a very important man in the horse world, is so refreshing. One never felt talked down to; one never felt that a ques- tion was not important enough to be answered. Working with such a good educator, besides being a good friend, was thrilling and I enjoyed myself tremendously being part of it, even in a small way. His skill in making everyone feel special, and the way he first picked what they needed to improve most, was so correct in my humble opinion.” From the first rider on the first day and in every session
after that, the basic tenets of reaction time, the use of transitions, straightness, balance and throughness were mentioned often. “He instilled in all of the riders the wish to improve their basics, especially in the way he helped all to understand the reasoning behind his emphasizing of connection. If they were riding to contact with no real thor- oughness and engagement, collection was not really possi- ble,” explained Lilo. Stephen opened the first day’s session with his most
important message. “For me I think the most important thing within our sport is that the riders, the trainers and the judges get together. Often we, as judges, get together at conferences. I say, ‘well this is fine, but if we keep what we are discussing a secret from the riders and the trainers it’s a bit of a shame really.’ Because there’s not much point in judges deciding on what they want to see if the riders and trainers don’t find out until they go down the centerline. Sometimes that’s a bit too late,” he laughed. “I think it’s really important that we have situations like this where we can all get together and share our thoughts. We can all learn from each other. It’s a fascinating sport and it’s all about correct training.”
He also commented that he felt riders today are lucky that
the breeding programs in countries all around the world are producing fabulous horses that lend themselves physically and mentally to be trained for dressage. But, he cautioned that it was important for trainers to be ready to deal with many levels of riders and all sorts of horses and that their job was to make the best of each horse and rider. He said that dressage should be able to improve every horse and rider if applied correctly, even if their long term goal is to compete in a different sport. “When you start with a young horse, the idea should be
that you are going to train that horse right through as far as its physical ability and temperament will allow it to be trained. In your mind you must start off thinking that it is one day going to be a Grand Prix horse. I think that’s a very important thing to think about. Because, if you have in your mind that it’s going to be a Grand Prix horse, then you know at the very beginning, if you accept some problems such as crookedness and lack of reaction, then they are not going to make it,” he said. Reaction time was a major point on Stephen’s checklist
and was stressed over and over again throughout the two days. “If your horse doesn’t go immediately when you ask him to, then you will have a compromise that you will pay for later on in training. If he doesn’t stop or if he doesn’t make
22 May/June 2015
“It really is down to the training, but the better the horse is from nature, the easier it is to train.”
a downward transition when you ask for it, he’ll not have a half halt later on. It’s all about reaction. When the horse is reacting correctly, then we can start developing the core of what we are looking for within the way of going. We can start developing the rhythm, the balance, throughness, straight- ness and correct carriage. There must be no limits in the reac- tion and no limits in throughness if you are ever to develop real connection,” he emphasized. He also touched on straightness. He pointed out that all horses have one side that is stiffer while the other side is more hollow. He wondered if this equated to the rider being right or left handed and said that he had found that the ratio of horses stiff to the right and hollow to the left are about the same ratio as people that are left handed. He also pointed out that trainers should be sure that the rider is sitting equally on both sides of the horse. He said that if the rider isn’t sitting straight, they cannot make the horse straight. Stephen also discussed the basic definition of thorough-
ness. “When I talk about throughness, what I mean is that the energy from the horse’s hind leg coming through and over the back into a soft, elastic connection point and the rider is able to stretch the horse through and over its top line with- out limit.” He also expounded on the rider’s use of inside and outside aids, saying that the outside aids are the controlling aids and the inside aids are more active. For example, the horse’s hind quarters are controlled with the rider’s outside leg and its outside shoulder is controlled with the outside rein. The rider’s inside leg creates the energy and the inside rein looks after a soft, supple flexion.
INDIVIDUAL SESSION TAKE-AWAYS It is not possible in the confines of this article to discuss everything presented in all the sessions, but here are some
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