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How to improve a horse’s gallop: top eventers share their tips for productive fast work

Ellie Hughes

    • While some horses find galloping easy, for many it is something that needs to be taught. Five-star winner Austin O’Connor, cross-country specialist Tom Crisp and Olympian turned coach Nicola Wilson share their tips in this exclusive article for H&H subscribers

    We spend hours training our event horses to be soft and supple on the flat, and careful and accurate over a fence, but most of us spend far less time teaching them to stay balanced and controlled at the gallop. Is it a case of teaching a fish to swim or can we actually improve a horse’s gallop?

    Cross-country maestros Austin O’Connor and Tom Crisp point out that despite this gait being such an integral and important part of an event horse’s armoury, it is the one that riders typically spend least time training.

    “I generally don’t take my horses to the gallops until they’re competing at three-star level, but I do spend a lot of time before that laying good foundations,” reveals the 2023 Maryland five-star winner and reigning Burghley runner-up, Austin O’Connor, who explains that adjustability at a faster pace is something that needs to be worked on.

    How to improve your horse’s gallop

    “Younger horses and those competing at the lower levels don’t need to be going to the gallops, but they need to learn how to open up and come back in the canter, and I will work on this at home, mostly when out hacking,” adds Austin.

    Tom Crisp starts sowing the seeds from an early age.

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