Germany 2013

Background

I completed my Trainer C exam in 2011 at the Westfalische Reit und Fahrschule (see previoius blog entry) I had gone there with my friend Tracey. As she was now working and living in Germany, she had asked if I fancied doing the Trainer B exam with her. This would mean I could register with the BHS as the equivalent of the BHSII. However, in Germany you can specialise in either dressage or jumping, which makes more sense to me as I don’t intend to teach jumping. The Trainer B is focused strongly on teaching, with written and oral presentations at the end.

You will probably have gathered by now that I don’t do things by half. The day before leaving for Germany was my birthday and also the day my house sale was completed. So it was spent running around to the dump site whilst also trying to reply to text messages, pack and to top it off we had a close friend come to stay. So it was a rather hectic time with plenty of drama, and I hadn't had much time to even think about Germany, or do as much preparation as I had intended.

Saturday 7^th September

I witnessed the most amazing sunrise as I headed to the airport and as soon as I was there, was back in travelling mode, and getting that feeling of only looking forwards and not back... felt really positive. Linda Christie, the course organiser, kindly picked me up from Munster airport and we headed to the riding school. It was strangely familiar yet also felt different to be back there after two years. I was allocated a huge room with en suite. I had shared two years ago with a lovely German girl called Katherina, but it was nice to know I would have my own space to just study and chill out.

I then met Rebecca from Australia who was doing her Trainer C and also squeezing in some horse hunting. So us and Linda headed over to Warendorf to watch the Bundeschampionate (Young Horse Championships). We parked at the stables where Linda’s horse is kept and managed to sneak in to the show for free through the back, shhh!

 



Linda and her lovely boy

The weather was so bad that I ended up leaving my good camera in the car, then kicked myself afterwards as it became a lovely sunny day. We met some of the other girls from the course there too; Eva from Sydney, Tracy and Dara from Dubai, Kjersti from Norway. It is so lovely being part of a truly international group, with people from all different disciplines. We are a smart bunch of girls this year, with two lawyers, an architect and a dentist ;-) Shows that career women can balance it all!

We watched the six year old Championship, ate good old pomme frites with mayo and browsed the stalls, but mainly we chatted and got to know each other. In the evening there was a big celebration and party. There was an interesting display of horses through the ages with some serious vaulting and puissance jumping, bizarre dressing up and even a goat. So this is how Germans entertain themselves! Everyone was pretty tired after a long day of travelling and we left quite early. A few people were disappointed we missed the “fun” part of the party (think tall, good looking model-esque German guys everywhere! Ok, probably not straight but still!)

Sunday 8^th September

Last day to relax before all the hard work started. A few of the girls went back to the Bundeschampionate, but Kjersti, Rebecca and myself stayed in the dorm and chilled.  It is nice now they finally have wifi in the bedrooms and kitchen, so no trapsing over to the breakfast room all the time. So we were facebooking and looking at horses for sale online, as they are both looking for youngsters.

Linda very kindly brought us round cake and coffee and we had a good chat and a laugh. I can feel that the obligatory student diet is now commencing!

I was really over the moon to see my friend Tracey who arrived in the afternoon with her young horse Bella. She is currently based at Hayley Beresford’s yard and I haven’t seen her for two years, so it was great catching up. I have missed having her around in England to "chat dressage" with, as we both had the same trainer, the lovely Eileen O'Connor.

In the evening it was back to ordering takeaway pasta (yes, takeaway pasta!) from the usual Italian place in Handorf. Spinach tortellinis washed down with red wine, perfect. I was reminded how tricky it is finding decent vegetarian food in Germany. I was not feeling as apprehensive this time the night before the course started as this time I knew what to expect... hard work but a lot of fun! The main talk was which horses we would be allocated the following day. I was also trying to get as much information about the new dressage trainer, as I was of course going to be specialising in dressage for the exam. He had only joined the school last year and all I knew was that he was young, and firm but fair.

Nice hot shower and then a good rest in a comfy bed,

Monday 9^th September

Last lie in for a while, we only had to be up for breakfast at 8am then we had a briefing at 8.30am by Linda. We finally met the new deputy manager and dressage trainer, Stefan Wolff, who seemed really lovely, approachable and organised. He had previously lived and worked in the US for several years so his English was perfect and he even cracked some very amusing jokes! He had trained with Klaus Balkenol, so no need to even sing his praises. He gave us an overview of the course then allocated us horses based on our riding experience. I was given Damjan, who I vaguely remember from two years ago as being quite a nicely schooled bay gelding.

So Trainer B involved the following, if I was to specialise in dressage. I would need to ride in front of the judges at L (Elementary) level and also show that I could teach at that level.  We also found out the essay we had to write needed to be around 15 pages long and on a very specific topic, yikes! We would also have to critique someone else teaching, present a theoretical session and write a detailed lesson plan. You also had the option to specialise in jumping or producing young horses. We would still be taught in all disciplines during the course no matter which option we chose.

Quite a few girls had brought their own horse. We even had an international showjumper on the course from the Czech Republic who had competed in the World Cup and brought two of her horses.

The school horses looked in tip top condition, all the saddles had recently been checked and replaced as necessary - no mean feat in a riding school with over 60 horses. Generally everything seemed much more organised than two years ago. Even the new apprentices looked happier ;-) The whole feel of the place just seemed really positive, plus our group was just the loveliest ever.

We managed a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up essentials such as pot snacks, chocolate and wine! Quite funny for me as I generally eat well at home, but I could handle three weeks of this, I've got many years of student experience under my Pikeur belt.

