Twenty-one riders from Virginia, Maryland and Delaware gathered at Rogers Riding Center on Dec. 9 and 10 to take part in a U.S. Hunter Jumper Association clinic. The USHJA sponsors four clinics annually, one in each region of the country. Sweet Briar College hosted the 2006 southeastern meeting.

Heather McPheeters rides SBC's Chandler during the USHJA clinic.Frosty air greeted the first group of seven riders, who gathered around Scot Evans, an “A” judge and nationally known clinician, on Saturday morning. Evans explained the “three points” of leg contact, helping each of them to position their leg to establish a strong base of support and an effective communication tool with their horses.

Evans then sent riders to work at the walk, emphasizing its importance in establishing a connection with your equine partner and in becoming able to “ride your horse’s feet.”

Practicing the basics was the underlying theme of each riding session. Evans used exercises over poles, cavalletti and flower boxes to help the riders develop patience, accuracy and body control.

As the morning air warmed, auditors arrived to watch the training sessions and participate in the evening judging seminar. The auditors were a diverse group, and included riding instructors from Raleigh, N.C., the staff and students of the Chatham Hall riding program, the directors of the Virginia Tech and Purdue University riding programs, and parents and friends of the riders and demonstrators.

An instructor from Raleigh said, “I have just started to teach, so all of the information presented over the two days will be a great help to me.”

“Scot makes it so clear that the basics need to be done well and practiced a lot,” another said.

Riders were getting the message, too. “Scot’s repetition of the phrases, ‘Get the horse to respect the leg and trust the hand,’ ‘The inside leg pushes to the outside rein,’ and ‘Wait for the horse to jump up to you,’ helped me to really think about how I used my body,” one said.

Others commented that “body control and being one with their horse” was the most important thing they took away from the experience, noting how much it benefited their ride and their horse’s response and willingness.

On Saturday evening, 18 Sweet Briar riders participated in a live judging demonstration that included Limit and Open Equitation classes, as well as a 3-foot Hunter class. Spectators were given judge’s cards to mark. After a class, the riders returned to the indoor arena and Evans discussed each round and how he decided on his scores and placements.

“Scot’s approach to judging is so positive, it really helped me to see that judges are rooting for the exhibitors to do well, but then they have to score what they see objectively,” one participant said.

Auditors and riders alike welcomed Sunday’s sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Training sessions continued as Evans had riders work through combinations, bending lines and rollbacks while also emphasizing long, medium and short approaches and the correlation of the rider’s seat position to each type of approach.

“Body control and riding from the leg,” was Evans’ mantra.

As one rider said, “My ‘aha’ moment was realizing that if your arms are stiff your horse has only one option – to evade! The idea of lots of leg and leg and less hand made for an amazing ride.”


— By Shelby French, riding program director