It took me a while to really catch on to the George Morris thing too…but since then I have really enjoyed hearing about his snarky remarks!!
I would like to see him in action someday.
I love some of these replies…laughter is good for what ails you.
GM was the reason my childhood mare wore a roached mane. It was way too thick and I was way too bad a braider to get her presentable enough for my first GM clinic and I was mortified of showing up with a sub-par looking turnout. My coahc then said, “Just shave it off” before we went and I did and kept it that way during show season for the next decade. (FWIW I figured we were doomed anyway since she was a short, fat ugly-conformed Appy anyways with perpetually pinned ears and mare-face. And we were jumpers, not hunters. GM probably didn’t like her looks at all but did like her…called her bold as brass)
I learned more from 2 clinics riding and a few auditing than I did in ages of lessons. And my coaches were awesome. The man is a fountain of knowledge and does best getting us to ignore all the extras and unimportant stuff we obsess about and getting back to bare basics done 100% correct 100% of the time. And if you’ve got that, everything else falls into place. He was right about that. :yes:
A few years ago (3 or 4?) he could still ride the hide off a horse too…despite age, wear & tear and a bad cold at that time. he certainly didn;t just talk the talk when he hopped up on that grinchy mare full of tricks at the EA clinic in MA. :winkgrin:
Someone on here had a video of that…anyone remember who that was? Could they post that one again? I’d love to see it again.
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[QUOTE=MistyBlue;3672015]
Someone on here had a video of that…anyone remember who that was? Could they post that one again? I’d love to see it again.[/QUOTE]
I don’t have video, but I do have pics which I shamelessly STOLE from the COTHer who did take them. Sadly I cannot remember who it was. I’m not sure what the rules would be on posting them?? I never have - I just saved them off for my own edumacation & enjoyment.
Even just the photo series (which this thread got me to look at again) shows you exactly why people revere GM.
[QUOTE=Beverley;3671806]
That is in my opinion revisionist history on George’s part. I had the pleasure of a few sessions with Gordon Wright in college- and crest release was NOT something he taught![/QUOTE]
Well, I am reading from “Leaarning to Ride, Hunt and Show” by Gordon Wright right now, and in the captions under drawings of jumping in the elementary jumping section, he continues to describe “The rider places the weight of the upper body on the hands and the crest.” Maybe he didn’t coin the name “crest release” but he sure as hell taught it. He continues to describe it in intermediate jumping. “At the approach, the rider’s hands move up half-way on the horse’s crest, the weight of the upper body and the hands is on the horse’s crest…” It isn’t til advanced jumpping that he describes a “straight line from horse’s mouth to rider’s elbow.” He also says “this is jumping out of hand, but shoul be attempted only after the seat is sufficiently secure to permit the hands to work independently of the body.”
NOT revisionist history, but EXACTLY what GM teaches, as it was taught to him.
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I’ve never been lucky enough to ride with him, but I hope that perhaps, someday, I will have the opportunity.
As a high school senior (somewhat clueless and up for trying anything) I wrote him a letter to ask if he took on working students. I received a handwritten note from GM himself telling me very politely that he didn’t take on working students, but that I “should keep knocking on doors, and one is sure to open”. He was right. I ended up working for two upper level event riders.
And you know what? No matter how honest and straightforward he is, I will always respect him for taking the time to write a letter to a totally unknown horse crazy teenage girl.
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One of the most fun couple of days I have ever spent, and probably learned a great deal from (and never sat on a horse during those couple of days), was auditing the event team’s winter training sessions when he helped them a few years ago. It was FANTASTIC and so insightful. He kicked the team riders’ asses, but was in the way that a truly gifted coach can. The only “snarky” comment he made was toward one of the younger riders, who kept glancing down to check his leads. He didn’t like that and said, rightfully so, that a rider at that point in his career better be able to know what lead their horse landed on WITHOUT LOOKING. I’ve never noticed that particular rider looking down for his leads since! 
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Chuck Norris is not a human being. He is Chuck Norris.
Is it true that Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch because he decides what time it is??? 
:winkgrin: :lol:
I’m so old that I remember when GM actually had hair! :lol: He was hot stuff even back then but I haven’t really kept up with his antics. I have his book and it makes perfect sense–about the crest release, I guess man can pervert anything! I’d like to see us go back to the automatic release though, at some point in our riding education… :uhoh:
Laurie P, I stand corrected. Mr. Wright sure didn’t mention it to us, and I would’ve thought he’d have seen me as a less than advanced rider!
However, as you note in your references, it’s meant to be a stepping stone. So when and why did people stop progressing to ‘advanced’ riding (automatic release)?
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Ok, I cannot find the original Big Pink thread!!! argh! You all have gotten my curiousity. I can only find references to the BP and GM. Where is the orginal story!!!???
I think someone posted the story in Stick art a while back. I will see if I can find it.
edited…I found it, The stick art thread had a link to this thread:
http://chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=33842&highlight=The+Big+Pink
OMG that’s hilarious!