Then it was back for our first dressage session with Stefan. In my group were Tracy G, Eva and Kjersti. We were in the outdoor school where I remember the horses were generally a little on the spooky side. Damjan was slightly bigger than I remembered, and looked like he had a fair bit of TB blood in him so not too chunky. He was also much more forwards going than I remembered. At times he became quite excited and would want to lean on my hands and speed up making it difficult to get him off the forehand, and Stefan got me to half halt him, keep the tempo really slow in walk and trot, and just work on transitions. He commented that I was very upright which was good, but almost too upright! Wow, Eileen will be impressed by that!! He had a very good analogy of pushing my seat towards the back of the saddle and imagining the wind blowing my stomach back. This totally altered how I sat and how the horse responded. He also told me to be careful not to ride too much on my thighs, as Damjan had a habit of making people do this as he is so forwards going. It is always so interesting with a new trainer, let alone just being on a totally new horse. I thought Stefan was really effective with his comments and to the point, making me really think about the session and go over it for the rest of the day.

Kjersti’s horse Ilja was fairly new to the school and a little on the excitable side!! So overall we all had a pretty exhubarant first lesson on our allocated mounts. Hopefully things will become calmer when we ride inside.

I was glad to get that first lesson done as there is always that feeling of when you come to Germany that you really cannot ride and may as well go home! The standard is incredibly high and its taken me a good few trips to become really accustomed to the German system. In fact I felt a lot stronger and confident than last time in what I was doing. You just need to take in everything they tell you and not have any barriers, plus let go of whatever you do at home with regards to competing, training etc. The school horses are a very good leveller as they aren't as push button as you would imagine.
 

Another chilled takeaway and wine evening with the girls, probably the last free evening before all the essay writing and studying would commence.

Deja vu...student diet









 

Tuesday 10^th September

So, first day of yard work, starting at 6.30am!.Somehow I managed to wake up before my 6am alarm. I was working with Eva putting in the silage, hay and straw for the horses, then sweeping afterwards. Everyone was allocated different jobs and different stalls to take care of. Breakfast after that is always the most amazing meal ever.

Our first session was riding theory in the classroom with Stefan and we discussed the rider's seat in depth. He is fantastic at using precise terminology, because as we all know, there is rather a lot lost in translation from German into English. It was really great to be back learning all this again, I had forgotten how much I had missed it in fact. People may argue that it is quite possible to be a good rider without knowing all this information, but wow does it come in useful when you teach and you have a structured system to follow with clear language and definitions. And as they say, an effective teacher reduces all the white noise and can just say the bare minimum.

Our first riding session of the day was jumping. Whilst I wasn't to be examined in jumping they still wanted us to have a good allround experience, plus it all helps with dressage riding and balance. I was glad to see I had been given Spocky, a dark bay gelding who I knew was very willing and honest. We were lucky to have Herr Plewa himsefl teaching us in the jumping. Spocky turned out to be a little spooky today! However I managed to get him round everything and Herr Plewa was pleased, and said in a few more sessions he would start to settle more. Some people had trickier horses than others, and someone had a fall when their horse stopped (nothing serious luckily) so quite an eventful first session.

 

For the dressage I tried a different horse today, a Rohdiament mare called Redonda. She was very pretty, very dark bay, and not too heavy. I liked her as soon as I saw her. She was not as forwards going as Damjan and a little stiff, but she was easier to put together. There were three of us in the dressage session today. Stefan lets us all work in open order on whatever we feel is necessary for the horse, sometimes asking us to ride certain movements, like today we all worked on improving the canter and also on turn on the haunches. He said he preferred me on this horse, and got me to supple her with a lot of flexions. Stefan has such a great way of describing the halt halt, and especially important is how you shouldn't drive more coming out of the half halt than coming into it. Something we may understand but do we actually do this? We then had time to watch some of the other lessons which I find really helpful in training the eye.

Herr Plewa then gave a lecture demo about long reining, and showed us how he trains young horses in piaffe. It did make me compare this correct, classical way to what you sometimes see with people using whips in the wrong way and often losing the relaxation and producing stiff, incorrect and often croup high movements. Of course Herr Plewa makes it all look so easy. He really can do what he preaches ie train according to correct principles. That seems to be a rare art these day and makes me even more glad to be training here. 

Ashamed to say that six of us went to McDonalds and had a big calorific dinner!!

I still haven’t confirmed with Stefan what I will be doing for my essay and presentation so can’t make a start on it this evening. So just going to chill in my lovely warm room while it pours with rain outside, and get some reading done. Brought a few riding theory books to get stuck into.

 

Wednesday 11^th September 2013

We managed to get through the yard work more quickly this morning. One of the horses had escaped in the night and gone for a bit of a wander!

We had lots of free time in the morning as the other group was jumping. I watched Stefan teach some of the Meister students who were of course all very effective riders. We then had theory with him and we discussed the use of the rider's aids. Stefan is really good at relating the information to current and relevant situations in the horse world. For instance when talking about getting the horse more off the leg, if you let the horse just escape forwards too quickly it actually comes off the driving aids and the rider gets left behind and ends up behind the horse’s centre of gravity, often causing the horse to tense its back and lose its suppleness. Yet how often do we see people do this, over exaggerate the driving aids, the horse almost jumps forwards, then tension is the result. Really interesting to discuss, especially when you are presented with the theory behind it and not just some vague observation and feeling.

I finally had a thought about which topic to do for my essay. As I have been working with two horses this year who have broken necklines, I thought it would be interesting to talk about how to correct this fault in training. Stefan said it was fine, but also said it was a vast and complicated subject and I would need to do it really well, incorporating both the training and biomechanical aspects. Ok, a little bit scared now I might mess it up!

