward the in-gate, with each bounce set as half of an “X”. Several of the horses backed off their first times through the line and stuck a bit off the ground. 

“How do you get a horse to go forward?” Prudent asked the group, waiting patiently for a response. She received four answers: leg, seat, cluck and driving aids. “But what should your hands be doing? Nothing! If you feel your horse backing off to the bounces, put your hands forward up his neck. That’s something we don’t teach enough of today—release!”

After everyone had gone, Prudent asked the unmounted riders to raise the four bounce fences to 2’9” verticals and had the riders come back through the exercise again. 

“I like a bounce for a horse that might be a little slow in the front—you know, to get out of the way, they’ve got to be quick,” Prudent said. “Your job is to hold your position all the way through. Don’t interfere, be very still. If they’re backing up, you let them go a little and if they’re getting too quick, you hold them back a little bit so that each jump is the same.”

When Amira Kettaneh’s horse got quick through the bounce exercise, Prudent corrected her. 

“You’ve got to be effective; slow it down,” she said. “Don’t plant your hands on his withers to slow him down; carry your hands. Don’t touch the neck with your hands—keep them just above it.”

As several more riders cantered through the exercise, Prudent asked them: “Were you touching your horse’s neck with your hands?”

When they admitted they were, she cautioned, “We’re watching you!”

Then Prudent had the group trot into the bounce line and turn right after it, canter up the rail and turn right to the forward 1-to-1 stride line with the verticals set around 3’, and then stop on a straight line before the corner. One rider went through the 1-to-1 line and struggled to halt immediately on a straight line afterwards. 

“Where are you going?” Prudent hollered. “I’m hard on my riders because it’s dangerous if you do not have control.” 

After the group finished that exercise, the five unmounted riders raised the verticals to 3’6” in the 1-to-1 line, and the group went back through the exercise once more. 

Next, Prudent asked the riders to jump the panel on the rail by itself. Several of the horses were taken by surprise, stopping before the panel or running out past it. Prudent reiterated the importance of the rider using their crop quickly to reprimand the horse and then coming right back around to jump the panel again. 

“This is making a horse,” she said. “Find what he doesn’t do well and work on it until he does.” 

The first course Prudent had the riders work over began by jumping the 1-to-1 line toward the in-gate, turning left to trot the skinny panel, another left turn to canter up the long side, and then a final left turn down over the open water jump with a halt on a straight line after it. 

“I ride the water jump like my horse is going to stop,” Prudent advised the riders. “You never know, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. I also never school the open water without a rail over it at home. The rail helps the horse jump up and over it.” 

When several of the riders struggled to slow their horses through the 1-to-1 line, Prudent had the five unmounted riders put a landing rail in the middle of each one-stride.

“Gymnastics are to train the horse,” she said. “He needs to slow down and look at what he’s doing. Sometimes the pole can help with this. Then you don’t have to be so strong on his mouth. This is another training aid to help your horse learn. You have to teach him; he doesn’t know.” 

Their next course added a new element: the two-stride line with wide square oxers set to be jumped away from the in-gate. Carlee McCutcheon and her horse executed the exercise well, earning a compliment from Prudent. “You’ve got beautiful feel,” she said. “That was great.”

When the two-stride was raised to 3’6”, problems began to arise: Luke Jensen’s horse had a rail at the second oxer. 

“That was too chase-y into it,” Prudent said. “It’s a forward line, but you’ve got to get your horse forward without pushing him through the jumps.” As Jensen cantered through the turn after the two-stride, his horse hopped and bucked in the turn and then refused to continue down to the 1-to-1 line. 

“Keep going, don’t let him turn away!” Prudent said. “Anytime your horse does that—send him forward immediately!” 

Another rider accidently went through their halt after the last line, and Prudent spoke up immediately. “As a group, you guys lack discipline,” she said. “We’ve stopped 20 times on a straight line already; you know what’s coming. If you lack discipline, how can you possibly go ride a whole course? Teach yourself discipline: Do what I ask, no matter how it feels.” 

Near the end of the first session, Prudent added the final gymnastic line: canter right lead down over the line of four fences set at varying one-stride lengths (16’, 22’, 24’, and 26’), and then left turn, circle and canter right back up the line in the opposite direction off the left lead. 

“What these exercises show you is what you have to work on,” Prudent said. When several riders struggled to make their horses do a full stride in the 16’ section the second time through the line, bouncing the rail instead, Prudent offered this advice: “If it doesn’t go well, don’t lose your thought process. Finish up the best you can. When you ride on teams and everything counts—if you lose your thought process, you’ll have another rail. On a team, that could mean the difference between winning or losing.”

Watch clips from Saturday’s gymnastic session, courtesy of USEF Network:

Prudent did not have both groups do the exact same courses; she changed it up for Group 2 and started them off with trotting left over the small panel jump. One of the horses stopped and ran out, and Prudent and Jensen went to stand on either side of the panel to encourage the horse to jump it the first time. 

“This horse is a borrowed horse, and he may not know this exercise,” Prudent said. “That’s OK—keep him in front of you. We teach a horse that doesn’t know. If you feel like your horse is looking at the panel a bit, drop back in your seat to encourage him forward.” 

After the skinny panel, the group moves to the open water jump and then to the trot-in bounce line of small half-X’s. Prudent offered a bit of insight into her thought process when setting this particular course: “I set up the short lines always toward home,” she said. “I want the riders to feel their horses getting strong and what they have to do to resist them.”

During their next course, when Nora Nauss’ horse stopped at the last element of the 1-to-1 stride triple, Prudent helped her fix the issue. 

“What I’ve noticed about this horse is that he goes a little right when it gets hard,” Prudent said, “and it’s going to get harder, these exercises. Come back through again and know that he’s going to do that. Know your horse’s quirks, and don’t let them happen.” 

Nauss came back through the line again, correcting her horse’s right drift over the middle vertical, but she had another stop at the out. Prudent had Nauss tap her horse twice with her crop and repeat the exercise again. 

“He knows this is hard; I like to find what’s hard for the horses and practice it,” Prudent said. “The more he does it, the easier he will think it is. Confidence in the horse is your main goal.” The third time through, Nauss and her horse jumped through the line with no problems. 

The group then attempted the four varying-length one-strides in a row, set around 3’3” to the canter circle and repeating in the opposite direction. When several riders also bounced the short one-stride, Prudent had them come into the middle so she could explain how to ride the line properly. 

“You want to come in forward the second time up this line so you can slow down the whole way through the line,” Prudent said. “Let them come forward through the corner and then look for a distance. That will allow your eye to see the better choice. Then by the time you reach the shortest one-stride, your horse is with you and slowing down. Fit it in.” The riders come back through the exercise, taking Prudent’s suggestions, and they were successful in getting the short one-stride instead of bouncing it. 

At the end of the sessions, Prudent reminded the riders of her ultimate goal throughout her tough instruction. “My hope, through all of this, is to get you guys thinking better,” Prudent said. “You all ride well, but you need to think more. Once your horse understands what you want, things will get better and better.”

Video from all sessions of the 2024 USEF Horsemastership Training Series is available to premium members on USEF Network powered by ClipMyHorse.TV. Read coverage of the flat session here, and check back tomorrow for coverage of the final day’s coursework session with Beezie Madden.