Press Coverage - Horsemart
Courses For Horses by Samantha Parren
This article first appeared in the July 2008 edition of
Horsemart and is reproduced here with their kind permission.
A new company, HorsesNCourses Ltd run by
Simon Gaskin, offers intensive training to adult horse owners, from novices to pros,
with a variety of trainers at Hickstead showground – Sam P was given the privilege
of taking part in their first combined training course at Hickstead, with local
trainers Chris and Karen Wellings.
Chris specialises in training and producing horses and riders of all levels as well
as competing nationally in Australia. Using his Australian horsemanship methods,
he works on horses with behavioral problems, breaking-in and re-education. Karen
specialises in producing horses and riders of all levels and has competed successfully
nationally and overseas. As a young rider she rode and trained with Marion Mould
and William Funnell.
"I have to admit, I didn’t have a clue what my day would entail and I hadn’t
heard of Chris or Karen. I was unsure whether I would feel out of my depth or how
big the classes would be. The day was split into flatwork in the morning and an
afternoon of jumping."
"On arrival I tacked up a slightly excited Lottie and we made our way to the
all weather outdoor arena. I have never ridden in an arena so large and with such
a good surface – definitely no excuse for collisions this time!"
"I began the warm up on my own, but was soon joined by another lady called
Anna on her lovely chestnut gelding. It turned out this was it – just two people
to a group – perfect. Chris noticed in our warm up that both horses lacked forward
momentum, so we concentrated on stopping our horses being ‘joy riders’ and getting
them to work for themselves. We were told how to sharpen up and given exercises
to get the horses working more through their backs. Whilst one of us was having
a one-on-one, the other would work on the exercises or give themselves and their
horse a break. The lesson lasted for an hour and a half."
"We then had a three-hour break. Both horses were un-tacked, washed, watered,
fed and loaded up. Then Anna and I went to the club house to have refreshments,
observe other lessons and have a nutritional chat with Simon. It was good to watch
other lessons from start to finish and see all the horse and rider combinations
improve."
"The group for the afternoon session had been decided based on our flatwork
lesson earlier and what level the horse and rider combination had been working at.
Anna and I were joined by a lady called Sarah. Lottie was reluctant to enter the
arena this time (recalling she’d already done some exercise) and decided going backwards
was better than having to work again – after a short time we got her in. Once I’d
warmed up, Chris and I discussed the napping on entering and how to prevent it happening.
He then placed his hands on her and noted that her poll was out, which can sometimes
cause this behaviour, and advised we had this looked at to rule out a pain response."
"We began working over poles and then on to a grid. Sarah’s and my horses tended
to want to move to the left or right over the grid so Chris told us how to correct
this. All fences were kept fairly low as we were concentrating on building up confidence
between horse and rider. We then jumped a course, followed by jumping the fences
as a jump off i.e. jumping on angles with tight turns etc."
"By this stage Lottie and I were pretty much done. The day was so well organised
and the classes were all kept small, which I thought was great. Chris was a great
teacher and I think everyone gained a lot from the experience. All the feedback
was very positive – I’ve already recommended the day and am hoping I will be allowed
to attend again!"
"Thanks so much to Simon for organising my day, and to Karen and Chris for
their hard work."