By Wiola Grabowska
Mojo, owned by Kelly Hill – 8 years old AES Gelding, backed later in life and bought from the field in November 2016. Ferris, owned by Emma Brinkworth – 11 years old Thoroughbred, ex-steeplechaser, purchased in 2016 and rested in the field.
Biggest bonus of taking regular photos and videos is that we can go back and look at all the stages of development both in the horse and the rider. Whilst it is fun to compare and see the difference over time, it is also a good lesson when working with the next horse and rider.
Important thing to note here is that both Ferris and Mojo are owned by experienced, competent riders with a lot of riding feel and ability to act on many “green moments”. They are both challenging in the best possible way, trainable yet with good own instincts and I think we have a good understanding of what we want to achieve through working together. I do think this is important in any coaching situation.
Top photo: 29th April 2017. Aspire Equestrian Intensive Training Camp. Bottom photo: 22nd November 2016, first time Kelly rode Mojo with me.
Bottom photos: Emma’s first lesson with me on Ferris 8th March 2017 and Ferris’ first flatwork session under the saddle since his “let down time”. Top two photos: 14th May 2017. Ferris being ridden by one of my young riders, Sasha Eastabrook.
Both Mojo and Ferris work in-hand regularly. Ferris with myself and Mojo with Kelly in lessons and individually. I believe it helps hugely with the horses’ understanding of training and its demands, both physically and mentally.
These comparisons shots are not to show what can be done in a short space of time because with a learner ride, the same horse might take five, six sometimes ten times longer to reach similar level of improvement. However, this is a fun way of showing that regular training without any gadgets brings good results with seemingly ordinary horses.
I believe that wellness oriented training makes any horse more beautiful, athletic and able and I love being part of the process of getting there 🙂
Both of these horses are a work in progress. Don’t be fooled or discouraged as there are many not so perfect moments happening in their every day training 🙂 They are still learning, building the right muscles and gaining experiences. Hopefully in another several months time they will have learnt to move with even more balance, suppleness and spring in their steps!
Impressive changes! I’m curious – how do you photograph and video at the same time as teaching? I can only seem to do one or the other!!
I’m not sure 😉 Just a lot of practice! I’d been doing the videos for over 7 years now so I think I just learnt to multitask 🙂 I do struggle with jump lessons though so usually prefer to have someone helping.