the late 1970s. He rode a number of horses to national cham- pionship titles and competed internationally in the 1980s and 1990s. He and his horse Becket were the reserve pair for the British Dressage Team for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. An FEI 5* judge for dressage and young horse dressage,
Stephen served as president of the ground jury for the 2012 London Olympic Games. During the last fifteen years, he has also judged at the Athens Olympics and a number of World Equestrian Games, World Cup Finals and European Champi- onships. He was elected FEI Dressage Judge General in 2013. The Dressage Judge General position coordinates discus- sion and communication between FEI judges and ensures that information is disseminated to all judges through the FEI headquarters. While serving on the FEI Dressage Committee, and
before that as chair of British Dressage’s Judging Commit- tee, Stephen has been instrumental in modernizing dres- sage judging systems and in training new international judge candidates. An active clinician and instructor, he specializes in developing young professional trainers. Since he is also a judge he can offer excellent, unique insight to the riders he teaches.
THE CONFERENCE LINE UP The eight riders participating in the conference were from all across the country and are listed in the order in which they appeared each day: Annie Morris, Columbia, Connecti- cut, riding Julia’s Magic, a six-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding by Don Juan, owned by Denise Sarnoff; Lisa Pier- son, Hopewell, New York, riding Baryshnikov, a 14-year- old Hackney gelding by Forewood Commander, owned by Leeda Fletcher; Helen Claire McNulty, Holland, Michigan, riding Reel Adventure, a 14-year-old Hanoverian by Rotspon, owned by Dr. Kristy Lund; Shelly Francis, Loxahatchee, Florida, riding Danilo, a 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding by DeNiro, owned by Patricia Stempel; D’Re Stergios, Peta- luma, California, riding her eight-year-old Hanoverian mare Sarumba by Sir Donnerhall I; Jennifer Baumert, Mathews, North Carolina, riding Ramiro, an eight-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding by Don Romantic, owned by the rider and Lisa Butterfield; Christina Vinios, Wellington, Florida, riding her nine-year-old Oldenburg mare Donna Carina 6 by Don Primero; and Noel Williams, Wellington, Florida, riding Sir Velo, an eight-year-old Westfalen gelding by Sandro Bedo, owned by Melissa Mulchahey. With all but the first horse, who was a still developing six-
year-old, Stephen had the horse and rider pairs perform a test at their current FEI level, then he critiqued the test and worked with the riders to address the issues that he saw. Then on the second day of the conference he spent more time developing the training of each horse. Each horse and rider pair did a lovely job and helped him illustrate many important points to the audience. On the first evening of the conference, there was a recep- tion including a presentation by owner John Hall of Freedom Health, the maker of Succeed, and a question and answer
session with both Stephen and Dr. Hillary Clayton, a world renowned bio-mechanics expert, who came to the stage to discuss the half halt.
ADVICE FOR BREEDERS “First you need a lot of luck. It’s like successful people—the harder you work the luckier you get. With breeding success- ful horses, I think it has to start with the ability to stay sound, because if a horse won’t stay sound, you can do what you like, but it’s not going to work. So for me, breeding for correct conformation that keeps a horse sound must be the biggest priority. Then you begin on the physical and athletic abil- ity of the horse, like we’ve seen today—horses that are built in nature to carry out the exercises that we want to produce with ease and horses that are naturally athletic,” Stephen explained to the group. “But I really think you can get an awfully long way, even
to the point of a medal, with a horse that has correct paces and a good temperament. That’s what I have learned over the years. Something that has rideability and is correct within its paces. They don’t have to be totally flashy and all of the rest of it. It’s an added bonus if a horse has from nature athletic ability. For me, soundness, correct paces and a decent temperament can get you an awfully long way if you train it properly. If you look at some of the really top horses still today, I think, ‘I wonder if I’d have bought you as a four-year- old.’ But because they’ve been so brilliantly trained, they can actually beat other horses that perhaps from nature are more talented. It really is down to the training, but the better the horse is from nature, the easier it is to train.”
THE MESSAGE OF BASICS Stephen’s ability to boil down the most complex topics into simple, easy-to-understand basics makes him a gifted teacher. Fellow FEI 5* judge Lilo Fore of California has known Stephen for many years. She is also the chairman of the USDF’s Instructor Trainer Committee and acted as modera- tor at this year’s trainers conference. “Stephen is an expert in giving presentations,” she said. “His humble attitude, though
Opposite page: Judge Stephen Clarke teaches Annie Morris riding Julia’s Magic. Above: Stephen Clarke and Hilary Clayton present a discussion on the technical aspects of a half halt.
Warmbloods Today 21
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