The Academy’s Shadow Training Day with Anna Ross Davies

Just back from a great day at Anna’s new base in Wiltshire. It was the first of hopefully many to come Shadow Training Days that I aim to organise for the Academy’s riders.

We watched different horses at various stages of training/development and as always I found it very educational and inspirational to watch Anna working with her riders and horses.

The day started with a yard tour, then tea/coffee and a chat to figure out what horses we would like to see and what sort of training we would like to observe.

I am always up for watching any of Anna’s training Jemma has a 3 year old to back so was really interested in watching the youngsters’ training. Anna’s rider- Rob Waine, did a great job sitting very quietly to one of the youngsters’ antics but all in all they were all very well behaved.

First to go was Kate Rowland riding her impressive gelding Rusty. The chestnut powerhouse was working on changes and the focus was on “taming” his tension.

Pic: Kate Rowland and Rusty in medium trot across the diagonal.

Next to go was a just backed 3 year old ridden by Anna’s rider, Rob Waine. He was rather sparkly at the start but settled well. The work was very simple: forward on easy lines, always in front of the leg and not fussed about the frame/neck position (pic below right)

We then watched beautiful Lara ridden by another rider working for Anna – Beth Bainbridge. Super loose in the movement, Lara has a tendency to work too short in the neck so her session was focused on making the neck “flatter” and more relaxed, moving consistently from leg to the contact.

The change in the mare at the end was fantastic and really shows how much you can change for the better with correct training.

After Lara, it was time for Molly being ridden by Corinne and they both worked on their choice of music for the upcoming music test. Finding the right tune to the movement is one thing, there is also choreography of the test, the lines to ride etc etc Molly was great to watch as I rarely have the privilege of working with well bred, extraordinarily well moving warmbloods. Watching an ordinary horse doing very well is what I personally find very motivational.

Quick lunch with more training chat and then onto the second part of the day which involved watching Anna working with 7 year old Dreamgirl, Rob riding 6 year old Bertha, then an interesting session on suppleness with an older mare.

Then a super interesting lesson with another of Anna’s clients riding her own PRE gelding! Although much bigger than Pocholo (16hh) and coming from very good bloodlines, the impressive grey was worked on exactly the same things that needs to be improved with Pocholo. Plenty of mental notes taken and can’t wait to ride him tomorrow. I might only be able to walk him as my knee is still out of action but I can’t wait to try a few things I learnt today

The last to go was a young mare I have seen a few times over the last year. Bridget is a very leggy, elegant, 5 year old by Don Schuffro and she is better and better every time I see her. Today, Bridget’s owner, Emma was working on choosing the music for the mare for their music class.

She worked her in flowing patterns in trot and canter whilst Anna played different pieces of music over the loudspeakers. It’s amazing how when you hit the right one that really suits particular horse everything starts to look like a dance between a horse and rider Some pieces “hide” the horse, some seem to overwhelm it but when you get something that complements the paces, character and overall picture it looks spectacular.

I am really happy the riders who came this time found it really helpful and left inspired and motivated. That’s what I am hoping for those days to be – an insight into structured, correct and horse friendly training that makes you want to get right back to the yard and try it yourself

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