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The trouble with professional dressage riders in Germany is that no sooner do they get a really stunning horse going, than it gets sold before the pair have a chance to make their mark. In the past couple of seasons however, one of Germany's top professionals, Hubertus Schmidt has had the chance with My Fair Lady to show what a stylish rider he is... and the mare, like all of his horses always looks so light and in such superb self carriage.
Hubertus' training stables are a hive of activity. Nothing flash, nothing new, but everything solid and efficient. There's a lovely big indoor school, a great outdoor arena, and a track into the forest that is seemingly used all the time, as a procession of riders walk horses out...
For Hubertus, this wonderful centre is very much a family affair:
"My father built this riding centre in 1973. Before that we had a normal farm with pigs and cows and everything. We started with school horses that riders could rent."
"I began as a student in 1976. I made my first Bereiter exam in 1978 and since then I have stayed here at our centre. I did my time as a student in Bielefeld, with Herr Gerlach. He is not so famous but I learnt a lot, and he was very good with theory - he could explain everything. I couldn't ride then... but I knew what I should do!"
"In 1978 I came home, and took the next level examination, and I have slowly come up. I was always working here at my place, but I went to a lot of clinics, with trainers like Harry Boldt."
For all Hubertus looks young, he has been riding at the highest level for over a decade now:
"I rode my first Grand Prix in 1987. The first time I had really good Grand Prix horses was in 1994 - two really good Grand Prix horses. I was third at the Hamburg Derby, and third at the German Professional Championship. But like it is, they were both sold. They get very expensive - and then you have to start making another one."
"Every year I make a new Grand Prix horse, usually an eight year old, but every year I lose it again... three or four years ago, I got some owners who didn't want to sell their horses - like My Fair Lady who is at the moment my best horse. She is also young, ten, and in her second season of Grand Prix, that's the best horse I have had, and she has the chance to really go to the top."
"She is still getting better and better every month. It is important to have a few owners with Grand Prix horses that they don't want to sell."
So are you trying to make the German Olympic Dressage team with her?
"I try (Hubertus laughs) but in Germany it is very difficult. If you are in the team, then you can be successful, but it is very difficult to come into the team. Munster was a very good show for me. I was in front of Livijno and Souveraen - and My Fair Lady still has the potential to come better. The canter was a little bit small but it becomes bigger and bigger with time. This year it has changed a lot. She also has a super piaffe and passage. At Stuttgart last year she was fourth - the three members of the team, then Sven Rothenberger, then My Fair Lady. She is becoming more relaxed and as she becomes more relaxed, the canter is better. She is getting more self-confidence."
"I have been losing a few points here and there because of little mistakes, and it takes a while to fix that. It normally takes two or three years in Grand Prix to fix the little things. I try to come in the team, but I know that it is very difficult, and we have a lot of very good young horses: Fabinfroh, Chacomo and Rusty - these three are very difficult to beat..."

But there is still one more place....
"That it what I hope. I want to go to Sydney."
Your horses always seem to go in a very distinctive way - up in front with a light contact on the rein....
"That for me is the most important with all horses - not just My Fair Lady, but the others are nearly the same. This year I was placed with seven Grand Prix horses, and four St Georges horses, and I think they all go in the same way. For me it is important to get them soft and swinging, light to the rhythm: a really good piaffe passage can only work if they are really soft and good in the back." "They have to do it more by themselves, you have to train them with really light hands. Horses that you have to push all the time, you never get a nice passage and good piaffe. Sure you have to help a little bit, and push a little bit to start but they should do it by themselves later, as long as they are well trained. So long as you have to push with whip or spurs, you will never get a really good piaffe or passage or transitions in and out."
"The most important thing is that they are really soft and light in hand. They don't go on to the next movement if they are not soft and light - first the basic must be okay, they must be in self-carriage, they must be soft in the back, soft in the hand so that you can bend them left and right - then it is more playing to come to piaffe and passage. If the collected trot is okay, it is a very small step to passage. You only have to make them a little bit shorter - and okay the steps are not so big behind, but it is still passage. If they are swinging through the whole body, and over the back, then you just have to make the horse shorter, then once they have the power to hold that, you have passage. The horse must have the strength and muscle to be able to do the movement."
At the photographer's request, we moved to the outdoor arena, where Hubertus rode the Dutch gelding, Goubergh's Ideaal. It is wonderful when the action matches the words - here is a rider who knows what true lightness is: a horse that is through, impulsive, on the aids, and beautiful.
I hope Hubertus gets to keep his horses a while longer, I really hope he has the opportunity to show the world what a wonderful trainer and rider he is...