Gina Montgomery Masterclass

By Lisa MacDonald
Photo by Lorelle Mercer

On Friday 26th March night those people lucky enough to be attending the SHC’s Claron Property Group Grand National Show at SIEC were witness to a “Masterclass” given by Gina Montgomery with Roger Fitzhardinge commentating. The idea for the Masterclass was to demonstrate the similarities between the show horse discipline and the lower levels of dressage & the benefit of “gymnastic training” exercises.

Gina & Roger have extensive experience in both disciplines, having achieved the highest accolades in the show ring & both are also FEI dressage riders. These days Gina manages to successfully combine her passion for dressage but still be very active in the show horses. Her training stables are a mix of both hacks & warmbloods.

The Masterclass began with Gina riding the stunning young warmblood stallion, Smash Hit who was imported by his owners Amanda & David Shoobridge of Revelwood Stud. Smash Hit has been in training with Gina since August last year when Amanda was on pregnancy leave. This stallion is only 5 years old & he can be overawed by the atmosphere, so he provided a great opportunity for Gina & Roger to explain how to utilise your training exercises to give your horse confidence, allow him to adjust to the environment & reach a level of relaxation where he is able to settle down & offer his best work. Gina warmed the horse up riding confidently forward with a steady contact, demonstrating the importance of riding with an outside rein & making the horse travel straight. Before our eyes we watched as the horse relaxed, lost his nervous tension & began to travel in an easy, loose rhythmical stride.

Once this was achieved Gina came back to walk & the stallion remained 100% relaxed whilst Gina & Roger chatted to us about how beneficial it is to be able to give our Thoroughbreds the confidence to relax their bodies & allow the work to flow. Gina then demonstrated the stark difference in the stride when we ride with too much flexion, causing the horse to drift out on the circle, something we see all too often in the hack ring. Again, Gina stressed the importance of the outside rein – we must maintain a contact at all times with the goal being to have an even contact in both reins. Next Roger put Gina through a couple of exercises to show how to improve the straightness of your horse & then Gina & Smash Hit found another gear & showed us some beautiful trot work before calmly finishing up the session.

Next into the arena was Gina’s & Lisa MacDonald’s own horse NV Wallmeyer who they imported from Germany in 2007 & recently had their first Prix St George starts with. Again Gina warmed up in the same vein, taking time for the horse to relax into the surroundings & loosen up his muscles ready for work. This combination can really put on a show & we sat in awe as Gina demonstrated where the foundation of good gymnastic exercises can take the horse. Shoulder-in to half pass in trot, canter half pass, flying changes every 2 strides, & the most powerful extensions I have ever seen. WOW! Roger could only smile & encouraged the crowd to go wild with applause as Gina & Wallmeyer powered down the centre line before dropping the rein completely & calmly walking out of the arena.

The night was a great success - informative & thoroughly entertaining & a big thank you to Gina & Roger for giving their time to show all of us the benefit of calm, steady training with an outside rein!

Gina Montgomery resides on the Central Coast, NSW at her Family property, Amberwood Park. Visit www.amberwoodpark.com.au for more information. To contact Roger Fizthardinge, email rogerfitzphotos@bigpond.com

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