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I guess every
dressage fan knows Ricky MacMillan the competitor. Riding her Hanoverian
gelding Crisp, Ricky has dominated Grand Prix competition over the past
twelve months, but fewer know of Ricky the Instructor.
Despite, Ricky’s busy schedule as a dentist, plus riding five
horses a day at her Gold Coast home, she is in keen demand as a coach
in her home state of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and
the West. Although it is a tight piece of weekend programming, with
Ricky getting up at 4 in the morning on Sunday, to ride, then flying
off to teach at a clinic, getting a 2 pm flight back to ride the rest
of the horses at 5 in the evening, then jumping out of bed the next
day to start another working week!
We jumped at the chance to set up a ‘lesson with’ when Ricky
travelled south for the Saddleworld / Winergy Festival.
And who better for a pupil than Rebecca Fenner and the equine superstar
of the moment, Whistler.
Bec is a wonderfully responsive pupil, and disconcertingly honest when
Ricky asks her about any problems: “We can really fall apart in
the canter! I feel quite comfortable in the trot; it is in canter when
the problems start. The flying changes are alright; I just let it all
fall apart a bit. I feel like I’ve got plenty of ‘gears’
in the trot, but I don’t feel I’ve got gears in the canter.”
But Ricky – this is no surprise to those who have been lucky enough
to meet her in her tooth fairy role – has a gently comforting
manner: “You have just arrived at the showground, we want Whistler
working willingly and happily with you. Keep him with you, even if you
don’t ride him at full power. Don’t be tempted to think
of Ros’ camera.”
As soon as Rebecca started cantering the horse, Ricky was onto the problem
– and the solution.
“You have to get more throughness in the canter. It is a matter
of always trying to go a little more in small stages. Let’s start
with some trot…”
What a glorious trot! Whistler is by one of the best young sons of Weltmeyer,
Wolkenstein II and was bred by two of our top dressage horse breeders,
Jane and Maurice Bruce. Still Ricky is not quite happy with the rider:
“He looks a little strong in the left hand, better to get him
a little more around your inside leg, and give. Well done – but
you don’t have to show me that you have given the rein. Just give
a tiny bit –I’ll know you’ve done it. Less inside
rein, whenever you can, always less. Try on / off with your left rein
rather than getting caught with it.”
And into canter: “Try to get him coming up more with the poll
– not faster, just up a little more. Let him canter, don’t
you work too hard, up more in front. I see what you mean about the gears
in canter, he wants to go right forward, or hang back.”
“Don’t get caught being there for him to lean on in the
trot and the canter. Poll up, poll up.”
And that is where Ricky worked Whistler and Rebecca for the next fifteen
minutes or so, getting the horse more engaged, happier to carry the
weight and vary the tempo, and all the time encouraging Bec to get off
her troublesome left hand. “Soften your left elbow – don’t
think, ‘oh I’ve got to hold myself up’. You soften
your left elbow and suddenly he is more active. Remember to half halt
on the outside rein.”
It was time to look at the walk, and what a handsome walk it is: “That’s
wonderful, a really clear rhythm. You mustn’t let the walk get
too fast. You can lift the frame in the walk, but don’t hold it,
you have to say ‘whoa’ and let go again.”
“In your walk trot transition he is not coming under your seat,
make him step under you. Let your weight go through to his back –
he will carry you.”
“Keep him up even in the down transitions. SUPER he didn’t
even lean in that trot transition.
It was time for a little lateral work…
“In shoulder in, think collection, not working trot. Poll up,
half halt, keep him steady and give, give, GIVE. He’s trying to
roll himself up; you’ve got to get his nose forward. You have
to remember when the poll is up, give, and keep him there with your
back. Now his nose is forward, keep it there, keep the rhythm, and forward,
forward, forward.”
From shoulder in to travers:
“In right travers, keep his hip right up near you, and more forward.”
