Hunt Announcements

SUE ORPEN RECENTLY ATTENDED A ‘HUNTING COURSE’ TAUGHT BY EVENTER, HARRY MEADE, SHE WRITES….

I attended this brilliant course with Harry Meade, at his yard in the heart of Beaufort country in Gloucestershire, with my mare 'Doris', on Tuesday15th and Wednesday 16th October. It was such fun and hugely informative!　 There were 7 of us of varying ages and backgrounds which was great too.

The mornings were spent in the school doing really interesting exercises over poles, initially in the walk, Harry having assessed us all in trot and canter, and announcing that our stirrups needed to be shortened by two or three holes!! He focuses a LOT on turning correctly, without losing the horse's shoulder and shows us a different way to do this, putting us in situations where any deviations are extremely obvious, and helping us to understand why we
make them.

A short break followed with Grown Up Elevenses of Sloe Gin,  Elderflower and homemade treats to eat, and then Grids were tackled, with further shortening of stirrups as required, building up to varying distances including bounces and a sizeable spread. Finally, a walking exercise involving a rail and hazard on the ground, all to be jumped only from this slow pace, and only once!

After this, the horses were put away to relax. A delicious lunch, made by Rosie, with wine, was then served in the Meade’s lovely home, so plenty of time to chat and socialise. An hour later we got ready for the afternoon session over Show Jumps in the field.

We started over cross poles in trot and soon moved on to assessing speed versus revs, cantering individually on the flat.　 The course was then jumped and we were told to ride it more in a 'hunting' style rather than show jumping, with attention to turning without losing the shoulder, and riding with the correct revs.

To finish the session we had to imagine we had to catch up with the 'hunt' in the distance, WITHOUT tiring our horse, so just cantering to cover the ground, and then slow the canter and up the revs to jump some imaginary rails on the way. The session finished after 5 hours riding!

The next day we started in the school with more steering exercises over poles, and then a trotting exercise in single file, turning between obstacles as if they were narrow gates, remembering our steering techniques. Elevenses and then Grids followed, before going out to the field to show jump and demonstrate our improvement, which really had taken place!　 We then returned to another delicious lunch and break, before driving our horses to a Farm near Badminton to test our newly honed skills cross country.

Harry gave us our instructions and we chose our own order. I thought it best to follow someone who had been the year before! We started over a small, narrow stone obstacle under trees, and then continued over a small then a larger stone wall.　 A brief discussion followed and any questions answered before we went off again to jump various obstacles. Typically 4 or 5 and then a break with Harry.

A high spot for me was a trot down a Lane, one by one, and then a turn over a verge to jump some rails, using our steering and the controlled technique we had practised in the school over the rail and hazard out of walk, and holding the neckstrap. It all worked!

More varied jumps followed, including a drop down through a narrow gap, and then we started to tackle hedges, aiming not to place the horse, but just allow it to jump out of its own rhythm.　 This was great fun and much enjoyed by both riders and horses. Harry told each of us when he thought we had done enough.

Another 5 hours riding and I know we all could see how much we had improved in our ability to cross country more efficiently and safely. One of the reasons for this is that Harry encourages each rider to focus on 2 salient points rather than try to fix too many things. This course is geared to all standards including Masters, and other regular hunting riders. I must say, I had wanted to attend since reading about it a few years ago, but did not really know what to expect. I absolutely loved it and I definitely want to attend next year. There were only 2 of us who had not been before! I really recommend it as great learning to cross country more safely as well as a really fun experience!

DETAILS ABOUT HARRY MEADE CAN BE FOUND AT: harrymeade.com/hunting courses

Telephone: 07966021536 or 01666841241