POINT OF VIEW “I don’t let the mare go from canter to walk now. I have to go
through the trot to change her responses and to teach her my way of riding. In this situation, you want to defend your horse, but there isn’t time, and I wasn’t going to tell the audience why. But I think it’s okay to ride in a clinic even if you don’t feel per- fectly ready. You can’t solve everything at once,” she explains. Charlotte as the perfectionist who doggedly seeks preci- sion came into focus during Mette’s two rides, especially when working on the canter zig-zag, a difficult movement in any circumstance, but one particularly in Charlotte’s system which demands that the horse be on the aids. Charlotte’s formula: turn down center line, half pass four strides, one stride straight, flying change. As they worked and worked on this movement, Charlotte insisted on the precision for which she is known. Suc- cess came when Charlotte suggested Mette do the exercise with a leg yield instead of half pass. When it worked, the audi- ence was thrilled. “Mette could ride the zig-zag as a 6.5, but Charlotte is try-
ing to get an 8 or 9,” Judy explained. “Mette may not be aware that she is losing the shoulders and the hindquarters in the movement.” Mette knew that her horse did not have the straightness or
the strength to do much more and whispered to Charlotte that the horse had had enough. She then said to the audience, and to Charlotte, “Some of us think it is good enough. And then we do not raise the bar. I appreciate someone who consistently has us raise the bar.” As Mette explained later, “My horse’s previous rider hadn’t
ridden her with those aids. The horse doesn’t have it in her rep- ertoire. But she is so much better now that I am gaining from the alphabet, going from a to b, from b to c. But to do the zig- zag like it should be, I still need more letters to choose from.” Mette was quite pleased with all the effort Charlotte and Judy put into the clinic, adding she has seen clinicians who try to make everyone happy. This can leave horses and riders with little improvement with participants going home unsatisfied. “Instruction is not criticism. If you tell some people how to
train better, they get upset. They want results, but don’t want to hear it. But it’s not criticism; it’s guidance,” Mette adds. “Char- lotte came here to make a difference.”
VICKI AND ROUX In all his eleven years, no one except owner Vicki Rea had ever ridden W.H. Roux, until the top ranking rider in the dressage world climbed aboard. The session didn’t start out that way. Charlotte watched
Vicki ride the 17.2-hand liver chestnut and used her big voice as Vicki did canter half pass. “What’s that, Vicki? Why are you slowing down? You go on holiday when you go sideways.” When the horse needed more left bend, Charlotte asked her
to open her left shoulder. But, little did everyone know, Vicki had broken that shoulder twice and it was particularly stiff at that moment. Plus the ruptured disc in her lower back was flar-
ing up. When Charlotte said if you don’t sit down, I’ll take your stirrups away, Vicki thought, please do. Then Charlotte asked to ride him. “I had never seen him under saddle. I knew she’d like him because she rides big, hot horses. He was pretty wound up and was giving his all,” Vicki remarks. “Now we’ll see if it’s you or the horse,” Charlotte said, which
soon followed with, “It’s you.” She continued, “He feels keen to work.” Then later, “He feels quite cheeky.” Vicki was honored to have Charlotte ride him. “He did every- thing she asked. She kept thinking he would spook because he has a way of looking out from the bridle and wearing his ears, but he didn’t. He always looks happy.” The Dutch Warmblood
came to Vicki via a video when he was two and a half. The USDF bronze and silver medalist explains, “He’s my best friend and a blast to ride. He’s a gift—a big hearted, happy, will- ing horse who comes out asking ‘what are we going to do today?’ I love the way Charlotte and Carl [Hester, Charlotte’s trainer] let the horses have their personalities and let them be horses.” “Roux accepts the aids the way they do it, so the ride went
TOP: Charlotte riding W.H. Roux for owner Vicki Rea. Until this clinic, no one else had ever ridden him. BOTTOM: Charlotte thoroughly en- joyed riding Leslie Reid’s P.R.E. stal- lion Kobal CEN during the clinic.
well. I like that she let him work right up in the bridle. Most cli- nicians tend to want me to put my horse’s head and neck in an unnatural position for schooling, which causes problems. She let him work in a place that was comfortable for him. When I got on him he felt more supple and happier,” she says. Working his piaffe and passage, movements that this Prix
St. Georges horse was already schooling at home, Charlotte lowered the neck to get the shoulders up a bit, and com- mented that he really put effort in from his hind legs. She sug- gested getting him quicker and more forward, and then more in place later. Participants at the event brought home a few new phrases
thanks to their time with this British instructor: things like ‘riding along the wall’ instead of ‘riding on the rail’ and ‘riding up the school’ for ‘riding around the arena.’ More importantly, spectators and clinicians alike left with new ideas, lots of notes, plenty of inspiration and great respect for all the horses, riders and instructors at this very special clinic. “It was a wonderful experience,” Vicki said afterwards. “And my horse now talks with a British accent!”
Warmbloods Today 59
Patti Schofler
Patti Schofler
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