I was really pleased to see I had a dressage lesson in the afternoon with just Eva (who is taking her A+ exam) as opposed to having three or four in the lesson. So, second ride on Redonda. I felt a bit under pressure to get everything much better than yesterday. We really got to work on her straightness today as she is really tricky. On the right rein she just wants to escape the outside aids and hollow, so I did lots of transitions and lateral work to try and get her more evenly into both reins. She also doesn’t stay off my driving aids in the canter, as soon as I half halt to shorten her stride or collect a little, she has a tendency to suddenly drop back into trot. So we worked on this, and also walk-canter-walk transitions. Again, tricky due to her straightness issues. However, Stefan said that today was better than yesterday. It all feels a little messy with her but determined to get things better.

Eva had a really good session on PSG horse Des Capado. He is lovely looking with great collected work, but really sharp and quite explosive and she did a fantastic job with him.

To finish with we did some seat exercises on the lunge in a GP, dressage and racing saddle. Always hard work but hugely beneficial! We had Bianca for this, it was really nice to see her again and she gave me a big hug and said she had chosen my jumping horse Spocky especially for me as he needed a nice quiet rider, aww. My back and legs were aching by the end of the session! Luckily I had Tracy in my group who used to work with racehorses and had some great tips for riding in the racing saddle. This work is so useful for riders of all disciplines for suppleness and balance.

In the evening had good intentions to start my essay, but ended up chatting in the kitchen with Tracey, Eva and Kjersti and reminiscing about previous courses and people we knew. Bad students!

Thursday 12^th September 2013

Yet another super day. It was out first session practising teaching today and I was to teach Tracey R on her own 5 year old horse, Bella. The session went fairly well, with Stefan saying I had a good eye, and we came up with exercises which would improve Bella’s self carriage.

I was then taught on Redonda by Tracy G. Redonda felt more stiff and crooked in the canter today, so we worked on that. Tracy has her work cut out! I do like this little mare though, she's very nice natured and willing. I think she will be fab once she becomes more supple.

We then had a long 2 hour theory session with Stefan. Ketinka went and made everyone coffee in preparation! Stefan went through the horse’s gaits and how to ride some different movements. At the end I confirmed with him what I would do for my presentation, which would be introducing novice riders to their first dressage competition. He said that was fine but I would need to make it practical also, so I suggested incorporating some breathing exercises too.

In the afternoon we went to the local tack store and all I bought were some socks! Well, I spent hours deciding whether to buy a new Uvex helmet, decided that I would, then found out they didn’t have the right size or colour. Absolutely adore the tack stores in Germany. Will bring an empty suitcase next time ;-)

We then all went out for dinner at a USA style restaurant. Despite the UHT chocolate milk shake, it was nice to have a meal that wasn’t a takeaway or a pot noodle! Had a great time with everyone. Trying to come up with a plan how I can stay here and not go home!!

 

Friday 13^th September 2013

We started off in the morning with XC. Tried to forget the date! Tracy G's horse Space became a little excitable on the walk down to the course and she had to change horse. I rode good old Spocky, and Rebecca and Kjersti were in my group. I got picked to jump each obstacle first. Was great to be back here on the XC course (yes, shocking to hear a dressage rider say that!)

Spocky was absolutely excellent and flew over everything. He rides very much like Colorado who I had two years ago, and he is just so straightforwards. We started off gently with very small jumps, then went on to ride obstacles like steps and banks. We finished with the water complex which is always great fun! 

Watch out - dressage rider warming up for cross country!

 

Spocky and I through the water complex.

 

In the afternoon Trainer groups A and B had theory on double bridles with Stefan. It was an excellent session and I learnt a lot of new information about how to choose bits. The most memorable part was actually putting our arm in between the bits and feeling how little pressure on the reins was needed to cause rather a lot of pain. No wonder they say if incorrectly used, the double can be like a razor blade in the hands of a monkey. Tracy G ended up with quite a mark on her arm. We all vowed we would be very, very careful when using double bridles from now on.

In the evening Tracey and I attempted to make a start on our essays accompanied by a glass of wine. Didn’t get very far, as first I locked myself out of my room and had to run and get the key off Bianca, she was just about to leave to go home! Then, Tracy kindly drove me, Hege and Hannah to the store as we had no food. This was to be a rather memorable trip for Tracy as she’d find out tomorrow! Early to bed at 9.30pm.

I am love, love, LOVING the course this year!!!

Saturday 14^th September 2013

At breakfast Tracey suddenly remembered she had left her Principles of Riding book and all her course notes on top of her car boot last night, prior to us driving to the supermarket! She drove back to find them all, retracing her route… her Principles was in the gutter, absolutely sacrilegious! That is THE Dressage Bible! Luckily she managed to retrieve it and dry it out. Unfortunately her notes were all strewn out which was a bummer. But at least we had stocked up on food I guess :-/

We had jumping after that with Bianca, doing grids with no reins which is always really fun. As usual Spocky was great and flew over everything whilst I concentrated on my position.

Then we had dressage with Stefan on Redonda. In my group today were Tracey R, Ketinka and Kjersti. She felt much better as the other German trainer, Mr Jackel, had ridden her yesterday. Just worked on getting her straight and supple and it feels like we are starting to click now. Stefan said I need to trust myself and get her to accept my diagonal aids and flexion even more. Finished the session lovely and sweaty again, love a bit of hard work.
 

 Stefan watches Redonda and I.

 

 

Then we had theory with Bianca. Worked on my essay a little but need some more textbooks. Shame I didn't have my entire bookshelf of riding books with me.

