Alexandra Bruggisser concludes her series with one of the up-and-coming stars of the showjumping scene, Rod Scott took the photos…
If you’re a regular reader of THM then you will know that over the past months I have been documenting the training methods of one of Queensland’s elite riders, Billy Raymont. Catapulted to star status in 2005, Billy won the World Cup Show Jumping League here in Australia. If you haven’t been keeping up with the lessons, I’ll fill you in, and refresh all the other more dedicated patrons too.
The first lesson was based around how Billy would start a young horse that has never jumped. As soon as we began it was obvious that Billy’s whole approach was centred on gradual progression. In other words moving on to a new exercise with more pressure only when the horse is happy and coping with the simpler version of the exercise. In the first lesson, the warm-up was straightforward and Billy had Kym Hilly (our model, up-and-coming young rider and also a dedicated pupil) encouraging Betty (Little Miss Sunshine, a 6 year old Thoroughbred mare) forwards in a gentle but firm manner, gaining the mare’s attention by moving the pace on and bringing it back.
Billy started the exercises systematically, initially with just trot poles on the ground. Once Betty had negotiated her way through the poles unhurried and stretching over the topline, the middle pole became a small cross rail. As Betty accustomed herself to each development I watched the proof of an effective method that aided the horse in developing an awareness of her body and how she needed to use it. Throughout this first lesson (also my first watching Billy in action) another message that was spelt out unmistakably was the importance of position. That is, the stillness of the rider – not in a rigid way, but that the rider must never interfere with the horse’s jump. Staying out of the horse’s way means that they can concentrate on their job; staying relaxed, using their neck and shoulders and then the jump can come.
The second lesson was further confirmation of the importance of gradual progression and we used the same ‘green’ horse. Billy had a plan and a clear expectation of how the horse should react. He picked up from where he left off. The emphasis was to prepare for the first competition for Kym and Betty, and the exercises followed logically from the first lesson. Every exercise was designed to continue developing the skills and confidence Betty had learnt from trot poles followed by cross rails and finally gridwork.
Because of the success of the first lesson, Betty presented as a little over-confident and although not quite as relaxed as she might have been, she was eager. Step by step, Billy had Betty and Kym tackling single jumps and then different lines until the elements were combined into a small course. Not so different you might think, but the deliberate and gradual systematic approach paid off and showed how worthwhile it really is! By the end of the lesson Kym and Betty were riding around a small course maintaining organization and rideability between fences. What a pity there are no competition results at the moment!
Moving into our third and final segment for the series Kym Hilly is again taking the stage. This time aboard a different mount, Grand Chariot. The 13 year old grey gelding, is another ex-racehorse and former member of the Raymont clan – Billy’s younger brother, Jamie, rode him successfully. For the last year and a half he has been giving Kym her first rides around Mini-prix and Juniors classes. ‘Jerry’ as he’s known at home, is a difficult type. He knows the tricks and has been here and done it all before. Despite having plenty of experience under his belt, Jerry is still unpredictable and provides a challenge for Kym. Billy is guiding her as she develops her own feel for the horse, and at the same time she is learning to solve some of her own problems. She has to concentrate on him, as well as the bigger fences. The goal of this lesson is to hone the skills of an experienced horse in competition preparation.
The lesson is being given in the late morning and the wind has picked up. Jerry is showing that he’s no simple schoolmaster. He’s fresh and lively and as I watch them start out I wonder whether he should be nicknamed ‘Jumpy Jerry’.
The approach to the warm-up is a little bit different to the warm-up strategy with the younger horse where Billy was encouraging Kym to get Betty listening, moving on and coming back. With Jerry, Billy starts Kym off telling her to let him do his own thing: “Allow him to start loosening up”. And as Kym begins to increase the pressure, asking him to stay soft and round, Jerry stops taking notice of the rowdy kids riding past on bikes. As they work in figures of eight and weave between the jumps set out around the arena, Billy tells me that this is how he likes to warm his horses up at a show…
“When there’s time that is! Sometimes when we’re at a local Ag. show and I’ve got fifteen horses, then I get the owners to hop on and do this sort of thing. With the youngsters it’s important that they get used to the showgrounds and the atmosphere. It’s just as important for the older horses too and being ridden out means they can loosen up a bit more and are warm and ready to go by the time I get on. Ok. You’re warmed up. So just catch this little exercise a few times.”
