Leahona Rowland HP Clinic Report & Vlog
Written by Jessica Kerschbaumer
Last weekend saw the second of 2 spring clinics put on by our High Performance program. This north clinic took place near Fort Saskatchewan at Rose Bush Equestrian Center.
A lucky handful of riders got to have dressage lessons on Friday night. Leahona is great on the flat as she has a knack for really breaking things down to find where the horse and rider need improvement on a basic level, and then picking out great exercises to really work on those things and improve the overall ride.
For example, Twiggy and I have always struggled with our canter transitions, and instead of trying to fix the actual canter transition like so many people tend to focus on, Leahona was quick to pick out that the actual problem was far more basic than that! I am still working on getting Twiggy properly connected leg to hand and working over her back, and the more I work on it and make progress there, the better our transitions get.
I was lucky to have 2 dressage lessons with Leahona on the weekend, and she immediately saw a few areas that needed the most work and offered some great advice, insight, and tools/exercises to improve our ride. She helped me tweak a few positional things so I was riding more centered and correctly, and used some renvers and travers positioning to help get Twiggy properly shaped around my right leg and better connected into the left rein.
From there we introduced some leg yielding, and worked our way into the canter. One exercise that I found the most helpful was to trot up the quarter line, leg yield to the inside, straighten, leg yield to the outside, and then as I was still leg yielding, transition into the canter to really help engage the inside hind leg. In the canter the focus was on quality, not quantity, and once I got a circle or 2 of correct work we transitioned back down to the trot and went back to the leg yielding again. (Shown at 3:25 in the video below.)
Leahona tweaked some riders positions and had a few also try out the driving rein, which encourages a softer arm and more elastic connection, and helps fussy or tense horses relax into the contact more easily.
“Early eyes” was also a recurring theme to help riders stay organized and think ahead, and more smoothly and effectively guide their horses around the course
Sunday’s course was a collection of cross country themed exercises, which included some angled fences, skinnies, and corners.
Leahona had a very gradual, progressive way of introducing each exercise to the horses and riders, which instilled confidence and ensured success. Each exercises could be ridden a variety of different ways to practice different skills, and they were all beneficial for the green horses, as well as the more seasoned horses.
Riders were refreshed on the basics of the balancing zone, and different ways to ride different fences. Galloping positions were also looked at and tweaked a bit for the different horse and riders.
Overall, the clinic was a great way for us to gear up for the eventing season! Everyone had fun and a lot of learning, and we are definitely looking forward to our next one!
A huge thank you goes out the High Performance program, especially Kathleen Ziegler for all her hard work organizing these opportunities for us. Thanks to Kayla Bushell and Rose Bush Equestrian Center for hosting the clinic and having such a great facility for us to use and making everyone feel welcome! And another big thank you to Leahona Rowland for being honest, supportive, and sharing her knowledge with each of the riders so we can continue to learn and progress.
I put together a fun vlog about the clinic, check it out below if you want to see some of the exercises and a more personal account of the weekend!