This month, I taught the winner of the Practical Horseman's Training with the Stars: Win a Day with Anne Kursinski contest, Jennifer Harper and her friends at Cornerstone Farm in Portland. They were eager to learn and try new things. It was nice to hear how my teaching inspired some of them. Special thank you to Practical Horseman Magazine for doing a great service to the equestrian community by providing education through these clinics. Thank you to my sponsors Finish Line Horse Products, Nutrena Horse Feed and Back on Track USA for making this clinic possible.
We had a wonderful show at Princeton Show Jumping. Diva was exceptional and nearly won the $25,000 Grand Prix of Princeton! Diva tried her heart out and had fun. We took home the second place ribbon. My students had a great show as well. You can read more about it on my blog http://www.annekursinski.com/blog
It's been fun being at home in this gorgeous spring weather. I've been teaching a lot of lessons to my students and my ship in students. I recently worked with west coast eventer, Matt Brown with 3 lovely horses. (pictured) They all look ready for Jersey Fresh next week. We will be adding his lessons to Riding and Jumping Mentor this month. Click here to watch a short video clip from the lesson.
In this newsletter learn how to build your jumping skills, read the training tips and advice that the winner of Practical Horseman’s contest and nine of her friends received.
Build your Jumping Skills
By Anne Kursinski With Miranda Lorraine
In this exercise, you’ll ride the same line two ways, first as a straight line and then as a bending line. In both, the way you turn to the first fence is the most crucial part of the exercise because it’s in this turn that you establish your line, the guiding function of your eyes and the rhythm and pace to take you through successfully. Study the diagram and be sure you understand the line—the approach as well as the center section—for both variations. As long as you do understand, your correct position will enable you to use the other skills effectively; just by looking where you want to go, you’ll automatically signal to your body how much hand and leg it must apply to take you there.
Set a single low vertical—2 feet high or 18 inches if that makes you feel more comfortable—with ground rails on both sides. Place the fence about a third of the way down the middle of your working space. (Set all your fences this way for the following exercises so that they can be ridden in either direction. That gives you added variety without added effort.)
Set your second fence at a slight angle to the first, 72 feet away (measure the distance by walking directly from the center of the first fence to the center of the second). To help you understand the lines I want you to ride, use two cones or markers. Set one cone just inside where you’d need to turn in to ride a straight line that meets the centers of both fences on the diagonal; put a second cone halfway between the two fences just slightly to the right of the straight line.
Coming around your ring at a normal canter pace, turn so that your track takes you just to the outside of the first cone. Looking ahead, you’ll see a straight line across the middle of both fences (line A in the drawing) passing just to the inside of the second cone. If you find this line and maintain your normal canter pace, the distance between fences will ride as a smooth five strides.
Remember to keep your line straight, which means that you’re going to meet both fences in the center—but at a bit of an angle. Read the entire article.
Horses are a Reflection of their Riders
ByKimberly F. Miller for Practical Horseman Magazine
Jennifer Harper grew up in Los Angeles, California, in the late 1970s, admiring the adventures of Jimmy Williams’ cadre of young super talents at the Flintridge Riding Club—Anne Kursinski chief among them.
Much has transpired since then. An amateur hunter rider, Jennifer has juggled saddle time with earning advanced degrees in art history and prominent positions in the art world, including her current post at the Portland Art Museum. Anne, meanwhile, became a five-time Olympian, two-time Olympic silver medalist and a successful coach, author and clinician.
