USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge Study Session 1

The USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge is such a beneficial program educating equestrians on all things equine

Horse d’oeuvres is so proud to be co-hosting an eight week study session with Blue Star Farms and Blue Cloud Farms for the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge! This program, put on by USHJA and The Plaid Horse, is such a wonderful and beneficial program to educate equestrians on all things equine. Specifically teaching them the importance of everything outside of the ring. While at the World Cup, I had the pleasure of meeting Piper Klemm, owner and publisher of The Plaid Horse, who is a huge advocate for this program and teaching young equestrians about the horse world. She graciously agreed to FaceTime into our first study session to introduce this program.

Takeaways from Piper Klemm, Owner and Publisher for The Plaid Horse

We have 12 juniors, amateurs and professionals participating in this program held at Blue Cloud Farms in Longmont, Colo. Piper called in at 5:30pm for a 25 minute introduction to the Horsemanship Quiz Challenge. Our girls were elated when they found out Piper was calling. At the end of the session, I asked the girls what they learned from Piper. These are some of their takeaways:

• We are all going to be constantly learning as equestrians – from breaking a 1 year old to caring for a 19 year old, everyday we learn something new
• Being an equestrian relates directly to the real world – time management, failure brings success, problem solving skills, trust, patients, love, teamwork and collaboration
• It’s more important to connect and have a relationship with your horse than it is to go into the show ring and get a blue ribbon
• Being at the top and being successful means failing more times than not and learning from those failures
• Never compare yourself to fellow equestrians, your bond with your horse isn’t comparable, is unique to each of us

What are the biggest challenges of being an equestrian?

It was amazing to see some of our most quiet and shy girls feel comfortable enough to ask Piper questions. I loved watching the girl gain confidence in the short 25 minutes. One of my favorite questions was “what are the biggest challenges of being an equestrian?” and Piper’s answers: the constant comparison to what others have and we “don’t” have. I don’t think Piper could have nailed this question any better! She went on to explain to our girls that, as equestrians, we are always comparing what we have versus what others have and how social media is effecting our perception, giving us the feeling of “never having enough”.

What we seem to forgot is that we have more than we need; we have our horses who loves us unconditionally. They don’t care if you have top of the line breeches or the most expensive helmet or the custom tall boots. What they care about is the love we give them and the love we receive. As equestrians, we can find ourselves in a trap of comparing the materialistic things in this sport. The challenge is to not care about everything around us and to simply care about the bond we have with our four legged friend in front of us.

“The horse can feel if you are tense or calm, so if you don’t want to breathe for you, do it for your horse.” – Denis Lynch, Show Jumping Olympian

Another great question was “is being nervous normal?”. Piper’s response: absolutely! She gave our girls personal experience and how nerves are a normalcy. Piper related to the girls on their own level, explaining to them that riding new mounts brings nerves, seeing a different saddle on her lesson horse brings nerves, new courses brings nerves, spectators at horse shows bring nerves, good days and bad days; they all bring nerves. It’s normal! It’s a part of who we are as humans.

There’s great resources out there to help manage those nerves and those feelings. Mental Skills Coach, Tonya Johnston, has a great book, Inside Your Ride, that we sent home with one of our participants. At the end of the session, we explained to our girls that nerves are a part of all of us, even the best of the best get nervous and have to be mentally prepared. We’ve encouraged our girls to tune into The PlaidCast on the Horse Radio Network where there are invaluable podcasts on mental skills.

Why we do what we do and how is effects the horse

Helen Gould, owner and trainer at Blue Cloud Farms in Longmont, Colo., then took our girls outside and demonstrated pieces of the riding theory chapter in the USHJA horsemanship quiz challenge study guide. Her focus for the evening and our overarching focus for the program; why we do what we do and how is effects the horse. Helen dove into the fundamentals of riding theory and had Kristin Jacob, owner and trainer of Blue Star Farms, demonstrate on Archie. Though a lot seemed to be basics, it was amazing to see the impact it had on the girls and the information they all retained. At the end of the session, we asked the girls for their key takeaways. Here are a few:

• Trust is the foundation of building a strong relationship
• Horses are the most noble. They allow us to sit on their backs, which as fight or flight animals, is completely against their instinct
• The positive and negative impact of correct and incorrect positions
• When applying the aids, there’s an order of “severity”: ask, allow, tell, demand
• Where the riders center of balance is on the horse and how it impacts the ride
• Never lose your temper with a horse. It’s like cutting a flower from it’s stem. You lose your horses trust when you have a temper
• Your horse is like a car, you have to have the engine on before it can run
• There is a reason for everything
• Riding is an art

These girls were like a hawk watching and listening to Helen. All of them rapidly writing down notes and nodding their head when Helen made a comment they enjoyed. Helen made a great point that riders have bad habits, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t a good rider. One can be a good rider in spite of their bad habit, giving the girls reassurance that mistakes are OK. We have to work hard at our habits and make a point to fix them but we can’t beat ourselves up for making the mistake.

I was a good rider, in spite of my bad habit

Helen has coach hundreds of equestrians over the years and is a wonderful mentor & coach. To us, she’s a coach, and a great one at that, but it’s rare to hear Helen speak of herself as a rider. As Helen was speaking of bad habits, she brought up her own riding. When Helen said “when I rode” we could see all of the girls light up and sit up taller in their seat, eager to hear what Helen had to say.

She gave an example of her bad habit: she had a great eye. Approaching the jump, her eyes were exactly where they needed to be until she was over the top of the jump. Then, her eye would drop and she would duck. She told the girls “I was a good rider, in spite of my bad habit”. You could see the girls instantly connect with Helen. It gave them so much confidence knowing that one of the greatest equestrians we know also makes mistakes and also has bad habits. We aren’t all perfect, but we all work our hardest to be the best we can be; all for the love of the horse.

“Mom, I learned so much”

As you can see, our first study session was incredible. We could see the smiles and joy carried through the girls as they were heading home. We left them with a few assignments, asked them to set goals for the next eight weeks, and cannot wait to watch them grow a stronger bond with their horses. As the girls were leaving, we overheard one tell their mom, “Mom, I learned so much”, and it made our hearts sing.

Stay tuned for week 2 of the USHJA Horsemanship Quiz Challenge study series!