We had the pleasure of hosting Liza Towell Boyd at Swamp Fox Farms on Dec. 4-5. It was a delight to work with Liza. She approaches each student with great attention to detail, stressing the relationship between horse and rider. Liza has a laid back manner of teaching that takes the complication out of riding. Always focusing on the positive, she is a great confidence builder for young students.

Each day in every section, Liza began with basic flat work, stressing organization and balance to her students. Each student, whether beginner or seasoned equitation rider, spent time in two-point position getting their weight into their heels and their bodies balanced over the center of their horses.

She asked riders to make sure their horses were listening to their aids and then moved on to a seemingly simple exercise of cantering two poles on a circle. The exercise became difficult for some young students, demonstrating the need for consistent pace, track and impulsion.

Each section then moved on to a gymnastic exercise where Liza tweaked the details of the rider’s position, always emphasizing the need for correct equitation in order to create a balanced horse. The gymnastic consisted of a 6-foot trot pole to a cross bar, then 15 to 18 feet (depending on the size of the horse or pony) to a small vertical. The exercise showed students how the horse’s balance and jump changed as they sat in the middle and allowed a balanced horse to jump up to them with a proper release. She explained that a rider’s weight should be at least 60 percent in her heel so that one does not get in front of the motion. This also allows the horse to jump in his more natural form.

“Look For The Deep One, Deal With The Long One“

Beginning both days with a cross bar section, Liza kept things simple for the beginner riders. She took her time in helping each rider work through a straightforward course emphasizing pace and track. Though the course was simple, students had to work in order to keep their horses deep in the corners. Using the Towell family patented expression: “Look for the deep one, deal with the long one,” Liza explained how riding a corner dictates the distance that presents itself when approaching the jump. “Corners are so important. They make or break each jump.”

And just as each corner dictates each jump, she also stressed that jumping should be no different than flat work: “A course should just be flat work that happens to have a few jumps in it.”

She then explained that each stride in a line must match and had riders jump a long bending line first in the add, then the regular step, then back to the add in order to feel the effects of the differences in their pace and track.

In the intermediate section, Liza again emphasized consistent pace and a correct track as she patiently worked each student through a simple course of eight jumps. Throughout the clinic, Liza explained to her students “horses learn through repetition.”

She got the chance to demonstrate this to one of our students on a large bay warmblood that was feeling the crisp weather by pulling in the corners and rushing through the lead change. She had the rider quietly make a downward transition to the sitting trot in each corner instead of doing the flying lead change. The horse quickly got the picture and began to balance himself after each jump allowing the rider to ask for and demonstrate a clean, balanced lead change.

The next student had a technically correct course, but she did not finish with a proper closing circle. Instead, she allowed her horse to fall behind her leg and make a sloppy transition to the walk at the end of the ring. This was a great example for Liza to explain that students need to start thinking like their horses.

“If you let your horse stop by the in-gate at home after each schooling round is done, he is going to do the same thing at the horse show. What would happen if there was a ninth jump in this course? If your horse were accustomed to stopping after eight jumps, you would lose your pace or even break before you got to the ninth jump,” she said.

Again reiterating that horses learn through repetition, Liza had the student canter the last two jumps, pass the in-gate and continue down the long side of the ring before making a proper transition the walk. “Never, ever let your horse stop by the in-gate. It will only start bad habits,” she said.

It’s All About Finesse

The advanced sections throughout the weekend gave Liza an opportunity to talk with her students about finesse and details. She explained that once riders get to a certain level, little details could be tiebreakers.

“It’s not enough to ride the course technically correctly. You have to start to ride the course with finesse,” she said.

This was apparent with one rider on a cute grey pony. Though the course was ridden correctly, there were several distances that could have been helped. Liza explained, “You had the correct distance, but you could have helped your pony jump better by waiting with your upper body. That detail could be the difference between first and second place.”

Liza ended the advanced session with several rollback turns and a four-stride bending line. In this exercise details became even more important for riders. One rider in particular tended to lean slightly to the left over the first jump of a rollback, causing her horse to drift, and in turn making the next jump come up too quickly. “You’re making life a lot harder than it needs to be,” Liza explained. “If you hold your body balanced and straight over your horse until he finishes his jump, you can turn with a balanced horse and find a better distance to the next jump.” Though it was a small adjustment, it made a noticeable difference in the rider’s track and distance to the second jump.

Liza’s approach to teaching is to keep things simple, which was wonderful for the young students in our barn. She was able to critique riders while simultaneously building their confidence and encouraging them. Watching a horseman like Liza work is a true inspiration. It is refreshing to see an instructor teach purely for the love of the sport. We had a wonderful time playing host to such a great horseman and hope she will join us again soon.