I had the wonderful opportunity to ride in a clinic with Karen Healey this past weekend and I thought I would share the exercises and gems of knowledge I picked up. She was very tough but fair, and quick with praise when someone did something right. I wanted to get my notes down so I figured, why not here where some others may find it useful?
Day 1:
We started with a very intense flatwork session. She stressed the basics, in front of the leg, straight, and control of the hind end. We did a lot of sitting trot with shoulder in, haunches in and half passing. There was a strong emphasis on making sure the horse really got into the outside rein and yielded the haunch. My horse has the biggest trot so I damn near puked from all the sitting trot but really felt the benefit of getting him into that outside Reid. When a horse was sticky to the leg, she had us place our reigns in the outside hand, then gently rest the stick right behind the inside leg and just gently tap to make the stick and leg association very strong. That was a subtle change that was very effective for my horse. Canter work was intense. If you happen to do her clinic make sure you are very fit as a team. We did lots of shoulder in and haunches in.
Day one jumping exercise started with a canter into an in and out. We all did it multiple times in a row, depending on how well our horses jumped it. She was very strict about riding straight and getting into the corner afterwards because “do you think McClain ward practices cutting corners?” If your horse did well, you did it two times. If they struggled, then you did it several times we then moved into coursework. She followed the same path where she just focused on one person, you jumped it several times or repeated a portion several times. For me, this was more effective than taking terms because you could really focus on the mistakes you made and fixing that specific part. We started with the full in and out on a diagonal, which was longer, but then into a very short corner. Then on the long side an oxer to a very forward four strides to a tight in and out. Then tight turn to a diagonal oxer bending easy six back to first oxer, then easy 5 stride on the other side, back to the tight in and out to forward 4 strides.
It was a super hard course. The four strides needed to be forward so that you got to the I’m and out waiting. One person let the four get long and got a launcher into the first element and almost bounced the in and out. If you chipped into the oxer, you would get 5 in there and get a rail. She had us come into it with a slight haunches in while coming in a little early, because if you stayed out you were “stuck with whatever distance you get” which was a great technique for me.
Day 2:
Again, flatwork flatwork flatwork!
For canter work, we added in cavaletti pretty early on, a line that was a flowing six strides while “letting them get there” a couple times, then focused on getting the 7 with each stride being even in length. I had to focus on “reeling in the fish” rather than a pull and release on each stride because then I would let him out on every release and end up chipping the last step. Other riders had to resist the urge to get suckered into the first long distance they saw and were instructed to “pass that one up” to be set up for success. We the added in a bending caveletti exercise doing 2 strides on the outside of the poles, focusing on keeping the shape of the horse and the hind end coming up into the outside rein.
We started jumping on a line of two vertices set right on the wall. She warned us that it would be spooky and there were a few stops with some otherwise very game horses. The line was basically a 5 1/2 stride line that we had to gallop in to get the 5, then change direction, and slow to get the six. It was quite challenging for everyone, and honestly a little terrifying for me, but I thought it served two really great purposes. First, it was a good reminder that you can jump a little long and a little short and as long as you’re with your horse it’s no big deal. She repeated many times that the horse doesn’t know or care if it’s long or short, only what you tell them. So if you get left behind or launch up their neck or otherwise throw them off balance, they know something was wrong. If you’re there supporting and balanced, they neither notice nor care whether the distance was good or bad. Second, you had to be so mindful of the way you jumped your first fence. If they jump in a little short on tue five, you better get up and gallop, because “no one ever won the Kentucky derby sitting in the saddle”. You needed to be mindful of your track on the way in and leave yourself options. If you launched into the six you were going to get a 5 or a chip. I have a very wonderful scopey horse and it was a good exercise for me to just remember to trust my good boy and not fall apart if we get a long or short one.
Onto course work! That line got moved in so it was a forward 5 but not a 5 1/2. The four stride to in and out stayed the same from the day before. So we had to ride the forward 5 to a easy bending 6 to a massive Swedish, then come back for the in and out to 4, then back around to a super bending giant (for me) Swedish to giant Swedish in 7, coming out to a tight corner, then back to the tight in and out, which was the crux of the test. You needed to jump the outside of both fences and hold out for the bend. People did it too direct in 6 and were forced to jump the wrong side, had a bunch of rails and a couple stops. I just did a fly by of the second fence the first time because I got too steam rolling and lost control on my outside rein. But then I liked that I came right back and then immediately did the course again rather than waiting for the group.
It was a super challenging course (both days but day 2 in particular) that required some move up gallop elements and some steady collected “canter in a teacup” moments.
Anyway, I highly recommend riding in one of her clinics if you ever get the chance. Make sure you and your horse are fit!
I hope someone found this useful, and I would be happy to sketch out the courses if anyone is interested. They were simple but very technical.
I think you would hit the vertical off the first in and out in my drawing
