Olympian Laura Kraut shared her knowledge with auditors and 12 young riders, who tackled competing their horses in a Nations Cup-style event, at the 2017 USEF Horsemastership Training Session, held in January in Wellington, Florida. Kraut taught how to ride a successful jumper course by thinking about the time allowed early, creating energy to get over the jumps and never giving up.
The clinic is designed to develop the next generation of U.S. Equestrian Team talent through intensive mounted and unmounted instruction. Athletes earned invitations to the 2017 Training Session through one of three avenues: success in specific U.S. Equestrian Federation competitions, performance at the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Emerging Athletes Program National Training Session or by selection from a competitive pool of wild-card applicants.
Kraut’s tips and advice, though, can improve the horsemanship skills of riders of all levels.
Make the Most of a Course
On Day 3 of the USEF Horsemastership Training Session, the 12 riders were divided into teams of four and a Nations Cup-style competition pitted the three teams against each other. Kraut gave the riders feedback specific to each competitor after their rides on the Conrad Homfeld-designed course. She cautions that some of the advice is geared to a situation unique to that course and to tailor these tips to your individual circumstances. Kraut represented the United States at the 2000, 2008 and 2021 Olympic Games and came home with a gold medal in 2008 and a silver medal in 2021. She was a member of the 2018 gold-medal and 2006 silver-medal FEI World Equestrian Games team at Aachen and Tryon, respectively. She is highly ranked on the All-Time Money list in career earnings with more than 100 grand prix wins.
1. Make judicious use of your time early in the course.
“Something I think about when I’m in a grand prix Nations Cup is if there’s an opportunity in the beginning of the course to go quick before you get to the meat of the course, so you can get rid of the time faults early,” Kraut advises.
2. Create energy.
“You have got to put leg on. Help him out. Give him that reach,” Kraut says. “When you pull a rail, the first thing that should go through your mind is, ‘I just had a bad rail. I need to kick into gear and get going.’” Don’t slow down. You’ve got to get a reaction. Get over it fast. Make up time. Often the rider’s choices allow the chance for the horse to clear the jump.
Help your horse over the jumps by using your body or applying your legs to give him confidence. If there is a water jump, you need to build momentum and keep that momentum to clear it. If you need to increase energy, do so.
When you approach a water jump, get behind him and sink down in the stirrups. “Never, never, never approach the water with your shoulders out in front.”
3. Jump the fence like you mean it.
If your horse is running out of energy, don’t lose your focus. “Know that you’re running out of horse. Use this to fight for the jump and lift him over.”
4. Shake off setbacks.
If you have a problem in the warm-up arena, shake it off and move on. “Know that if you have problems in the warm-up area, that is not necessarily translating to the ring,” she suggests. Similarly, when you have a rail down, move on. “When you have a fence down, that’s happened. That’s passed.”
5. Never look back.
If you pull a rail, never, ever look back to check. Never.
6. Never give up.
If your horse refuses a jump, offer a quick reprimand and then confidently go forward again. “It’s about learning, and one of the things you learn is to never give up. You can be tough and make something happen,” Kraut says. “When something goes wrong, particularly when [the horses] are afraid and they stop, don’t give up. Reapproach it and give him confidence and give yourself confidence.”
Check out more Paris 2024 Olympic Games coverage.
This article originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of Practical Horseman.
