Artistic delivery, a lightening quick mind and a sound basis in honest horsemanship were the hallmarks of Eric Smiley’s well received CPD day when over 100 instructors and coaches attended SNEC in -6 at the end of February and were so entertained and enlightened that they did not mind the cold!

The theme was indoor cross country, the challenge was preparing horse and rider combinations to beat the course builder and the enduring message was that balance, connection, energy and mental agility of horse and rider creates the mix needed for the horse to move on, look and jump.

Working with two sets of demo riders Eric used clever course building and tricky turns and angles to get the combinations flowing. He stated the need for three types of canter, the sneaky canter, the normal canter and the ‘going places’ canter in seeking success. The day finished with what Eric referred to as a ‘Tantivy’ around a course jammed full of superb exercises finishing with all the horse rider combinations improved and an inspired and developed audience of coaches.

Playing the honesty card as a finale Eric said: “Now we see the qualities we are looking for in the indoor cross country horse, he is forward, and straight, he comes to the corer with a regular pace. The rider is in balance in a good position to influence the horse. Today it’s about the homework – we can all do to beat the course builder!”