LAST Friday, myself and many other Eventing Ireland Youth members had the incredible opportunity to attend cross-country training with legendary event rider William Fox-Pitt at Clonmahon House in Meath. It really was an experience we will never forget.

The Eventing Ireland Youth Committee have been running some brilliant training, which is subsidised by the George Mernagh Memorial Fund, and William’s clinic was organised under that umbrella.

My sister and I were lucky that our mum, Carol, was on the ball and booked us in as the whole day was sold out in under 10 minutes.

Clonmahon is an amazing venue with beautifully presented fences, and the ground was in perfect condition despite the heavy rain that fell the previous few days.

The course had everything you’d want to train on; technical lines, inviting brush fences and skinnies which catered for every level in terms of technicality.

Each session was run in small groups of five for 75 minutes. William was amazing to learn from. He was encouraging, patient and had a really calm way of explaining things that just made sense. He focused a lot on rhythm, control, and trusting your horse in tricky lines.

My sister was on a pony that was quite new to cross-country but William had them jumping arrowheads and hanging hedges within minutes. It was a brilliant way for them to build confidence as a combination and to pick up some valuable hints on how to ride different fence types safely.

There was no hanging around in any of the sessions; our warm-up was a short course of five or six straightforward fences before moving on to the different areas on the field. Our group moved quickly, and we jumped some really fun and challenging combinations. It was great for me, as it’s hard to replicate that level of technicality at home.

Helpful

William was so helpful, with small tips that made a big difference. He quickly read each combination and identified each rider’s strengths and challenges, adjusting his lesson accordingly and seamlessly.

One of my favourite lines was a roll top on a bending line to an arrowhead and back up to an angled brush. I thought it looked pretty tricky at first, but once William had walked us through it and explained how to go about it, it was much more manageable and we pinged through it. We finished up on another line which William thought was as hard as any 3* track he’d seen – a nice note to finish a special day on.

On behalf of all the riders, I’d like to thank the McNally family for hosting us, the EI Youth Committee for organising it all and the GMMF for supporting. We are very lucky to have these opportunities available to us as pony, junior and young riders.