After last week the Van der Vleuten family had their turn in the series 'Insider' of the LGCT, this time it was the turn of the best Swedish rider of the moment: Peder Fredricson. One of the topics discussed was his famous 'cheat sheet'.
Anyone who has ever seen Peder Fredricson walk a course knows that the Swedish top rider always carries a piece of paper on which he makes notes. Peder explained how he developed this habit: "Before I started show jumping, I was actually an event rider and my habit dates back to that era. In eventing there are a lot of details that you have to remember, such as which minute markers there are exactly. I made it easy for myself to write down these details so I wouldn't forget them, so when I got sponsored by H&M at some point and they wanted me to ride jumping and stop eventing. I switched but I never stopped using my 'cheat sheet'".
"I write down all my distances on that piece of paper. If, after walking the course, I no longer know exactly how many canters I had to ride in a particular line, I always have that note to fall back on. I don't have to waste energy on trying to remember the number of canter, I just look at the note so that I can use my full energy to warm up my horse, one or two combinations before I have to enter, I get off my horse to visualize the course. Usually I don't need my cheat sheet anymore, but if I have forgotten something, I don't have to ask another rider for help, which again saves some stress ".
"So I continued to use my cheat sheet because I was so keen to achieve good results. I knew that as a rider of H&M this was also expected. People might get the false idea that I am a very organized person while that is not the case at all. I use that note just because otherwise I am a bit chaotic (laughs) ".
Source: The Insider