Exercise 1: pole to cross-rail (which becomes bigger and therefore narrower)
Billy has learnt that the basics really are the foundations of training. It sounds absurdly simple, but without a solid base you can’t build a solid performance. In addition, unlike building houses where the foundations are fixed, building on the training of a horse means that there needs to be regular maintenance and attention to the foundation basics. Here he works on both horse and rider…
“Nice and relaxed, a little soft, let him stretch his nose. We want him to use his neck and then he’s going to work his shoulder. Watch your body position, try to stay nice and still, don’t drop your hand down too low. Keep your thumbs together, which will make you keep your hand above his neck. Good. Try to keep your eyes up, that will help you keep your body position as well. Just think about sitting as still as you can.”
After completing the first exercise a few times Jerry started to relax and listen. As with the younger horses the approach is structured and even though the basics are revisited for warming-up and confidence the progression to the next exercise is quicker.
Exercise 2: jumping as the jumps come up
“To start off with this guy, we just want to jump around a simple track, not too big and just get him relaxed, the same as the young ones, we just want him relaxed. Popping around, not stressing too much, making sure of all the rideability things. You know, moving him up, bringing him back, making sure it’s organised and rideable and then we’ll put more pressure on and just get him more prepared for the show. So just pick a little course out and jump the lines a few times, play around with your double, a few rollbacks and questions you would meet on a course.”
Billy had kept the same course set out that for the young mare by the end of her lesson – a vertical to a two-stride double on a right hand curve, followed by a roll back to a vertical to an oxer, on to a sweeping left curve, a related line of verticals and finishing with a brick wall. The height was raised to around 110cm.
Kym spent some time literally playing around with combining sequences of jumps, picking and choosing from the available course as obstacles came up in tune with when she had Jerry organised. As a result they both relaxed and looked like they were having fun… Nearly enough for me to wish that I was still jumping regularly!
Exercise 3: mini course
“Ok so even though this is a Mini-Prix horse we are just going to jump him around over a little track, making sure he’s nice and relaxed and also it’s good for Kym just so that she doesn’t get into any habits of wanting to override him or anything like that which can come from jumping bigger tracks too often. So it’s good to go back in your training to your softer tracks and just concentrate on sitting still, and being relaxed about the whole thing and also just to take the pressure off the horse and make sure he’s relaxed again and confident in case he felt any pressure in his last competition.”
“Kym, now’s the best time for you to think about your body position, when there’s no pressure. Make sure that you’re not getting in front or behind the horse.”
Content with Jerry’s response Billy decides the jumps can be hoisted up to 115-120cm. “So the idea now is to just jump him around that bigger track once or twice. He doesn’t need so much being older. He’s experienced enough.”
Exercise 4: altering strides in a related line
On to the next exercise (and again the poles are raised), a five stride curving line of verticals…
“Now we want to make sure that he’s confident to jump the bigger fences and just try and make sure he wants to be careful enough, that he’s in the air enough and then we might make him wait down the lines. But at the same time, we want to be able to go back to going down the line in a true distance and stay in the air enough over the second fence… You added a stride down your five stride line and did six, that’s ok, that keeps him in the air. But we need to make sure that he will travel down and do the true distance as well, and you’ve got to be able to open his canter up in the turn, but keep it connected still so he can come down in the true distance. Ok? Concentrate on making sure that his rideability is there – that everything is operating how we would like it to and then we might just turn him up to a couple. Get his mind thinking so that he’s thinking about being on the job and being careful and that it doesn’t surprise him so much if we want to turn him up to a couple at the show. Let’s go down your lines in the true distances this time.”
Again mastering that challenge almost immediately it’s time to finish up with some jump-off schooling by “catching some jumps on an angle. Slowly making them more and more angled. Ok, so come by that oxer to the vertical first. Only at a very slight angle. Then you can turn to the right, come around wider next time and get more angle. And then get one off the other rein.”
After working on the related lines and varying angles for fifteen minutes or so Jerry was showing he had had enough for today, and Billy wisely decided to call it a day while the horse’s confidence was still high. They look in form for their next comp… Pity it won’t be for about six months!!
