On 4th October, Harris Equestrian and Jessica Grove Personal Training ran an innovative new joint clinic, combining their expertise in their respective fields of dressage training and physical fitness.
Riders benefitted from a morning lesson with UKCC Level 2 coach Emily Harris, during which they were assessed by Jessica, herself a former Advanced level dressage competitor. After the lesson, the riders were treated to a one-on-one assessment off the horse and were given a fully personalised programme of exercises.
After a hearty lunch, all the riders ran through a test of their choice under the expert eye of List Four judge Andrew Harris, who then gave them a brief session to help improve their marks. Finally, all those attending were treated to the opportunity to watch Emily work one of her up and coming young Advanced horses under the watchful eye of Andrew.
The day was a great success, with everyone taking away lots of helpful tips and advice as well as having met new friends and enjoyed the chance to ‘talk horse’ for the day. Hear what they had to say…
‘Thank you for a great day. Emily is very clear and makes things seem simple and enjoyable. Jess’ knowledge was super and she straight away picked up on my weakness and gave me some exercises to improve on. Thank you to the Harris family for a lovely day and great lunch’
‘Thank you for a lovely day, your new base is very peaceful and perfect for young horses and ponies. The day was very relaxed and ran very smoothly. Everyone like minded and eager to learn. Both Drew and Emily happy to help from Prelim to Elementary and no question makes you feel inferior. Really looking forward to more days. Thank you to Jessica great programme to work on, didn’t ever think of warming up myself before riding.’
‘Loved the day, learnt lots in my lesson with Emily and felt his way of going improve. Jess noticed all of my bad points and gave me some really useful homework. After my session my shoulders felt looser. Enjoyed warming up with Emily’s help and found the short test riding session after the test great. Have learnt so much, thank you, everyone so friendly and lunch was great’
‘I had a brilliant, fulfilling and inspiring day at the ‘Fit to Compete’ clinic. It was fantastic to be able to work with 3 experts in order to improve Team Ollie’s performance. I gained a lot of valuable advise during my lesson with Emily which I can build on with my training with Ollie allowing us to increase our capacity for effective communication. It was really useful to have Jess watch me ride, as she was able to get to the cause of my weaknesses. As a result, she has developed a more detailed programme to increase my core strength, something that will not only help on the horse but my mobility on the ground too. In the afternoon we rode a test in front of Andrew. It was great for me to ride a test in a more relaxed atmosphere but under test conditions, as this is not something i get the chance to do often. Andrew offered me some useful test riding advice and I was able to use the time to try out a new technique on entering the school before a test. The afternoon was finished by Emily and Andrew doing a thought provoking demo about their training methods, which clearly are successful as Emily’s mare was a prime example of a happy athlete! It was no problem that I was a para rider, everyone adapted brilliantly and I have lots to work on both on and off the horse to help us raise our marks leading into our qualifiers for the Winter Championships 2016. I would highly recommend attending these clinics, as you are working on many different aspects of performance on one day, meeting a great bunch of people and having lots of fun along the way!’