Bianca had mentioned that there was a party in the stables for the riding school riders. So after doing 4pm stable duties we checked it out. Had rather a lot of wine and punch, and ended up hanging out with Rebecca, Kertinka and Kjertsi. We were all quite merry and came up with the great idea to go clubbing Munster in the evening, so set about recruiting some more people.

So we ordered our takeaway, had a little rest, then got dressed up ready to partayyyy! Usually we are in bed by 9pm. So as I went down to the kitchen at 10pm as we had arranged, a little worried everyone would have changed their mind and wouldn’t be there! However, Kertinka, Rebecca, Heige and Sarah were still up for going. So we got a taxi to Munster and started off in a cool little bar. We had cocktails and funny discussions about whether we preferred uptight German guys or more relaxed German guys!! As you do.

We then headed to the nightclub Heaven. Was a fantastic night!! We managed the entire clubbing experience with crazy dancing, attracted guys young enough to nearly be our sons (!), ate greasy chips after, then returned back for a good three hours snooze time. Total success I would say! 

Sunday 15^th September 2013

So to bed after 3am and up ready for yard work commencing at 7am. Might have been easier to go straight from club to yard. There was lots to do as well as there are few people naturally on a Sunday. Have never been so glad for breakfast! Had a little snooze after that then did work on my essay. Am making good progress on it and really hope its along the right lines. So much more fun than uni essays.

Really warm and sunny today. Linda arranged to pick us up at 5pm so we could all go for dinner in Munster. Despite being a tad tired, I thought it would be fun to go. It was long (but very entertaining) getting there, as we went to the wrong restaurant, walked for miles, and didn’t eventually arrive until after 7pm. Ketinka had made a really good choice choosing an Asian restaurant and the food was lovely and felt much healthier than all the recent junk, they even had tofu, hoorah! Had a glass of Pinot and we chatted about all sorts of funny stuff. We are already discussing coming back early next year to do our Silver Medal course, which is required prior to the Trainer A exam.

Monday 16^th September 2013

Argh another 8am dressage lesson! So mad rush, the bread for breakfast hadn’t arrived so I shoved some cheese down my throat and tacked up Redonda. I was warming up when Kertinka checked the list and said my horse had been changed, I was meant to be on Wenturoso! It was too late to do anything now, was hoping Stefan wouldn’t think I was a total idiot. He said it was fine, he had just wanted to change the horses round a bit and see what I thought. 

So another sweaty, hard, lesson trying to get Redonda’s back end following her front, getting her to accept the hollow right rein and basically get her connected. We must have ridden for a good hour, it was a long, tiring but thoroughly enjoyable lesson. Really good for me to work on straightening. One interesting thing was that Stefan told me to shorten the reins and I automatically straightened the right, inside rein first then thought "oh no!!! Always shorten the outside one first!" but then he said I'd done the right thing to shorten the hollow rein first, so that she had to stay connected with it. I have never come across that before but it makes total sense with a horse who is extremely crooked - note, not for your average horse guys, outside rein first ;-) 

The next surprise was when we discovered we had to do our stable management presentations at 2pm. Tracey and I were working together and hadn’t even started ours yet!. So in between riding and during lunch, we managed to put some sort of Powerpoint presentation together on Health Prevention. It actually went pretty well considering. Kertinka’s presentation on the hoof was interesting!! Funny old afternoon though: balancing the laptop on a hay bale, Stefan getting horse snot from Robert all over him, Tracey saying a good first aid kit would contain pliers to remove the hoof! Think all the work must be getting to us :-p

It was Kjersti’s birthday today and I made her a card with only the items I had with me, lined paper and highlighters! Poor girl! She was enjoying drinking red wine, eating marzipan chocolate and pondering over horse videos again, so quite a nice birthday really.

Early finish at 4.15pm so we could work on our coursework. We had takeaway pasta to celebrate with Kjersti, and Linda joined us for a glass of wine.

Tuesday 17^th September 2013

I always prefer to start the day with jumping rather than dressage as it involves a bit less brain power and sweat. Tracey, Kjertsi and myself were in a group with Herr Plewa. I did have to think slightly more than I’d expected as I was the first rider to go out of us, and I’m not great at memorising courses quickly. Spocky was so much better today. He had a couple of looks at jumps but overall I really loved the whole experience. I do find courses easier as once you've got a good rhythm going everything flows nicely. Somehow during this lesson I managed to pull something in my lower back which was painful for days after, but as long as I can ride dressage, that’s all that counts right ;-)

Herr Plewa then did theory with us in the school, and we watched one of the apprentices ride Damjan. These sessions are always so interesting and some of my favourite as you can see theory in action. We talked about the quality of the paces and the influence of the rider’s aids. Damjan is not the most supple horse so we watched how specific exercises could improve this.

After lunch it was more teaching practice. Yet again, I was first to go!!! What is with this?! Hadn’t prepared as much as I should have done which showed. The plan is now that I need to develop the concept within Tracey’s lesson more and integrate counter canter and simple changes, as well as all the rest, in my 20 minute slot. No sweat :-/

I managed to get the right dressage horse ready today, Wenturoso, who is a bay gelding by Weltmeyer. It was a bit daunting as I wouldn’t be having a lesson with Stefan on him, but instead Tracy G would be practising her teaching on me, and neither of us knew how the horse should go. So I warmed him up on my own before the session started and was relieved to find him much straighter and lighter to ride than Redonda. The session went really well, with Tracy getting me to get him more supple over the back and maintaining the forwards tendency in the canter-trot-canter transitions and not back off the contact. We then started to work on collecting the canter with simple changes in mind. We were quite impressed how he changed from the warm up to the end of the session and became really ridable.