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Billy Raymont – A jumper’s apprenticeship
As we learnt earlier, Billy thinks that if he knew what he knows now when he started out, he could’ve been where he is a lot sooner – logical and something many of us can acknowledge! But the thing we will never know for sure is how the horses we have had would have worked out with that extra experience and things we have learnt through our lives with horses.
Could your first horses have ‘made it’ if they had the right ride at the time? Or was it something about your slow (and often mistake filled) learning curve together that made them special? Hindsight is a wonderful thing and the mysteries surrounding these horses will stay as just that.
As I chatted with Billy about his first horses he commented that there have been a few he has wondered this about. Like John Robinson’s Rocky Bay who gave him his first World Cup ride as soon as the rules allowed it – like the first show after Billy’s 18th birthday! In retrospect Billy says the horse “lacked education and was probably more a Mini-Prix horse. He was a schoolmaster type – brave but not super careful and more suited to speed events than Grand Prix. But he stepped up to the job!”
“There was also my first serious horse Martian Star. He was a serious looking horse, big and scopey.”
He was a Thoroughbred that Billy bought from some racehorse trainers as an unbroken three year old and campaigned until he was sold to Korea.
“George Sanna always said if I didn’t work on the canter he’d turn into a blob… and he did. I just didn’t understand the importance of the canter. I would go to clinics but then there would be no follow up… Just shows my greenness at the time.”
On schoolmasters, Billy says they’re a great idea… “A lot of people now are going to Europe to buy older horses and other people wonder how they can afford to do that. But it shouldn’t need to go overseas to buy. You should learn enough from one trained horse to train your own. It is the easiest way to feel what you’re looking for. You can find what you like and train others to be the same… it’s so hard to learn to feel and it takes so long when neither you or the horse knows what they are aiming for, so at least the horse knows it.”
Despite the crucial ‘feel’ that riders must develop, the biggest thing that Billy thinks helps him, is his positive mental attitude (something his girlfriend Stacey has recently pointed out to him). From as much as I can tell, Billy is a modern (and male) version of Pollyanna, a fictional character I have learnt about from a book by Eleanor H. Porter. Both Pollyanna and Billy can see the good in every situation. At a show Billy has witnessed the effect tension has on riders of all levels and spends his time in the warm-up talking, joking and singing. But is isn’t all light-hearted “in the back of your mind you want to win. You have to keep that in mind and do what it takes to make it happen.”
And where does Billy see himself going from here? Well his ambitions at the moment are summed up by the word “shattered”. He’s not alone and certainly not the only one at the moment who “would love for EI to get all sorted out so we can get back to doing what we do – trying to produce superstars that can take us to World Cup finals… as well as the social lifestyle that provides”. At the moment there seem to be some people taking themselves overseas to train and compete… “I would love to do that in preparation for something. The timing of the World Cup Final doesn’t really allow enough time for us to organise stints away with our top horses. It’s the same with the Olympics and the World Cups. The teams are picked so late they don’t really allow for a campaign in Europe… You can train and train and train but you need to have that International level competition. It’s amazing how the horses step up at Elysian and Sydney show, by the end of the competition they are super but then there’s nothing to back it up. It’s too inconsistent here.”
Are there some exciting future stars in your stables at the moment?
“Well there’s Stardom, he’s a nice horse. He’s C grade and has a good jump and technique! He’s big enough too… Dutch Choice is another one of mine that just keeps improving all the time and he has jumped some big tracks now. But he’s a stallion and only 11, not quite mature and some days he just lets us down. Everything is there we just need to get it out of him… Then there’s also Balmoral Trim Tam. He’s an Eventing superstar too so he might end up back there. I hope I can keep the ride on him. We would have loved to keep him going this year in the World Cup classes. We kind of have itchy feet about him. He’s had two World Cup starts and was 2nd in his second one. We wanted to see what we really had. There are lots of people involved with him and so a lot of support too… Hopefully in the future we will see what he’s capable of!”
“I’ve also got some young horses by Copabella Visage and High Haven Excalibur, which are looking good free jumping! But it’s all long-term stuff. There’s nothing happening tomorrow!”
From gradual progression to his optimistic attitude Billy has provided plenty of food for thought. I wonder how my horses feel about starting some pole work!?