04/03/2023
Hey guys, have you heard about the Masterclasses by Ms. Edwina Tops-Alexander? She recently provided show jumping training to AlShaqab's six Club Members and held a Q&A session afterward. The Q&A session was really valuable, as Ms. Edwina shared that she has 3 people directly supporting her pro career and talked about possible research directions that would interest her, such as developing an arena floor to prevent horses from slipping. She also shared some personal insights, diagnosing her own problem during competitions as double refusal.
Ms. Edvina is a really approachable and communicative instructor, but some of her training strategies were pretty standard. It's not clear what the take-home message was for the 30 spectators present, but it's understandable that quick comments need to be made during the training. However, some of these comments, such as "have him between hands and legs," or "Make sure he is in front of you" were not clear and could have been explained beforehand to riders and spectators. The classes also started 15 minutes late, but that was not Ms. Edwina's fault.
Overall, I think this was a great event, but there are definitely areas that can be improved. What do you guys think? https://youtu.be/Hkl1OiV3BpA