My Experience at the George Morris Clinic

George Morris, 80 year old equestrian and clinician, is a legend in the hunter jumper world. After an amazing career as a young rider, winning Maclay finals at age 13 and riding on the US Olympic Team, Mr. Morris coached the USA equestrian team. Many years later, he made an incredible comeback at age 60 and led the Olympic team to victory once again.

Along with his reputation of being a spectacular rider, he comes with a history of frightening sayings and phrases he has said to his students. Some of his most well known are “You ride like a soup-sandwich” or “I like very few people, but I like most horses.” While Mr. Morris seems extremely frightening, he is only hard on his students because he wants them to get better.

Knowing I was going to be riding in front of one of the greatest equestrians to ever live, I was more than a little nervous going into day one of the clinic. We arrived at the South Carolina Equine Park in Camden at 7:00 am to make sure my horse was fed and groomed to Mr. Morris’s standards. At 7:45, all of the riders were required to be in the ring to to set course. I think we were all in awe when George Morris entered the ring with a tape measure and a set plan in mind for our course. He promptly instructed us to remove the jumps from the truck and he began telling us where to put each one. Each of his measurements were very precise, knowing exactly how horses would react to the jumps and how riders would be tested in each situation.

Mr. Morris believes in discipline and is a stickler for promptness. He always says, “to be early is to be on time,” so riders returned to the ring at 8:50 for their 9:00 am lesson. I audited the first group, and watching Mr. Morris coach was a double edged sword. It was helpful to know what to expect, but it heightened my awareness of his high expectations.

If I could give one tip to anyone looking to participate in a George Morris clinic, it would be to forget about your nerves and to ride your ride to the best of your ability. Well, maybe the one tip would be to DO WHAT HE SAYS (in fact, always do what your trainer says). During the clinic, we performed exercises such as circles, shoulder in, and shoulder fore in attempts to get our horses reaching to the bit and engaging their hind ends. Mr. Morris often wanted exaggeration in leg or hands, and even though it felt kind of funny, I learned that there was always a purpose.

I’m grateful for everyone that made this experience possible. I think it made my riding better, and I know it changed my approach to training.  And it was a great experience to have with my Top Call trainer, even though it has brought out her “Inner George Morris” in my lessons.

If you would like to share a riding experience or Top Call farm story on this blog, please email it to topcallfarmllc@gmail.com. We would love to feature a story every week.