Every year Area VII hosts an Adult Rider Camp. Multiple clinicians are brought in for the weekend for Area VII riders to learn from but this camp isn’t all about riding. Let me tell you about my first experience at Adult Rider Camp.
This year the big head liner clinicians were Mike and Trish Ryan, Irish Olympians. I rode with them in 2018 when they came to Washington for the first time and I had an amazing experience so when I found out they would be here again to teach at Adult Rider Camp I just had to sign up.
Thursday is arrival day, everyone hauls in and gets their stalls set up and their horses comfortable after their journey to Spokane Sport Horse Farm. Campers came from all over the Northwest including Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (Area VII). That night the activities started with an educational lecture from Saddle fitter Hannah Knaebel with Top Line Saddles and this was followed by a chili cook off for diner. Also I haven’t mentioned yet, everyday/ night the gathering room had basically a full bar in it with whatever you might like for free. I unfortunately did not participate in the first nights activities as I was visiting with local friends at another barn but I will participate next year.
Friday is the start of lessons, there were five clinicians and every single one of them had a pretty packed schedule. Luckily Spokane Sport Horse Farm has lovely facilities and was able to accommodate 5 lessons at a time. Dressage was in the indoor, there were 2 show jumping arenas and 2 groups out on cross country. I rode at 9am with Mike Ryan on XC. It had started raining Thursday evening and hadn’t let up by the time I was mounting on Friday morning. The footing was holding up well and I put my Eventer hat on and headed out to my lesson. Mike is Irish and he is no bullshit, it was raining and raining hard and he was determined to teach us how to ride for the conditions. We worked on rhythm and ride-ability and working through combinations. At the end of our 2 hour lesson we looked like drowned rats but it was so much fun. I headed back to the barn and had enough time to dry a little, wipe down my disgusting tack, have a bite to eat and start getting Jones ready for his Dressage lesson which I was thankful was in the indoor. My Dressage Clinician was Jen Veharen and she was awesome, she helped me work on getting Jones straighter and more accepting of the contact through a true connection that was initiated by Jones through his comfort in the exercise. She was very positive and hugely complementary of Jones. I headed back to the barn to cool Jones out and get ready for the nights activities. Dinner for the night included a Pizza Party and the full bar I already mentioned. Jen then spoke about her business and how she coaches equestrian athletes on mental and physical health. I really enjoyed her talk as it resonated with things that I already do and showed me there was more to be done. She is a believer in visualization, you should visualize your test, or your ride or how you want to look. I love this technique and often use this prior to XC, I will watch a video of a particular upper level rider that I admire and really focus on their body position and the way that they ride to fences and I find this very helpful. Jen is definitely someone I would like to ride with again. The night was then topped off with a dogie steeple chase event where riders signed their dogs up to race from one end of the arena to the other with jumps and dog bones along the way. It was very fun to watch and there was betting.
Saturday I rode both boys in a show jumping lesson with Trish Ryan. I love riding with Trish because she is a minimalist and she really tries to get you working with your horse to make SJ easy. Trish loves pole work, so we start our lesson with 3 poles laid out and you have to canter through them and be able to adjust your horses stride to what she wants. Maybe it is 3-3, or 4-3, or 4-4. If your horse can’t do this with poles how do you do it between jumps. Jones has already shown that he is a better SJ then Justin and wouldn’t you know the pole work for Jones was a piece of cake but Justin struggled. We then moved onto a simple grid, 4 trot poles to a bounce then 5 strides to an ever growing oxer. The point was to not have to do anything but put your leg on to the oxer. This is easier said then done. I am an micro-manager and I pick a lot to try and make things perfect. Trish really pushed me out of my comfort zone to do nothing and just put my leg on and wouldn’t you know both my horses jumped better because of it.
Saturday nights activities were by far the best, we had a catered dinner with BBQ ribs and roasted chicken and the open bar again of course. This was the night of the famous pink elephant gift exchange. The idea is to supply a gift that someone either really wants or really wants to trade. You can trade or steal has many times as you want but you have to take a shot of tequila each time you do so. It got a little wild but it was supper fun and I already look forward to this part again next year. I took 3 shots trying to defend the gift I got but I folded since I had an 8 am lesson the next morning and a 7+ hour drive home.
Sunday I had an 8 am XC lesson with Gina Economou on Jones. She was hilarious and so much fun to ride with. We started with galloping fences and the same lessons learned the previous day were carried forward, don’t micro manage. She compares galloping down to a fence with your financial status. It was an interesting comparison but made sense. This is an example, you are cantering down to a big 3’6″ table, and you have a $20 canter, don’t take a $30 withdraw to get over that fence. So basically get going, get a good canter, make sure it is balanced and then just ride to the fence, horses are smart they will adjust their stride if you let them. This was a great exercise with Jones and we even galloped several training fences with ease. We then moved on and did a few more challenging questions like the trakenhers and the drop into water and banks. This was a fabulous experience for Jones and Gina was wonderful.
I would ride with any of these clinicians again and look forward to having that opportunity again in the future. On my long drive home I was able to reflect a lot on the weekend and feel that it was not only money well spent but also a great time to connect with others that share the same passion.
So at the end of camp I came away with more tools in my tool kit, new friends from my eventing community and the sense that I am on the right track with both my boys. I look forward to attending camp next year.
