Olympic Gold Medalist Gives Weekend Clinic At Spring Mill Farm Joe Fargis, a two time Olympic gold medalist and a silver medalist, instructed a jumping clinic on November 21-22 at Spring Mill Farm in Eads, TN. Several mid-south riders participated with their hunters and jumpers to learn from one of America’s top and most respected show jumping riders. The clinic started at 8:30 am and ran until 3:30 pm, as Fargis worked with three different groups at different competition levels. His first group worked with him from 8:30 to 10. The next group, advanced riders, rode from 10:30 to 12:30, and the last group rode from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Fargis started his sessions with warming the horse and riders up before the jumping began. He coached the riders through drill team formations and various exercises on the flat. During the warm up he told his riders to “be unhurried and unworried! Let them (the horse) be loose, make life comfortable for them, and get loose with the horse!” Fargis’ method of relaxation helped the horses relax and stretch their backs while walking fluidly and calmly. He told his riders that the horses should be as relaxed jumping as they are on the flat. He urged his riders to be calm, quiet and “light.” After the horses and riders walked and trotted in circles, Fargis then moved onto lateral movements. He had his riders ride in a 10 meter circle and then leg yield out to a 20 meter circle, then back in to a 10 meter circle. He stressed to his riders to “NOT CHEAT!” He asked them to feel the horses back legs step over one another and to flex and stretch their horses with these lateral movements. After asking his riders to leg yield in circles, he had them move onto Serpentines. This tested the riders’ and horses’ balance and control around bending lines. He asked the riders to be “completely balanced on the corner and to move forward out of the turns. Collect the horse in the turn, but be light with your hands. It should [feel like] a rubber band between the bit and hands.” The riders then practiced transitions. He asked the riders to ride straight lines with smooth transitions. He told his riders, “Be invisible up there. I don’t want to see you ask your horse!” He had the riders do walk, halt, walk transitions. He then proceeded with walk, halt, trot transitions, and ending with a trot, walk, canter transition. As jumps were being set, he told the riders “Jumps do not change what you have just done. You are not now jumping; you are working on the flat with some jump obstacles along the way. You or your horse should not get hurried. Be just as calm and just as relaxed as your where while warming up." The first day of the clinic Fargis set up gymnastics for his riders to practice with their horses. The second day of the clinic he set a difficult course in which the riders practiced tight turns and bending lines. He had riders focus on balancing the horse between the jumps and waiting for the rider. As he wrapped up the time with his riders, he encouraged them all to practice the flat work and the jumping with their horses. He gave advice to individual riders and had every rider end on a positive exercise before retiring for the day.Joe Fargis travels throughout the United States giving weekend clinics to hunter/ jumper and cross training facilities all year long. His stop in the mid-south area showed how advanced the horses and riders are in this area. Hopefully he will be back again so new riders can benefit from his years of expertise, love on the horse, and the sport.