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Ask an Expert: John Vallance
John Vallance: Rhythm and line
JOHN VALLANCE is a highly qualified course designer. In demand both at home and overseas, he assisted at the Sydney Olympics and has worked at many major international shows.
What are your golden rules for course design?
Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, and line, line, line. That’s fundamental to any course – that there’s a nice line, a harmonious line, allowing the horses to establish a good rhythm and if they’re trained properly they can maintain that rhythm. They’re the two most important things, and then always to be safe with your courses, with the materials you use, the distances, and the dimensions. Other considerations are to gather as much information as possible regarding the size and shape of the arena, because it doesn’t always have to be a rectangle, and also where the in and out gate is located. They’re the basics you need to know no matter whether it’s a Pony Club course or a Grand Prix course. Also important is what day of the show you’re designing for. For example, if it’s the first day of a three or four day show, you have to keep in mind that you really want to build confidence and degree of difficulty over the days of the event.
What are your take home tips?
If you want to build a practice course at home, don’t rely on walking or stepping it out – use a tape measure. A course designer will actually measure the distance between two obstacles, whether it’s a double combination or fences in a related line. And think it through: for example, what distance do you want to put between two fences? If it’s five strides, is it five normal, is it five long, or is it five short?
If possible, ask questions of course designers at shows and then duplicate what you’ve learned at home. But really, there are so many other things that come into course design: where the jump is in the course; where it is in relation to the in and out gate; what type of obstacle is at the entrance to the line; what’s the obstacle at the end of the line. They’re all factors that a course designer takes into consideration.
Any general advice?
If you’re watching an event or riding in one and a particular obstacle is causing more problems than any of the others, then sit and analyse the problem for yourself. And post event, if you have the opportunity to talk to the course designer or a senior rider, ask them why they thought that fence came down so often.
And finally, show jumping is not just about a set of individual obstacles – the sum of the questions is far greater. And that takes course designers as well as riders quite a while to learn.
