Developing the Young Dressage Horse
AN INTERVI EW with LISA WI L C O X
By Charlene Strickland
prospects for the international levels. Lisa sees the young horse tests—FEI and USEF—as guidelines for horse trainers and believes that they match the correct development goals for the young horses. “I think it’s phenomenal that we have these guidelines for riders to understand where a five-year-old, for example, should be when they’re being judged,” Lisa says. “The rider may realize that maybe she didn’t have a good enough understanding of a five-year-old in the connection in the counter canter or the canter-walk transition. You need to be intense and study the frame.”
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She is also pleased at how the young horse championships test the training and the horse’s readiness for the upper levels. It’s a program she wholeheartedly embraces, both here in North America and abroad. Lisa’s years of experience in Germany
taught her the skills of educating young horses. She also specializes in working with exuberant young stallions. In August this year she demonstrated her training success at the USEF National Dressage Championships, presenting the nation’s top young Grand Prix horse, Pikko del Cerro HU, an American-bred Hanoverian by Pik-L. Lisa is a master at showing in an electric environment, able to teach the young horse to focus through the warm-up and the test.
THE TEST REFLECTS THE TRAINING Lisa embraces the USEF Young Horse program (ages four, five and six) and appreciates how the horse’s age matches the training. “It’s very good that riders are learning what the training requires. I think it’s a super outline for people in the industry. Those judges are going to let you know if you’re on the right track in your training,” she says.
She also applauds the judges for their 24 November/December 2012
urturing and developing the talented young horse is a test of horsemanship. Olympian Lisa Wilcox relishes the process of preparing dressage
Lisa Wilcox and Pikko del Cerro HU win the 2012 USEF National Developing Grand Prix Horse Championship.
diplomacy in announcing horses’ scores. Their suggestions can help educate riders (and spectators) to improve their training. “You might not know your horse is unsteady in his frame or that he needs to be better behind and be more engaged, therefore more supple over the back.” The quality of training helps the horse blossom. “You see the horse’s talent and ability as long as the horse has the right rider and trainer,” Lisa remarks. “Otherwise, you can do the opposite. You can take that talent, that raw talent, and turn it into absolutely nothing. The way you know how to develop the horse is having years and years of experience training them, three years old and up.” With that experience, the trainer can tailor training to the individual. Lisa knows not to assess a horse prematurely, because the horse may be slow to develop and be overwhelmed by the five- or six-year-old tests. “I think you can’t tag them too
Lisa schools the shoulder-in
at the canter. She does lateral bending to supple the horse and get his attention.
early on because you don’t see that ‘something.’ The development of the horse is very detailed, such as how long it takes some horses to get the suspension,” she continues. “What I require are three basically good gaits: a good walk, a good canter and a trot that we can develop. You don’t always see it early on.” As an example, she mentions Totilas.
All photos by Charlene Strickland
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