“In travers on the long side the horse’s left and right
eyes should be the same distance from the short side. The same should
be true of the nostrils. So often we don’t ask for sufficient
impulsion and bending and so allow the horse to look outside the arena.
Sometimes we don’t ask for enough impulsion which allows the horse
to put too much weight in the outside shoulder and we get head tilting.”
At first Bec didn’t ask for much bend and Whistler’s outside
eye and nostril needed to stretch forward to become closer to the short
side. To achieve this Whistler needed to step up under Bec’s weight
with his right hind.
“I want to see less angle and more bend.”
To make sure of the bend, Ricky had Bec move from travers to a small
circle, to travers, and back again.
“Don’t let his quarters come in on the circle… and
now out of that little circle into half pass.”
And the half pass is so much bigger, freer and more expansive.
More canter: “That’s perfect, perfect balance. Keep him
up there, keep him up there. Now try some left counter canter on the
track, keep him together, it’s not working canter, now come back
to a true canter on the diagonal line. Now circle 12 m left. Don’t
let his quarters come in on the circle, and somewhere, do a flying change.”
And when Bec goes for the change half circle and back on the track.
Bec chooses to make the change as she comes to the track and she gets
a little kick up behind:
“Think shoulder fore before change. He wants to lean on the track,
and put his quarters on the wall, then it is too hard for him to make
the flying change. Don’t let him swing his quarters over there
– and you didn’t have enough forward to correct it when
he wanted to hug the wall with his quarters. Make yourself really heavy
on your inside hip and seat…”
(This is not a Bec thing to do…)
“He pushes you up, you have to be ten tonne heavy and sit, really
heavy so he can’t push you.”
“If before your flying change you get him up there, not leaning,
not on the forehand, then you can use a quicker, quieter aid for the
flying change.”
“Now let him out and working canter and see how low you can go…
Can you bring him up again? Nose forward, nose forward, NOSE FORWARD…
Don’t think about bringing him short, that happens anyway. Now
put him down again.”
And the lesson ended on a happy, forward free note.
Rebecca had a bit of a good time / bad time of it at the Dressage championships.
She rode a sweet first Elementary test, but thought she’d under-rode
it a bit. The cry went out for Dr MacMillan, could she please come and
work Bec and Whistler in for the Medium. Ricky was only to happy to
help…
As Ricky remarked as she watched Bec’s Medium test, part of the
problem is that Rebecca is so tough on herself: “What I was trying
to do in the warm-up was encourage her to be confident. And get the
horse out a little more through correct half halts, while keeping the
back end under. Just to get the half halts in the balance because he
is really an elementary horse except she is riding him medium. So she
needs to be helping him with her half halts.”
Do riders need someone to work them in?
“They certainly do. If the rider has faith in the trainer then
I think it is tremendous to have those eyes on the ground. How much
‘up’ aufrichtung can you manage in the balance? How much
more ‘under’ can you ask for safely? Even as a sounding
board to re-assure the rider, the person on the ground is the safety
catch.”
Looking at the test Ricky maintained a running commentary: “Almost
straight at the halt, but not quite square. Nice balance in the corner,
after the first horse length the diagonal the trot was absolutely super.
There was a bit of a wobble on the centre line there, I’m not
quite sure what we were doing. The problem is that the work is not consistent.
There are moments when it is super but it is not consistent. This is
a confidence thing for Becky, it is a big ask for her, because he is
just ready for medium. With more experience she would be able to use
more, smaller, half halts.”
“She is tending to wait too long for the half halt. She’s
just not confident with them. It is not that they are not going through,
perhaps she is asking too much and he is not sure. But he has super
rhythm and very good hind legs, and that is everything. You can forgive
just about anything if they’ve got those hind legs.”
“Again not consistent in the contact in the rein back, and I’m
sure that is just confidence. Nice walk, in the warm up she did some
excellent collected walk. She has the tendency to collapse her left
seat bone, left hip, and I guess that is when she gets into trouble
with her left hand. She is such an elegant rider, there are just a few
little things.”
