An interesting and very enjoyable day!
The day was made up of four sessions, concentrating on training the event horse from BE100 right through to Advanced, and hosted by Yogi Breisner.
Yogi is obviously an excellent coach, but what stood out for me was how impressive his observational skills are. He instantly identified weaknesses, and was able to bring about rapid improvement in performance by prioritising his feedback.
He used common sense when coaching and a calm, friendly approach which really brought out the best in the riders, some of whom would have been understandably nervous at the crowd of hundreds!
The exercises Yogi chose were challenging, and clearly represented the requirements of the level at which the combinations were competing. He was also excellent at differentiation, using intricate exercises to provide a variety of routes for different combinations to follow. This was not dissimilar to the alternate routes available at tricky combinations on a cross country course.
He made the day as interactive as possible too, with questions taken formally after each session, as well as addressing relevant queries whilst coaching.
I found the day very inspiring ahead of the Final of the Coach of the Year Competition next week.
