Friday, Feb. 7, 2025

Double Olympic Gold Medalist Laura Collett Shares Her Eventing Wisdom In US Clinic

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Small dustings of leftover snow, a rare sight for South Carolina riders, still flanked several of the cross-country jumps when riders headed out to the schooling field for their opportunity to learn from British double Olympic gold medalist Laura Collett during a her clinic last week at Andre Parro’s Cedar Ridge Equestrian in Aiken. Luckily the grass field was void of snow, and the mid-morning temperature was nearing 40 degrees, which meant that the morning frost had melted away for the first group, four young Brazilian riders, eager for their 90-minute session with Collett. 

At only 35 years old, Collett’s riding resume is one that many riders can only dream of. After overcoming a traumatic rotational fall in 2013 that left her with permanent vision loss in one eye, the eventer has won two Olympic team gold medals for Great Britain team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she was also the individual bronze medalist aboard her longtime partner London 52. Collett was also a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2023 FEI Eventing European Championships in Haras du Pin, France, and her multiple five-star wins with London 52 include setting a record low score at Badminton (England) in 2022. 

Five-star British eventer Laura Collett, whose resume includes two Olympic team gold medals (Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024), three five-star wins, including setting a record score at Badminton (England) in 2022, visited Aiken, S.C., to give a clinic Jan. 23-26. Heart Horse Media Photos

Collett’s four-day clinic in Aiken was comprised of several individual lessons and seven riding groups at varying levels ranging from beginner novice to advanced. On the first day of cross-country instruction, Collett began each group session by discussing the three main concepts a rider needs to know on the cross-country course. 

“The first thing is that you have to be aware of your balance and your horse’s balance,” she told the riders. “They should be up in your hand, not hanging on you and pulling you down. You don’t want [their balance] or your balance to be downhill on the cross-country field; that’s asking for a problem. The second thing is to have the correct canter for the type of jump you are jumping. If you’re cantering to a combination or a skinny vertical, you would need to bring the canter back to you in order to have control—that’s a gear change. And then for a brush jump, you would just nicely balance up to it. The third thing is knowing the line. You as the rider know where you’re supposed to go [on course]: Make sure you pick your line, and then that your horses stay on your line. If you start letting them drift off the line at a wider fence, you could have a run-out. Everything else just falls into place from there.” 

Although the warm-ups and courses varied in each session to tailor to each group’s level, Collett consistently focused on the rider’s position and how it directly affected their horses.  When the students began cantering over a small Trakehner log fence to warm up, Collett had the riders practice balancing their horse’s canter up to the fence. She also explained why position is important for a rider when they oscillate between a balanced and forward canter. 

Groups tackling cross-country early on the second day of the clinic found jumps frosted with the remains of an unusual South Carolina snowstorm.

“A balanced canter means you bring your body up to shorten the horse’s step,” she said. “You sit up straight and away from the horse’s neck. A forward canter means that you’re up in your cross-country position and you go forward with pace. But you don’t want a forward canter or position for the entire cross-country round because then the horse just stays in one canter, and that doesn’t help you adjust throughout the course. You need to be able to cultivate both.”

The riders practiced these concepts over the first couple of single fences, and when several of the riders put in too many strides too close to the base of the fence, Collett gently corrected them. She emphasized the importance of balancing the horse to the fence through the turn and then following their motion with the rider’s arms to the fence so that the last few strides did not become a pulling match. 

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“Get the proper balance early so then you can allow [the horse] to be soft in your hand,” she said. “Balance and then ride up to the fence—don’t keep pulling the entire time. Then you feel like they’re taking you [to the fence] instead of you just pulling to shorten their step.” 

Collett’s teaching method, here with clinic participant Donna Miller, focused on balance, pace and line.

Collett had the groups put a broken line together: They were to jump a small rolltop fence bending down to a small table fence. 

“Make sure your eyes are looking, so you’re telling your horse where to go,” she said. “Jump your rolltop a little left of center, eyes looking, turning your shoulder so you’re not just pulling. Get a balanced canter in this line to give yourself enough room to get to the table.” 

Many of the riders completed the line with minimal mistakes, and Collett moved her focus to two single brush jumps with guiderails, one set to be jumped up the hill and the other down the hill in a figure-8 pattern. She stressed the importance of the riders creating a balanced canter. When one rider leaned up his horse’s neck and knocked the second jump down, Collett gently reminded him of the importance of his position. 

“You’re following with your upper body too much, sit up,” she instructed. “You can’t support your horse by throwing your upper body at him. Your approach was good but don’t try to get the jump by leaning forward; sit up and support [to the base].”  

One of the exercises Collett put together was having the riders start right-lead up over the skinny brush, right turn down the hill over the other skinny brush, left turn halfway around and then down over an “S” line: a hanging log to a rolltop, and then four or five stride strides back over the skinny brush jump again to finish out the course. When several of the riders became concerned about counting strides in the “S” line, Collett reassured them. 

“I want you to worry more about the canter and the balance in that line rather than [doing] the correct number of strides,” Collett advised a group working through an exercise involving an “S”-turn between fences.

“I want you to worry more about the canter and the balance in that line rather than [doing] the correct number of strides,” she said. “Don’t wait for their stride to get long and strung out before you balance with your body [when shortening in the “S” line]. Balance yourself the whole time.”

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Collett also had the upper-level riders tackle a more technical 3’9” corner fence to practice their accuracy. She had the riders jump a smaller table and then do a left-turn down to the corner fence. She emphasized the importance of jumping a corner directly in the middle. “If you don’t jump it straight, the horses won’t be able to tell how wide it is,” she said. “You open yourself up to a potential run-out if you don’t jump it straight.”

During the more advanced groups, Collett took the riders across the length of the cross-country field, stringing different lines together and creating different courses. One of the exercises was to jump a rolltop down a hill, then do a left turn back on the small trakehner log fence (in the opposite direction from how they had warmed up), and then bending left up the hill over a narrow table fence. One rider, who had a greener horse, was doing well until her horse stopped at the table. 

“When [the fence] is narrower, keep him together so he understands,” Collett said. “Don’t open up the canter. Keep him more connected between your leg and hand.” 

When the horse stopped again, Collett had the rider bring the horse back to the table to stand in front of it. Then she had the rider go back and jump the rolltop fence again to give her horse confidence before coming back to jump the table. 

“Good, steady back to it, shoulders up.” On the third try, the horse made a huge effort over the table and cantered away. “Well done! That was great riding.” 

The particular horse-and-rider pair continued to gain confidence as they tackled different lines, questions and exercises together. Much of that was due to Collett’s encouragement; she did not become flustered when any of the riders or horses made mistakes. The majority of Collett’s business is developing young eventing prospects and bringing them up through the ranks, so she knows first-hand how important building a green horse’s confidence is and how much patience it requires. When riders made mistakes, Collett never rushed them; she allowed them to take their time and figure things out. 

Collett, here with clinic participant Andrea Manley, was encouraging of horses and riders alike, often extolling riders to praise and pat their horses.

After each rider completed their lines or courses, Collett would ask for their assessment of how it felt. Collett’s love for the sport of eventing, and her all-around positive attitude, were evident in her teaching style. When any horse-and-rider pair successfully rode through a small mistake or miscommunication, Collett’s face would break into a smile, and she was the first to cheer them on. 

“Well done!” Collett would repeat over and over. “Give him big pats, big pats! That was an excellent correction.”

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