What goes into training a World Cup Dressage Finals champion? Becky Moody talks us through how she primes Jagerbomb to perform at his peak while enjoying the balance of turnout, hacking, fitness with perfecting his grand prix moves.
Becky doesn’t drill Jagerbomb (Bomb) in the school. He typically works specifically on dressage training two to three times a week.
These sessions are usually 40–45min, always starting with “an easy warm-up”.
“It’s less than I used to do because it’s not about how much I want to do, it’s about the horse,” she says.
“One of the most important things I do is transitions, hundreds of transitions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re riding a baby or a grand prix horse, transitions are key to good training, for adjustability and rideability.
“That fancy trot Bomb can do comes from a good walk–halt transition.”
It’s rare that Becky would ride all the grand prix moves in training; it’s more about working on the adjustability, suppleness and straightness.
“For instance, rather than riding my test pirouettes, I’d do a lot more working pirouettes, training the adjustability within it, on a bigger shape,” she explains.
“So I would make him more collected, then more forward – and ride only a couple of test ones. I also practise zig-zags a lot as they’re our weak point.”
To hone the flying changes, Becky has another tip.
“I do a lot of changes up the wall to really help me to be aware of my straightness – I wouldn’t so often do them across the school on the diagonal,” she says.
Becky estimates she’d put all the moves together to ride the full test every other week in the six-week run-up to an event.
Becky Moody on Jagerbomb’s non-schooling days
Other days are spent hacking, doing fitness work and stretching.
“Sometimes in the school, he would be in a snaffle, doing basic stretching and transitions,” says Becky, who says Bomb wears a snaffle “half the time”.
“He loves hacking so he does a lot of that. The girls hack him, but I also love hacking him, so sometimes I go off on a wander because he’s such a good boy.”
Although Bomb’s hacks involve hillwork, stomping up and down the Yorkshire hills, their location means they are limited to roadwork so he does additional fitness sessions in the outdoor school.
“He’s so big and he has to watch his weight, so we have to be really conscious of the fitness side to keep him at a good weight, fit and strong enough,” Becky says.
“There’s nowhere we can go fast on a hack, so he does his fast work in the outdoor school. We do interval training round our 20x60m.”
The large outdoor school where Jagerbomb does his interval training. Credit: Steve Dawe / Real Time Imaging
Becky uses her voice as a training aid, and welcomes the change in British Dressage ruling that riders can use their voice within reason.
“With young horses I always use my voice,” she says. “Especially in my downward transitions, saying ‘woah’, anything that makes it easier for them to understand without having to use as much rein. It’s a useful tool.”
“My bad habit is that I click,” she adds. “I train with Carl Hester and he says, ‘you’re not training b****y dolphins’, in his terrible Yorkshire accent!”
Stable management
In summertime, Bomb enjoy time in the field every day.
“In winter, as we live on clay it’s horrific ground so we don’t turn out on the grass,” Becky explains. “We have four sand paddocks and a horse walker, so all the horses are out of their stable three times a day.”
At over 17.3hh, Bomb is entitled to the biggest stable in the yard.
Jagerbomb has the biggest stable on the yard. Credit: Steve Dawe / Real Time Imaging
Feeding-wise, Bomb’s diet is quite simple. He’s on Saracen’s Competition Fit Mix, with alfalfa. He also has a basic joint supplement and electrolytes when he’s in work, plus salt.
At shows, Bomb “goes on hunger strike” – “it’s quite tricky when you’re away for two weeks,” says Becky.
“He likes a veteran mash – more than a recovery mash – and so has that to help him eat up,” she adds. “He’s getting better the more he does.”
And not just in terms of appetite, because when it comes to results in the ring, Becky Moody and Jagerbomb are still on an upward trajectory.
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