[QUOTE=Beverley;3672548]
However, as you note in your references, it’s meant to be a stepping stone. So when and why did people stop progressing to ‘advanced’ riding (automatic release)?[/QUOTE]
My opinion? When we lowered the fence height at rated shows from 3’6". Once LLR’s were permitted to show at the A’s at 2’ and 2’6" it was all over. I’ll never forget a remark made by a trainer at a year-end award show the year that rule change went through - that the change would be great for trainers’ pocketbooks but was the beginning of the end of the sport. Sadly that turned out to be all too true.
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[QUOTE=War Admiral;3672660]
My opinion? When we lowered the fence height at rated shows from 3’6". Once LLR’s were permitted to show at the A’s at 2’ and 2’6" it was all over. I’ll never forget a remark made by a trainer at a year-end award show the year that rule change went through - that the change would be great for trainers’ pocketbooks but was the beginning of the end of the sport. Sadly that turned out to be all too true.[/QUOTE]
That makes sense. It isn’t the release itself that is important, but the necessary balance, strength and independent seat/leg/hand that no longer exist, even at the upper levels. Only a very few ride in anything approaching a “classic” style. And they get away with it because the sport has so dumbed itself down.
[QUOTE=lauriep;3672693]
That makes sense. It isn’t the release itself that is important, but the necessary balance, strength and independent seat/leg/hand that no longer exist, even at the upper levels. Only a very few ride in anything approaching a “classic” style. And they get away with it because the sport has so dumbed itself down.[/QUOTE]
*Yep. 
*Not that I’m the picture of balanced riding myself anymore though either! 
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GM is an unusually gifted trainer and coach - if you get along with him. In the 80’s, it seemed that he taught every US international rider and a great many of the Big Eq finalists. He has definitely mellowed over the years. He used to be really only appropriate for and tolerant of higher level riders - it always seemed that if there was a 3’ section in a clinic, that those people were sitting ducks and he was very harsh. Today he seems to be more willing to work with riders who are below the level of the Big Eq.
I think he has always been someone who had to really think about his riding and be smart, rather than a seat of the pants natural rider. He is extremely detail oriented. That is why he is such a valuable coach.
Sometimes the details that are important to him aren’t so obviously important to other people. You want to go to a clinic turned out in a very specific way - not just clean and tidy, but impeccable in George fashion. Certain kinds of tack, certain kinds of clothes, and you will be unable to do anything right for him that day. I admit, this is why I love the scene in The Horse With The Flying Tail where GM is wearing an orange shirt with rust breeches… apparel that he would not tolerate in one of his clinics today.
There are stories of him being both blunt/honest and also cruel. There’s a story of a girl in a pink sweater that comes to mind as an example of cruelty. But I haven’t heard any stories like that in the last decade, probably longer.
I would still say, though, that if you’re not at the level of the big Eq, you’d probably get as much or more out of auditing him and then doing similar exercises at home with your regular instructor rather than riding.
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[QUOTE=War Admiral;3672660]
My opinion? When we lowered the fence height at rated shows from 3’6". Once LLR’s were permitted to show at the A’s at 2’ and 2’6" it was all over. I’ll never forget a remark made by a trainer at a year-end award show the year that rule change went through - that the change would be great for trainers’ pocketbooks but was the beginning of the end of the sport. Sadly that turned out to be all too true.[/QUOTE]
People were winning with crest releases in the Big Eq in the early 80’s, when the lowest classes at the A shows were 3’, and those classes were just kinda add-ons.
Actually, the last two times GM has judged the Maclay finals, the winners have been the ones who used the most educated release, IMO.
He judged the year Brianne Goutal won using much more of a following hand than most of the riders there, and he judged again two years later when the winner did the same thing.
Did those girls adjust their releases on the day, knowing who the judge was? If they did, it worked.
I’ve audited several of his clinics, and I would always jump at the chance to do so again. He is an amazing teacher. It’s not that he necessarily says something you’ve never heard before, but he always manages to say exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. He has a knack for hitting the nail right on the head without fail.
[QUOTE=lauriep;3672693]
That makes sense. It isn’t the release itself that is important, but the necessary balance, strength and independent seat/leg/hand that no longer exist, even at the upper levels. Only a very few ride in anything approaching a “classic” style. And they get away with it because the sport has so dumbed itself down.[/QUOTE]
Ding ding ding…we have a winner. I so agree with you on this.
Shade & Lauriep,
I’m with you two on this!
I find it odd that GM is so revered for what is typically called “bad behavior”. Other greats in the horse world don’t act like that. Call it brutally honest if you want, in reality it is just bad behavior
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[QUOTE=Dispatcher;3673040]
I find it odd that GM is so revered for what is typically called “bad behavior”. Other greats in the horse world don’t act like that. Call it brutally honest if you want, in reality it is just bad behavior[/QUOTE]
I disagree here - it stems from the military style of teaching. I’m guessing GM inherited that from Gordon Wright, who was a military man - or any number of other ex-cavalrymen who were still around and teaching when GM was a sprout. 
My first H/J trainer was ex-cavalry and of similar vintage to those guys - and it was just a teaching style, that’s all. One quickly learned NOT to take it personally. I got called a “Dumb Swede” 15-30 times EVERY lesson throughout my junior career. :lol:
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