I was still worried what feedback I would get from Stefan about riding this new horse though! At the end of the session he said “Anita, come over here” and I thought eeeek, maybe he’ll drag me off the horse?! Thankfully he actually said I rode him well, yes rode him well!!! Apparently he has a tendency to come behind the contact but had been good today. Anyway, hope its not beginners luck and sometimes I feel more worried after a good session. But still, really pleased with that. So two great rides today.
 

I then watched some of the other lessons. Also managed to finish my essay today finally. Knowing me I will probably still add bits until I am forced to hand it in.

Usual appearance of my desk. Yes, wine in a teacup. Must take a wine glass next year.






 

Wednesday 18^th September 2013

Just about managed barn work today with my dodgy back. We had the morning free to work on our coursework. Then we had another theory session in the school with Herr Plewa, again talking about the gaits and training. He always explains everything so clearly, and I love the fact that him and Stefan compliment each other perfectly and nothing is out of sync.
 

So second ride on Wenturoso, in a lesson with Stefan. Eva and Tracy G were in my lesson today. Another super duper ride, really pleased with how it went. Stefan commented favourably on our working, collected and medium canters, counter canter, simple changes and stretching in trot. I kept getting stuck in the turn on the haunches and he helped me with a great visualisation. He held his hand to my side (on the inside) and said imagine every single fibre in my body is trying to get closer to it. This really helped me guide the horse much more into the movement in a more flowing way, without needing to think about specific aids whilst riding it.

So we cooled the horses off, plucked them apples from the tree, and then headed off for our next session. This was a discussion session in the breakfast room with Stefan about how our essays, presentations and lesson plans were going. There were a lot of question marks and doubts as we told him what we’d done so far, was a very entertaining session actually! Very funny moment when I managed to blurt something out a little too quickly which prompted Stefan to say he had to really use his brain to understand me haha. Ironic as I'm the only person on the course who lives in England with possibly the most British accent! I handed in a draft copy of my essay so will wait tentatively… hoping he won’t tell me to choose an easier topic instead now that I have written a crazy amount of pages...

A few more people did their stable management presentations and we didn’t finish until 6.30pm. takeaway pasta dinner. Yet again I’m “first on” again tomorrow morning at 8am teaching Tracey so need to plan my lesson properly.

Thursday 19^th September 2013

I was pretty nervous before teaching Tracey this morning, I think the pressure to perform better and better is starting to get to me a little. Stefan basically said I need to be more confident and trust my eye. If Tracey doesn't improve what she's doing enough, then I need to YELL, pretty much! Although Bella is only five Tracey will aim her at Young Horse classes next year. So 1) Tracey is a long standing friend 2) I have to teach her on her own, talented young horse and not a school horse, and 3) she works and trains with Hayley Beresford!! All of these factors add to my general nerves about the whole situation!

So Tracy G taught me on Wenturoso. He felt stiff to start with and I always worry I won’t be as good as the previous day, but he was really mega again. So good that we flew through the transitions, got him more supple, did really good simple changes on a serpentine, and then finished with medium trot. Stefan=very happy, and said “very good riding” again at the end, wahoo! And I was pleased when Ketinka said that she’d never seen him do a medium trot like that before. So left another session on a total high :-) Why can't life always be this amazing ;-) I am really latching onto praise as the first time I rode in Germany many years ago I barely left walk as my thumbs weren't even in the right position lol.

At lunch, Joan from Canada arrived and it was good to catch up again. I’d met her two years previously and she’d come especially for the Eckart Meyners clinic which started that afternoon. It was great to finally meet Eckart and his lovely wife, having learnt about his techniques of improving rider balance and co-ordination during my Trainer C course. He started by giving us a talk, and I was very glad he brought copies of his book Effective Teaching and Riding as I have not been able to get hold of a copy in the UK at all.

Joan was the first rider on the clinic. Basically the rider has their horse warmed up, then schools the horse in front of Eckart for about 5 minutes (or sometimes even less). Eckart has the most amazing eye to see where they are blocked in their body and has a bank of over 600 exercises to help them. He will also ask the rider what they feel they need to work on, and will ask for feedback after he does the exercises. I have tried all sorts of rider orientated exercises from pilates to work without stirrups, but Eckart was about to revolutionise my seat and riding, and how I thought about it all too...

It seems that the typical rider is blocked through the pelvis and this then affects movement throughout the whole body. There are also some key blockage areas that matter more than others, such as at the back of the head around the occipital joint. Eckart will make the rider dismount the horse and work with them on the ground. Usually he gives them exercises to do involving co-ordination or strengthening, and he has a range of equipment he uses to help too, including the infamous Balimo stool (a stool that rocks in all directions that improves specific pelvis movement). He then gets them back on the horse to see the difference. He will make them dismount and do exercises maybe 4 or 5 times.

So anyway, the difference he produced in every single rider was just INCREDIBLE. As thinking trainers we all know it is not enough to simply say “heels down” or “thumbs on top” as corrections because the origination of the problem is elsewhere. But by starting with specific problem areas such as the pelvis or stiff ankles/shoulders/whatever, you can produce a massive influence on the seat. After just the first correction, every rider I saw got back on and looked like they were swinging so much more in time with the horse and with minimal effort...much more fluidity allround. Sitting trot truly became effortless when blockages were removed. Has to be seen to be believed though!

You need to lose your inhibitions when you’re on a mat sitting in front of an audience with your legs up in the air, as well as in other undignified positions. I wasn’t riding until tomorrow and was a little anxious what exercises I would be given.

