Buck Davidson uses this schooling session to help his upper-level event riders work on the effectiveness of their body position, perfecting their balance to the fence to help the horse push off the ground and organize their rides.

Buck begins these riders with a simple gymnastic, gradually widening the oxer in the middle. His coaching helps them approach with the right amount of power for the exercise, find the best jump over the fences and ride the line straight after the last fence.

The first gymnastic is added to a curved line of oxers while Buck challenges the riders to use their body position before the reins to change the balance of the horse.

Jonathan teaches this group lesson beginning with gymnastic exercises to clarify skills for jumping courses. The first exercise consists of trot poles, then a leg yield away, turning back to a line with take-off and landing rails for a small X, leg yielding again to a change if needed, then circl...

The next exercise consists of a vertical and an oxer five strides apart. They start by jumping each element as a single fence and then combining the two while adding a stride in between. Jonathan has them concentrate on rideability, pace and straightness.

Part 3: The riders each jump around the course while Ian observes and then discusses their riding and their horse, with each of them. One rider's horse almost jumps an additional jump when she's slow to react, providing Ian an opportunity to remind her about the importance of her eye in setting t...

With an interesting variety of horses in this lesson, Jonathan Holling creates great gymnastic exercises to warm up for course work. Watch for how to adjust for the young horse, the experienced horse and the very forward horse.

Olympian Gina Miles works with a group during a lesson on her circle exercise. Gina demonstrates riding the exercise, consisting of two to four jumps on a circle, and how the riders can control the number of strides between the jumps. She also explains how the exercise can be decreased in difficu...

The first group of riders introduce themselves and their horses/pony. Buck explains the basics of his system. He says riders need to remember two things – where you are going and how fast you are going to get there. He has the riders canter a circle each direction so he can evaluate each pair. He...

The riders take to the circle and see how many levels they can make it through the exercise while Gina offers feedback and correction when needed. The first rider has a bigger striding horse and struggles to compress the stride so Gina suggests using the feeling of walk to canter as a tool for co...

Buck has the riders complete a small course with the emphasis on cantering forward, being focused on exactly where they want to go and then stopping at a specific point. All three riders show a definite improvement.

The riders continue to work on the exercise. One rider with a very big striding horse has an easy time lengthening the stride, but struggles much more with compressing her horse to add, and subsequently loses her lead. Gina has her work on an exercise with small circles to help her get a feel for...

The second group of riders introduce themselves and their horses. Buck explains the basics of his system and his goal of giving the riders a few take-aways that they can use going forward. He says riders need to remember two things – where you are going and how fast you are going to get there. If...

The instructors instruct a rider aiming for one star, and her six year old prelim horse, focusing on the canter position of the horse. They work first on establishing that the horse is moving off the aides. The instructor notes that it seems to be taking 50% of the leg aide, plus some seat, to ge...

The lesson focuses on walk to canter, and canter to walk transitions. The instructor encourages the rider to ride more independently and not wait to be told what to do. He explains that at prelim, she needs to be able to recognize the quality of the canter she's in and correct it accordingly.

Part 1: Mary starts the lesson off with a bounce and some narrow fences in an exercise that has the riders changing the rein. She explains this challenges the riders to work on their steering and turns, as well as demanding they be effective over the fences. Mary gives the riders individual feedb...

Mary praises a rider who shows great reaction, and manages her horse well when he comes into the bounce wrong, so they are able to complete the fence. She points out how the horse can sometimes get a little busy with his head when the questions get harder, and suggests a properly fitted running m...

Olympian Christopher Burton gives a lesson in the stadium, focused on improving your turns for show jumping. He works with riders over fences to chose the best lines and ride correct turns to have a better course.

Part 3: Christopher encourages the riders to ride forward into fences, reminding them that riding forward does not create a hot horse, but chasing them into the last stride does. He explains that steering the horse through turns shouldn't be blocking them from forward motion and their rhythm. Chr...

Part 4: Christopher encourages the riders to continue to focus on letting go, using less reins and allowing the horses to go forward. He reminds the riders that the horse is unable to turn in the air, and they must wait until their feet are on the ground so they get the best jump, and are still b...

In this early spring schooling session, Buck helps these Intermediate riders moving up to Advanced with getting their horses forward in their competition step. The exercises challenge their adjustability, using more finesse than just pulling.

Dorothy works with the riders as they tackle the fences. She makes subtle adjustments to their position while thoroughly explaining the biomechanics behind how the rider and horse's bodies interact.

Dorothy works with the riders as they tackle the fences. She makes subtle adjustments to their position while thoroughly explaining the biomechanics behind how the rider and horse's bodies interact.

Part 3: Boyd raises the jumps and make them wider as the riders continue working through the exercise. He assists a rider with her talented horse that tends to get hot and rush. Boyd reminds her not to be quick with her body over the fence, since she has a quick horse, and to instead use her posi...