Chris Burton teaches his horse how to read a fence

In this clip, Olympic eventer Chris Burton shows us how to teach a horse to jump a coffin and he learns a new exercise from Badminton course builder Eric Winter.

Back up

Things get interesting when Eric adds in a big upright in the middle of the school, with no ground line.

“We often do this at home – we just have a single plank in the middle of the school, with no ground line,” says Eric. “It teaches the horse to back up and it teaches you to sit still. A horse will always read it, as long as you’re not too interfering.”

Nervous

Chris admitted he was scared, but made the exercise look easy.

“It wasn’t fun to ride to, but it works,” he said. “I was surprised at how well she jumped it and it was interesting how nervous I was coming around the corner.

This clip was filmed at the International Event Forum at Hartpury College. You can see more from this event by watching Rudall’s Round-Up: Event Forum, which is now available On Demand, via H&C Play.

For more great advice check out our Masterclass Xtra series, which sees top riders schooling a range of horses and sharing their training secrets.