Off-the-horse exercises

So it was a fascinating afternoon and every one of us was astounded by what we saw. Whilst I was a little familiar with the exercises I had never before seen riders on a horse before and after doing them. In the evening we all went out for dinner with Eckhart and his wife at a local hotel restaurant. I hadn't eaten much all day and drunk a little too much Pinot before the main meal came! Seems to be a recurring theme here, hehe. There were very lively discussions, we had a great night, and I was buzzing when I got home and couldn’t sleep at all. Which doesn’t bode well for early morning starts!!!

Friday 20^th September 2013

YET another utterly amazing day. First we had the theory of straightness with Stefan at 8am which was really useful as straightness is a subject that I cannot get enough of, it makes my brain feel like I'm doing algebra. I really understand what “riding in position” is now having pondered on it for the last two years! You ride shoulder fore positioning on the horse's hollow side and riding in position on the stiff side (the terms hollow and stiff aren't exactly accurate but we won't get into that discussion right now!)

I was second to ride in the Eckart clinic. Bit of a panic as I realised Wenturoso was in the field and had to rush to get him in and ready. I warmed him up and we started. Eckart asked me what I wanted to work on. I said I felt like there was too much movement in my pelvis and middle of my body, and would like this stabilised. I also feel like I carry too much tension in my shoulders and would like them more relaxed. So he set to work!

The first exercise was to stabilise the pelvis more. He got me to do a simple exercise that involves lieing on my back and moving my knees one way and my head the other. No joke, when I got back on and did sitting trot (bearing in mind the horse isn’t the smoothest or most supple), I felt like I was literally glued to the saddle and could sit and absorb the movement without doing anything consciously at all. Usually I can only get this sensation on horses/ponies with more flat movement. I was totally shocked at how easy and effortless it suddenly felt. I didn't have to exert as much muscle power to sit still relative to the horse.

So I was on and off the horse a good few times. We discovered my left shoulder is pretty bad in its range of movement and he gave me specific exercises for that. I also did a gruelling one to strengthen certain muscles which involved trying to balance on a sort of cushion on my back, front and both sides with all limbs off the ground – not easy I can tell you! Felt like pilates! But once back on the horse I felt amazing. My shoulders felt so different, I can only describe it as my arms felt much lighter and no effort to carry or hold at all, like they might just float away. I'm generally the biggest sceptic about new things until I can prove them to be true, and let me tell you, this guy is an absolute genius and we were so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with him.  

 

More exercises with the guru that is Eckart Meyners.

And putting it into practice.

After that I had a cross country session on Spocky with Tracy G (on Duval) with Bianca teaching. This was also a positive session, despite Spocky having a spooky at a few obstacles, I felt really in balance with him and feel like my light seat is pretty secure now. We finished with the good old water complex. Bianca said I became a bit too upright in between the fences and said it was probably because I didn’t want to get water in my eyes, hehe.

After this Kjersti and I watched Hege have a private lesson on Daywalker with Stefan. The weather was lousy and rainy but I managed to get some good photos for her as she very kindly always takes photos of us riding. Stefan's focus on the rider is exceptional, I am starting to like him as a trainer more and more.

 Stefan instructs Hege on Daywalker

We were waiting for Stefan to go through our essays and I asked him if he was done, but he said he’d only read half of mine! Eek, the deadline is 8am tomorrow morning, printed out and ready!!! We didn’t want to harass him any more so left it and headed back to the dorms. Linda hung out with us for a while and discussed the day with Eckart and we suggested putting together a plan of practice for everyone to keep up the exercises, as we still have all the equipment to play with.

Stefan eventually made a little impromptu trip to our dorm to give us back our essays. Poor him having to deal with a dozen high energy females all eating takeaway and drinking wine, whilst practising our Eckart exercises! I was very very pleased to get good feedback on my essay :-D

Saturday 21^st September 2013

Never want to leave, but really this stable work is getting too much haha. We had a long and interesting riding theory session with Stefan at 8am again. Then it was a dressage lesson with him. I was feeling a bit flat and unmotivated today. I think because I really don’t want to make anything worse before exam day. However good old Wenturoso was great as usual, his collected canter is just fab. Stefan said I should do something more complicated to get myself noticed more, like a 6 loop serpentine with simple changes. Kind of tricky to practice with 3 other riders in the school! But hopefully we should be okay with that.

After that we were free until Monday!!! Well kind of. Kjersti, Tracey and I had went to Handorf to get our essays printed in colour and finally handed them in, what a relief. We then went to the supermarket and discovered there was a free wine dispensing machine at the back of the store. Yes really! Free wine! No one even cared that we spent rather a long while trying out every different wine. Wow, this would never happen in England! I bought 8 Milka chocolate bars (as well as other junk) and we headed back.

Free wine!!!

Hege wanted to go to the tack store again so I thought I’d go as I had nothing much planned. Linda took us and we had a good old catch up. I really don’t seem to be much good at this buying lark, I just bought a Pikeur headband. Picturing a cold Winter when I return to England, eurgh.

Keep getting texts every other day from new clients back home who want lessons which is great as I cannot wait to unleash all my new knowledge and enthusiasm :-D

For lunch I actually stooped to new student lows and microwaved yesterday’s takeaway pasta! Spent some time working on my lesson plan. Started to drive me insane as its so complicated!! I have everything in it from transitions within the gait, to counter canter, to a simple change. Need to remind myself that this is a lesson plan and not an essay! Plan on just reading my new Eckart Meyners books this evening, drinking wine and eating chocolate on my bed.