Jennifer always counted Anne an idol, so it was a dream come true to saddle up for her on a chilly, drizzly Portland morning on Saturday, April 11. Writing about the ripple effect Anne’s visit could have to the equestrian community in Portland, Jennifer won Practical Horseman’s Training with the Stars: Win A Day with Anne Kursinski contest sponsored in partnership with Finish Line, Back on Track and Nutrena. Along with nine friends from Linda and Wade Worley’s Cornerstone Hunters & Jumpers, Jennifer enjoyed a day of knotted reins, dropped stirrups, discarded martingales and counting strides (forward, always!). It was all in service to the notion that horses are reflections of their riders—in their turnout and tack, for sure, but more importantly in their way of going and behavior. Read the entire article
Photo: Contest winner Jennifer Harper and Anne Kursinski at the clinic | Mary Cornelius
Want to become a more effective and feeling rider? Become a Riding and Jumping Mentor member! I am so excited about my on-line coaching site, Riding and Jumping Mentor! Now you can watch videos of my actual lessons with riders just like yourself. Benefit from the very lessons and exercises I've used throughout my career. These exercises have proven again and again to transform riders and their horses into top performers and get them well on their way to success.
Riding and Jumping Mentor members have access to:
A library of flat work and jumping video tutorials with NEW videos added monthly.
Videos of Anne riding while lecturing.
A wealth of articles to help you on your path to becoming a better rider.
Ask Anne Forum: Each month Anne will answer your riding and training questions.
Membership is $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year.
Olympian Anne Kursinski's acclaimed book on riding horses over fences delivers on-target counsel and the kind of sophisticated, quality instruction you can only get in top barns around the world.
"Finding a distance to a jump, rhythm, timing - my exercises help teach a rider to dance with their horse. Watching the video you’ll see how these exercises help the horse and rider become one.”
Anne Kursinski
Anne's Accomplishments Include:
Member of forty-seven United States Nations Cup Teams
Member of five United States Show Jumping Olympic Teams
Member of three World Equestrian Games Teams
Competed in ten World Cup Finals
Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Equestrian Federation
Member of the Executive Committee of the United States Equestrian Team Foundation
In 2014 Anne was a selector for the WEG bronze medal winning U.S. team in Normandy, France
In 2012, Anne released the second edition of her book, Anne Kursinski’s Riding and Jumping Clinic
In 2012 Anne served as USEF chef d’equipe at the CSIOYJ in Belgium
USHJA Emerging Athletes Program clinician
In 2011, Kursinski was voted America’s Favorite Show Jumping Equestrian
2008 Olympic Games - Hong Kong Team USA Alternate
1998 First American and first woman to win (Eros) $450,000 Pulsar Crown Grand Prix, Monterrey, Mexico
1996 Olympic Games - Atlanta Team USA Silver Medal (aboard Eros)
1995 AHSA/Hertz Equestrian of the Year
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona - Team USA 5th Place
1992 AHSA Horsewoman of the Year
1991 USOC (US Olympic Committee) Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year
1st CHIO Grand Prix of Aachen, Germany—second woman and third American to win (Starman)
1991 Ranked #1 Female and #1 American - L'Annee Hippique World Show Jumping Rating
Team member, 1990 World Equestrian Games, Stockholm, Sweden Team 4th
1988 Olympic Games Seoul - Team USA Silver Medal, 4th place individual
Honored - 1988 AHSA Horsewoman of the Year
1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles
1983 Pan American Games Caracus - Team USA Gold Medal, Individual Gold Medal
1st Grand Prix of Rome - Italy in 1983 (1st American to win this event)
New students and ship-in lessons are always welcome.Anne is available to teach clinics at your farm. For more information, call 908-996-6205 or e-mail [email protected].
May 2015 Newsletter
It's been fun being at home in this gorgeous spring weather. I've been teaching a lot of lessons to my students and my ship in students. I recently worked with west coast eventer, Matt Brown with 3 lovely horses. (pictured) They all look ready for Jersey Fresh next week. We will be adding his lessons to Riding and Jumping Mentor this month. 
In this exercise, you’ll ride the same line two ways, first as a straight line and then as a bending line. In both, the way you turn to the first fence is the most crucial part of the exercise because it’s in this turn that you establish your line, the guiding function of your eyes and the rhythm and pace to take you through successfully. Study the diagram and be sure you understand the line—the approach as well as the center section—for both variations. As long as you do understand, your correct position will enable you to use the other skills effectively; just by looking where you want to go, you’ll automatically signal to your body how much hand and leg it must apply to take you there.
