Thousands of equestrian fans packed into Addington in late January 2023 to enjoy “For One Night Only” with eventing world number one Oliver Townend and Olympic showjumping legend Geoff Billington. It was the first time this double act had come together for an evening lecture demo in some time, and their popularity shows no signs of waning as it was a complete sell out.
Whether spectators were looking for tips to improve their riding, their horse’s way of going, or just an entertaining night out, this dead-pan comedy duo didn’t disappoint with banter aplenty. So what did we learn along the way?
1. While riding a rising five-year-old named Elton (so named because “he looks like he’s got Elton John’s glasses on”) and concentrating on finding “rhythm and balance, rhythm and balance”, Geoff shared that the best advice he’s ever had from his mate David Broome was to “keep your belly in line with the front of the saddle or you’ll wobble off”.
2. When Elton got a bit enthusiastic about his work, Geoff demonstrated how he teaches horses to half halt off his upper body, so he doesn’t have to pull. “The faster he goes, the more I lean back as part of the half halt,” he explained, “so he learns to regulate his pace off my upper body. Keep practising that until he knows that signal. The sooner he comes back, the sooner you can ride forwards.”
3. Not blessed with long legs (Geoff described his own as stumps), Geoff wants his horses to go forward “with a touch of the leg, then when I sit back he stops”. He also trains the horse to move easily away from each leg off a light touch – not brute force. He emphasised the need to “ride the back end to the front end – don’t pull the front end back to you.”
Oliver Townend riding Caunton Stud’s young stallion Diacondrik.
4. Meanwhile Oliver was focused on maintain good “rhythm and balance” at all times on Caunton Stud’s rising five-year-old grey stallion Diacondrik over trotting and canter poles, before moving on to jumping a small fence. After he tapped out a rail on one occasion, Oliver came back around to the fence with the same “good level stride”, and this time the horse made a super jump, having learnt from his earlier mistake. “This horse’s brain is beautiful,” Oliver said with a smile.
5. Oliver reminded the audience that while repetition is key to young horses’ learning, the petrol tank can run empty very quickly, so it’s also important to give them plenty of breaks.
6. Moving on to his next horse, a very attractive and “exciting” rising six-year-old bay mare, Hialisca De Takam, who was the four-year-old French eventing champion before being bought by Caunton Stud, Oliver reminded the audience of the importance of getting the horses working easily for you. Working through plenty of transitions, Oliver said they should be “as easy as changing the channel on your TV”.
7. Oliver explained that the reason professional riders can work a lot of horses in one day is because the riders aren’t working physically hard. They train their horses to be responsive with “lots of gear changes, forwards and back, concentrating on their reaction to the leg”.
Geoff on Doris and Oliver on Hialisca De Takam taking a break to chat to the crowd.
8. Geoff described his second ride Doris, a rising six-year-old who has jumped 22 double clears so far as “as careful as a nudist over a barbed wire fence”. He demonstrated how he teaches a horse to land on a particular leg from a fence: “look where you’re going, bend the neck and drop your outside leg behind the girth”.
9. Geoff also shared some advice he learnt from the great trainer Lars Sederholm: “Ride the back end to the front, keep your hands together and the energy goes out through the bridle – then you can do anything”.
10. Discussing what makes a good horse great, the pair agreed there are many factors and that “you don’t really know how good they are until they are doing it”. Oliver said he used to fall off his outstanding five-star horse Ballaghmor Class “every day”, yet the horse went on to so much success at the highest level. Geoff said that horses have to have talent, a great mind, and they have to stay sound, adding: “They have to learn to settle with all the travelling, staying in strange stables week after week – it’s not just about having a big jump”.
11. While remaining focused on keeping a smooth, level stride to their fences, the competitive nature of both riders came out while riding two related distances. They demonstrated both horses’ adjustability by adding a stride into the five stride distance from a double of uprights to an oxer, and then fitting extra strides down a seven-stride distance between an upright and an oxer, with up to 11 being achieved.
12. Geoff’s young son Alfie looks set to follow in his famous father’s footsteps, should he wish to do so. He and his gorgeous little grey pony delighted spectators ahead of the interval – “He’s more stylish than daddy already,” quipped Oliver.
13. The riders bought out their big guns for the final part of the evening. Geoff rode his grand prix horse Just Special, who he described as “a complete gentleman, who travels happily on the truck next to Doris”, while Oliver had Caunton Stud’s popular stallion Comfort (pictured top). Both are breeding stallions, although Just Special combines sport with breeding, while Comfort is kept so busy with his breeding duties that he’s had very little competition mileage. Regardless of that, Comfort showed how naturally easy he found his work, whether that was on the flat or over the fences, which had gone up to a considerable size. After jumping around, Oliver admitted with a smile: “This is the sort of horse that makes me want to change jobs” – we can see why!
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