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Coaching the Coaches - George Morris & Leslie Law Share Their Expertise

Michelle Dunn

(l-r) Leslie Law, Peter Gray and George Morris

Two of the world’s most respected horsemen spent three days sharing their knowledge and expertise with coaches and spectators from across Canada, at the Royal Canadian Riding Academy (Cedar Mills, Ontario) from November 19 – 21st. Organized by past-Olympian and level four coach Peter Gray, the weekend ran under the Eventing Canada flag with the support of the OHJA and Jump Canada. The symposium provided a chance to watch some of Canada’s top riders get instruction from two great men, and to draw from their unique coaching styles, taking home ideas to help revamp their own lesson plans for the future.

Leslie Law, the Athens Olympic Individual Gold Medalist and Team Silver (Eventing), spent most of the first day working with eventers on the flat and through small grids before progressing to indoor cross-country jumping. A huge proponent of flat work with his own horses, Law emphasized the importance of getting the hind end of the horse engaged and coming under, long before being concerned with what the front end is doing. One of the best exercises of the weekend on the flat was a set of trot-poles on the circle in a fan pattern – by FAR much more difficult than it appeared! The combination of staying on the circle and staying in the middle of the poles stressed the value of good leg to hand communication, especially the use of the inside leg to outside hand (coincidentally something George Morris said there was not enough of in today’s riding) as well as being an ideal exercise for engaging the hind end. The groups then progressed on to small grids, ultimately preparing the horses for cross-country jumping, in the arena, thanks to the portable jumps provided by Anne & Claus Zander. The triple-brush to corner to barrels (stood on end!) line was the task at hand, and was handled admirably by horses and riders who had most likely never seen a cross-country jump inside an arena!

Penny Rowland and Aberdare

George Morris, one of the most distinguished members of the equestrian community, began Saturday morning’s “Improving Jumping Technique and Rider Position” by complimenting Waylon Roberts (son of Canadian Athens Team member Ian Roberts and fellow Olympian Kelly Plitz) on his superb lower-leg position. “If I were judging this as an equitation class, I’d pin you on top” Morris remarked. Of course true to his reputation Morris also spent a great deal of time correcting details like stirrup length, adding crops and spurs, and adjusting hand position, but made sure to identify the immediate improvements in how horses were going that was noticeable as soon as small changes were made. George also stressed the importance of flat work, aiming for a level of immediate responsiveness to the leg, which was not always present at the beginning of the sessions. Lateral work as well as work on the counter and “true” canters, and flying changes were all emphasized, before progressing from single jumps back and forth, all the way to full courses. The last sessions went up beyond the four-foot mark, where some of Canada’s top riders participated as demonstration riders for the crowd. Erynn Ballard on Augustin Walsh’s stallion Futurist was a favourite of Mr. Morris, exemplifying his ideals of sinking deep into the tack, and being a naturally quiet, elegant and attentive rider.

Leslie Law demonstrating on Anita Nemtin's Kaesar

Law and Morris continued Saturday’s session upstairs in the lounge with a discussion on their “Athens Adventures”, which complemented Law’s Friday discussion on conditioning and training the event horse for the new competition format. With all of the interest currently in “saving” the traditional four-star format of three-day eventing, Law simply remarked, “I am for whatever is in the best interests of my horses. I think that doing less work on a competition day (removing the steeplechase and some of the roads and tracks phase) is probably in the long-term best interests of keeping my horses sound, and ultimately, competing longer”. Neither seemed to think the shorter format would lead to horses getting hurt, or needing an overhaul in training methods. “Horses need to be just as fit to run the new format as they need to be to run the old format”, said Law. Coaches then peppered the pair with questions about Athens, the competition, courses and the footing issues for both the jumpers and eventers, before retiring to a dinner reception supported by many in the industry, including BelvoirEventing.com, Horse Sport Magazine and Running Fox Tack Shop.

The final day, Sunday, began with a group course walk with George Morris of his jumper course. He went section by section, discussing what he wanted to see at each portion of the course from both horse and rider. Striding exercises had been worked on the previous day, employing varying degrees of bending lines to add or subtract strides along the lines. As well, Morris had the riders perfecting the differences between long, short and automatic releases – now the riders had to put it all together using everything they had worked on throughout the weekend. And pull it together they did, inspiring everyone watching to go home and try it all themselves. From simply remembering to drop more weight into your heels, pick your hands up and put your thumbs on top, sink down into the tack and keep your head up and your shoulders back (really – just the very tip of the iceberg) coaches and auditors left the building with a renewed sense of what it truly means to be a rider. Thank you George Morris and Leslie Law, for sharing your ideas and ultimately your passion, with us, and in turn our students.

All photos © Michelle Dunn