Loving the fact tomorrow is the first morning off from stable duties.

Sunday 22^nd September 2013

Did I have a lie in? No! I went down for breakfast at 7.30am, went round chasing laundry tokens, then did my washing. Spent the morning trying to do more work on my presentation. Despite it only needing to be 15 minutes long it seems to be taking me a very long time to make it. Have some lovely colourful Powerpoint slides though.

At 1pm we all headed off to the stallion parade at Warendorf. It was pretty cool, lots of upbeat dance music and highly exhubarant stallions being shown off. I bought some new riding gloves, ate chips and drunk hot chocolate. Took lots and lots of photos. There was a lot of energy at the show, really great.

 

In the evening we went for dinner in Warendorf, me, Tracey, Sarah and Hege. Was the best meal I’ve had here, veggie wrap, more chips and Pinot, yum. Great afternoon of not having to think about work!

Just back and its shower and bed for me.

 

Monday 23^rd September 2013

Another awesomer than awesome day. Starting to wonder if my perception of life is way off as things are going amazingly well for once?!

As usual I was teaching Tracey at 8am. Felt more confident today, although felt really really hot and wondered if I was coming down with something! Went fairly well again, just need to remember to give Bella more breaks!

I then rode for Tracy G. Poor old Wenturoso was stiff today after a day off yesterday. He was really difficult to get through but we managed to do our simple changes and some counter canter.  Thankfully Stefan didn't hold me responsible for Wenty's way of going and commented that he was a bit clumsy today. Lets hope he improves before the exam!

Frantically finished my oral presentation at lunch time as we were showing them to Herr Plewa in the afternoon as a practice run. I am not the best at speaking in front of people! My topic is also a bit “unconventional” as I've decided to change it, and its about the rider’s mind and some psychology and philosophy behind riding. For the practical part I am going to lead two short meditation sessions based around improving focus and concentration when riding.

I was second last to go and was a bit worried watching everyone else’s presentations as they were all really good and practical. Kjersti was doing rider symmetry, Tracey suppleness whilst lunging, Tracy conformation and Ketinka the muscles. So it seemed mine was the only classroom based Powerpoint one, uh oh.

 

Ketinka chalks up my Wenty to show where the muscles attach. Herr Plewa watches on.








Anyway I started it and got into a good flow and people seemed interested. Herr Plewa stopped me after about 5 minutes and I thought oh dear, either this is way off or 15 minutes has flown by! I hadn’t even got to the meditation part!! But he basically said it was really good, I was enthusiastic and he didn’t need to see anymore. Eeeeek!

Eva was the last to go for her Trainer A+ presentation and it was really interesting as she talked about different training systems in various countries, including the German system, Parelli etc.

VERY relieved to get that over with!!!

Funny not having much to do this evening as presentation and lesson plan are pretty much done.

Ordered my new Uvex Perfexxion anthracite helmet today so should be waiting for me when I get home. At least that’s one thing to look forwards to when I head back. Also trying to organise my lessons for the weekend I get back.

So all I’ve done this evening is drink more wine and straighten my hair ;-)

Tuesday 24^th September 2013

Slightly bitter sweet day I guess.

We had lots of theory in the morning with Herr Plewa, Stefan and Bianca. Kind of nice to sit down for  a few hours. Hannah and Dara did their stable management presentation on lameness which was really useful. Stefan made a joke about Ketinka’s hoof presentation which I won’t repeat, but it was rather amusing!

 

Everyone hard at work.

At lunch I finished off my lesson plan and then handed it in. Another bit of coursework done with.

In the afternoon we had our last dressage training session with Stefan. I think we all wanted this session to really count. So I set off all determined to get Wenturoso ready. Stefan was teaching and paused to tell me he’d seen my horse “cantering around in the field” and I’d need to get him in! Luckily one of the apprentices was just leading him in so I didn’t have to panic. Can’t stand running late! Poor boy wasn’t impressed he didn’t get his lunch though.  He’s so sweet, he watches me the whole time I walk off to get his tack and waits for me to get back then licks my hand.

Today I warmed him up by walking round the big field. As he’d been so stiff yesterday I spent a good 20 minutes walking, and hoped that this might liven him up a bit more too. Sarah was riding Robert out there who really is a transformed horse since two years ago, much leaner and works really nicely now on the bit. Apparently they even use him for the Meister exam.

I warmed up with Tracy G and Ketinka in the jumping arena and made sure Wenturoso was more in front of my leg than usual. Started the lesson feeling really positive and it continued in a similar manner. Achieved the best trot and canter I’ve ever managed with him. I was really able to pick him up in front and ride him with even more collection. Was such a great ride with a really good feeling. I just love this horse! Some random cyclists stopped by to watch us ride and said “well done!” as I trotted past haha.

Stefan said it was a good session and I said I’d stop there before I made anything worse!! I joked that I’d have to take him back to England with me to help me keep riding like this, and he said it would definitely be possible for him to hop across to England. Seriously?! Oh wow!!! Something to keep my spirits up as the end of the course looms.

So I felt kind of happy, sad and excited as I walked my sweaty boy off round the block. Afterwards we watched Hege do the last horse management presentation which was on feed. Stefan cracked lots of funny jokes and it was a really good, fun last session. He won’t be here for the last two exam days as he’s going away.

Spent the evening cleaning my tack. There were lessons going on until late. Our dorm kitchen was full of tack, boots and polish. Had a great chat with Tracy G about life in general as I buffed up my boots with a pair of tights, best secret to getting a good shine ;-)  Kjersti has gone to look at more horses for sale with Linda and she showed us the videos of some of the stunners she saw on her last trip out. It really is all about contacts.

