Competition Winner Gets The Eventing Bug With Beverley Brightman! 10th December 2009
Birmingham-based Sue Clarke was the lucky winner of the recent HorseHage competition featured in the Sept/Oct issue of British Eventing magazine and her prize was a lesson with dressage rider, Beverley Brightman.

HorseHage-sponsored Beverley came into the sport of dressage following a serious riding accident which left her with severe injuries and hardly able to walk. Originally a very experienced event rider, competing at four-star level, Beverley was determined to get back in the saddle as soon as possible. She took up dressage and progressed to Grand Prix level, and now competes internationally from her base in Bedfordshire as well as training riders of all levels.

Sue and her 10 year old gelding, Bug, made the six hour round trip to Beverley’s yard and gained lots of advice on how to work on at home in preparation for next season. The pair currently compete at BE100 level but are hoping to progress to Novice next year.

After watching Sue and Bug warm up, one of the first things Beverley picked up on was that Sue was riding with one stirrup leather longer than the other.

Said Beverley; “Even very simple issues like this can cause the rider and horse to be very unbalanced so always check the length of your stirrup leathers regularly as leather can stretch.”

Beverley concentrated on teaching Sue how to get Bug working in a more rounded outline using leg yield and improving his movement in his hindquarters, using ten metre circles and then progressing to the outside track of the school.

She said; “Sue and Bug will really benefit if they can improve their flatwork as not only will this help their dressage scores, but it will also help improve their show-jumping as how you approach the fence is all important. During the lesson Bug was already starting to move in a more rounded and uphill manner with more impulsion and without increasing his speed.”

Said a delighted Sue; “I have thoroughly enjoyed my lesson with Beverley – she really gets the message across clearly and I hope to try and have more lessons with her in the future.