And there is a little hump through the flying change…
“That was the left hand, he didn’t have anywhere to go.
Just a little problem with communication. So nice the canter walk…
He is really not quite ready, so this is just collected canter. It would
be fine in elementary but it is not quite enough at this level. Now
he is getting a little tight in his back…”
And of course, horses being horses, Whistler does his best flying change
when he should have been doing counter canter! And then when the change
came, there was another little kick up.
“She didn’t have the balance in the canter, he was on the
forehand – and it is very difficult to decide when to apply the
aids when the horse is on the forehand. If the horse is leaning in your
hand, there isn’t actually a moment. So the horse reacted strongly
to her aid, when what she needed was the half halt, get him up, give,
then ask for the flying change, and there just wasn’t time for
her. When they are leaning in your hand it is hard because there is
no clear moment of suspension in which to give the aid. It is just experience
and forming the partnership a little more. You get the feeling that
you are looking at something that could have been the winner today but
there were far too many marks thrown away…”
“The trouble is that the rider waits too long to come with the
half halt, she waits until the horse is very much on the forehand before
she comes with the half halt. The half halt is almost the last resort
and it should be much earlier, then it can be smaller. When the horse
is pulling you out of the saddle, it is difficult to find the timing
you need.”
Do you like teaching?
“I have to admit that I do. I don’t have enough time to
do it, but I enjoy it, so I do it. I would be better off riding my horses…”
Rebecca Fenner and Whistler…
“There was never any chance of changing the name Maurice and Jane
had given him, he knows it, he comes galloping when you call it. I’ve
had him for a year now, but only seriously started competing him at
Dressage with the Stars last December. I was a bit slow to get him started…”
“When the entries for the Australian Champs were due, I thought
entering for the Elementary and the Mediums was a good idea. When I
got here, I thought maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. He is pretty
established at that Elementary level. The changes still need a bit of
work. Then when I watched all the others in Medium and saw how consistent
their work was, I thought, we’ve got another six months to go.
He’s got good lateral work, he can collect really well –
it’s just the rider, she’s got to ride it, and not forget
the test!”
Ricky was getting you to ride him much more up and out, not letting
him roll over?
“That’s a fault of mine. He’s built up, and I’ve
tended to bring him back and curl him up a bit much, I’ve got
to ride him up a bit more. When he gets a little tired, he does tend
to drop down a bit and go on the forehand. I’ve got to learn to
ride it a bit more through my seat and back and legs – not so
much hands.”
That was an interesting exercise where Ricky was making sure you didn’t
let him flip his quarters to the wall before the flying change…
“I’ve got to keep him up in front during the change rather
than letting him get there in front of me and anticipate the change.
So if I can control the back end a bit more, and get him up in front,
it should work for me… I hope.”
You’d never had a lesson with Ricky before?
“Never. She said she was a bit nervous teaching before a big comp
like that, she didn’t want to change anything too drastically
but I know I need that sort of help. She was so considerate, so good,
no huge surprises just looking for lots of little subtle ways to improve
things. She picked up on my weaknesses so quickly. I really enjoyed
working with her, it gave me a lot to take home and work on.”
And was it a help having her work you in before the test?
“It was, even though I let her down in the test. I felt a lot
happier in the warmup. Working in by myself the day before I was floundering
a bit. I guess because I haven’t competed for such a long time,
with a new horse. It helped so much with Ricky saying how much was too
much and how much was not enough. I was not doing anything much, and
her help was so good – the warmup was great, I just have to ride
the test a bit better.”
The future?
“I’m looking forward to working hard over winter and consolidating
all we’ve done. Get those changes a bit better. I have done a
little bit of baby piaffe and short steps. Go to as many clinics as
I can – and aim for the NSW Champs in October and try Elementary
and Medium again. I just want to go as far as I can with him…”