So as I sit here the evening before our ridden dressage and teaching exams tomorrow I don’t feel nervous in the slightest. I am looking forwards to riding lovely Wenturoso one last time and making sure it’s a great ride. I feel really sad that our dressage training is over and that the course is nearly finished. I feel that usual apprehension about going home as I have a whole load of things to sort out. But I also feel beyond excited that Stefan will come to England!!! And he reckons he could fit in a visit fairly soon. Better get planning this clinic then, CANNOT WAIT!!! I must say that Stefan has really made this course.

So I guess it will be a bit strange thinking that I will be carrying on this journey without him overseeing every session, and without the companionship of the amazing friends I have made on this course. Sob sob. I guess I’d better get my arse in gear, organise the clinic, and start planning ahead for my next goals (if I pass these exams). Which will be the Silver Medal and then finally the Trainer A.

 

Wednesday 25^th September 2013

Its 9.45am and just killing time in my room. We did barn work as usual in the morning and my first exam isn’t until 3pm. I turned Wenturoso out in the field so hopefully he will be nice and loose again today. Will get him in and plait up fairly soon. Just been catching up on Facebook. Markus Bauer has started an interesting thread about not-so-great-judging and there were comments afterwards from people saying they didn’t really know what thoroughness was. So I told them to come to Germany where they will be forced to write essays on it and ride decent schoolmasters :-P

Been making taxi arrangements and things to go home :-( What a transforming trip this has been.

So on to the exam. Tracy and I were riding together in the first group. We got on and ready in lots of time, although I was a bit stressed as my arm number kept falling down and the white saddlecloth didn’t fit properly. Its funny how little things can set you off! We had a nice long warm up and I was disappointed that Wenty was having more of a stiff day. Oh well, just had to work him as best I could.

We had been told the actual exam was going to consist of the judges watching us school the horses for 15-20 minutes and we had planned roughly what we would show in that time. It turned out to be much shorter than this and I was really disappointed (more that I’d let Stefan down!) that I barely got to do the movements we’d been practicing. I did some collection and lengthening, and I did put in some simple changes, but didn’t get round to doing the whole serpentine as the canter wasn’t “quite” ready, and did no counter canter either. So felt a bit despondent when they said the time was up.

Riding Wenty in the exam

 

I then had to critique Ketinka teaching Kjersti. That went ok, although they did ask a few unexpected questions about the horse as opposed to the teaching that threw me for a moment.

I then had to teach Tracey according to our lesson plan. Poor Bella looked tired from the start having already done her dressage session. So it was difficult to get her where we wanted her and with more self carriage, although we did get a good counter canter. The judges then asked me questions about how I thought the session went etc.

Then finally I had to ride whilst Tracy G taught me. Somehow the judges were running half an hour EARLY and I barely got time to canter or loosen up poor old Wenturoso. So in we went again. Felt bad for Tracy as he felt really tired and I was working hard to try and get him more in front of my leg but nothing much was happening. Shame as yesterday had been super, but I guess all the horses are becoming a little tired now.

So felt a bit deflated after all that, especially with the dressage riding. But then I thought, would I rather have had an amazing lesson with Stefan yesterday which I did, or had an amazing ride during the exam, and actually yesterday meant more to be honest.

We all decided what we needed was some retail therapy!! So we managed to get Linda to call Leo’s Tack Store to stay open for us in the evening and Tracey, Hege, Hannah and myself drove over there. Managed to find some bargains so was a little happier. And we stopped off at McDonalds too and that also helped somewhat haha.

Stayed up late in the kitchen chatting as some people are going home tomorrow evening. We spent hours analysing the day. Everyone seems calm about tomorrow. All I have to do is the oral presentation now.

Thursday 26^th September 2013 

Last day of the course. After stable duties I actually went back and had a nap as presentations not until the afternoon. Had lunch with Tracey, Tracy and Kjersti and we discussed the course and how much fun we’d had, and planned when and where we would be meeting up again.

I was last to go in the presentation. Became a little nervous watching all the others do theirs. However it went ok. Very surreal getting everyone in their show gear to meditate, not to mention the examiners!!! Relieved when that was over.

Tracy presenting her talk on the horse's conformation. Lots of useful information about what makes an ideal dressage horse.

 

Kjersti's talk on rider symmetry. Sarah was an obliging model and we learnt a lot about how asymmetry is compensated for within the body.

Wenty being decorated again.

And yey we all passed!!!!!! Thank goodness after all that hard work. Mr Plewa had the champers waiting as soon as we found out, and many photos were taken.

 A really great group

In the evening we all went out for dinner in Warendorf with Linda. Was a really lovely end to the course. Very entertaining and fun evening, especially the taxi ride back home with Tracy and Dara, which involved a little spillage!! Absolutely shattered though. What a trip.
 

Friday 27^th September 2013

Amazing sunrise this morning, our very last day,

 

Flight wasn’t until the afternoon. Tracey and I headed to Munster with the money collection from everyone to buy presents for Linda, Stefan, Mr Plewa and Bianca. I felt really queasy from last night and looking at stripey scarves and things didn't help at all :-/

 

Lovely Sarah booked my taxi, and whilst I waited I had coffee with her and Hannah. Was very sad saying goodbye to them, Tracey and Rebecca as my taxi arrived. The taxi driver said to me “You really ARE sad” as I burst into tears! And so it was back home to England to put everything into practice that I had learnt, and hopefully inspire people along the way to train their horses ethically yet effectively.

Bye bye Germany for another year :-)