![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IntroCharlotteJudy-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I must confess I was a little apprehensive before the Charlotte Dujardin Master Class. Of late there has been a concerted push to celebratize our top dressage riders, the once serious debate at the Global Dressage Forum has seemingly given way to the equine equivalent of days of our lives, and I feared that the British super star might just switch into a well practiced routine to keep the masses giggling\u2026<\/p>\n
Fears unfounded, despite a couple of cringe-worthy attempts to re-hash old anecdotes (in case you are the only person in the equestrian universe who doesn\u2019t know why Charlotte is called \u2018Edwina\u2019 and Carl \u2018Grand-dad\u2019, it is because when she first started riding, Charlotte had \u2018showie\u2019 hands\u2026 hence Edward \u2013 Edwina \u2013 Scissorhands, and in retaliation, she started calling her mentor Grand-dad, at every opportunity. Hilarious the first fifteen or twenty times you hear it\u2026)<\/p>\n
Charlotte has many great strengths, an ice cool head for competition, a natural balance and empathy, and most of all, a ferocious attention to detail, to doing simple things perfectly, and she wasn\u2019t about to tell her students how good they were, quite the reverse.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/1aLilahNieuwlandBloomfieldFurstinRomance.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
As always, the atmosphere makes it impossible to conduct a \u2018normal\u2019 lesson, although Lilah Nieuwland\u2019s gorgeous four year old, Bloomfield F\u00fcrstin Romance\u00a0was trying her heart out to be good, and Charlotte was sympathetic:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much atmosphere, just try to give her a nice time and build her confidence, let her look, pat her on the neck. You don\u2019t have to keep her round and on the bit, and don\u2019t stretch young horses, it\u2019s not safe \u2013 keep the contact until they relax.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte was being assisted by her first mentor, British rider and judge, Judy Harvey, who made the point: \u201cdressage horses are not meant to be police horses, if they go around like old Dobbins with no adrenalin, they are no good to us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t do too much with young horses,\u201d Charlotte stressed, \u201cI do 20 minutes with most four year olds. Walk, trot, canter, on the bit, straight. Educate them in a really easy way, relaxed trot, easy canter, work on steering and control, and work from there. With a bigger horse, like this one, I\u2019d do less, because they wear out quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy warned: \u201cWe see fabulous three and four year olds, they do well in Young Horse classes, but they are often really stressed. If we want them to have long careers, we should look after them.\u201d<\/p>\n Romance\u00a0decides to do a little rear. Charlotte is laughing: \u201cThat\u2019s the fun of a four year old, the excitement of possibly being bucked off. She\u2019s afraid, you\u2019ve got to give her confidence, you relax and let her relax. Drop your whip, pat her, she is starting to relax and getting more swing.\u201d<\/p>\n Next, the main message of the session<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On to the main message of the session: transitions.<\/p>\n \u201cWith a four-year-old, hundreds and thousands of transitions all through the session. Transitions get them listening, make them stronger. If you look up you\u2019ll be able to ride her in a straight line\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n But not just any transition. Forward, round, and into the transition. And the trot \/ canter transition came in for more criticism: \u201cLilah should spend most of her time doing basic transitions, until she can go up, down, without the horse\u2019s neck coming up, she must be strict with herself. Was that good enough? No. Do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first saw Lilah two days ago, the mare trotted at snail\u2019s pace, she would have had time faults in a test. When she told me the horse was \u2018hot\u2019 I almost fell over. She is much better today but it is true, when people ride young horses all most of them want to do is go slow. You have to ride them forward and that is actually easier than holding them back.\u201d<\/p>\n But it was still the transitions that Charlotte wanted to emphasise: \u201cHer head came up.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ve got to think of dropping her neck down, forward with the legs, stretch down, round, keep round, and forwards to trot. Yes! We\u2019ve made it.\u201d<\/p>\n And now, Romance was invited to stretch: \u201cNow you can see she wants to stretch. This is why we don\u2019t worry about stretching at first \u2013 after ten or fifteen minutes, they are going to want to stretch\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Next rider follows<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next rider into the ring was Bonnie Kingsley\u00a0and a six year old Friesian stallion, Braggo of Terrarossa, imported from Holland twelve months ago. In The Netherlands, he had been a harness horse, now he was being trained for dressage.<\/p>\n It seems Charlotte is not a breed snob: \u201cThis horse looks really fun \u2013 how good will his piaffe \/ passage be with his pushing hind legs and great front legs. However he has got a tricky neck, so up and naturally on the bit, we have to work on getting him to drop and stretch, so the neck is not so tight.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy had worked with the stallion the previous day \u201cI hope he settles a bit quicker today. Friesians are tricky in neck because they are carriage horses and get a strong under neck.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte asks Bonnie to ride a leg yield from the centre line, but is unhappy with the horse taking charge of the movement: \u201cFirst ride a diagonal line, A to S, ride the diagonal straight first, then ask him to go sideways. There she let the horse fall sideways rather than going forward and sideways. You have to stay in charge of how much sideways. The whole time, he is trying to take over, trying to get to the wall quicker than Bonnie wants him to.\u201d<\/p>\n Judy emphasises the point: \u201cHe wants to rush sideways, most horses want to hug the track, this exercise gives the rider control.\u201d<\/p>\n And while the visiting star was getting ready to ride, Judy gave a little insight into why she has been so successful: \u201cCharlotte is very self-disciplined, the works out very hard at the gym, in riding she is obsessed her attention to detail. At first, that could go over the top, but she is learning that a little progress is still progress. She is actually being quite kind to the riders today, it\u2019s lucky it\u2019s not two days or she could get quite strict.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWatching Charlotte with the stallion, you can see how much deeper she rides into the corners, that\u2019s discipline. That\u2019s the job of the rider to maintain suppleness and contact. Often when the rider says the horse is \u2018lazy\u2019, it\u2019s actually the rider who has made the horse dull. You\u2019ve got to allow the horse to go forward, the contact is there but forward\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n And Braggo was learning to go for a bit of a burn: \u201cI\u2019m going to try a flying change. It doesn\u2019t matter if it doesn\u2019t look pretty at first, as long as he does one side to the other. Never tell them off if they don\u2019t do it perfectly or they will become afraid of doing changes. Okay, he just changed in front, how you start doesn\u2019t matter, at home I\u2019d use a little whip to bounce him through.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte might advocate using a whip for specific purposes, but on the whole she was anti-whip, as she explained to the next rider, Edwina Hutton-Potts\u00a0with Heathmont Echo. \u201cRiders ride all season at home with the whip and they get good marks, then when they get to the National Championships, where they aren\u2019t allowed the whip, it all falls apart, they come out of the test knackered, red, sweaty and exhausted, and the horse is as dry as a bone. \u2018Oh, I think he has a fever\u2026\u2019 There\u2019s no fever, he knows there\u2019s no whip, and he\u2019s having a jolly time. You must be able to get a response from your leg. Click and kick and let go of the reins, that\u2019s most important, let go. GO!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that your YEE HA? Jesus Christ, you aren\u2019t going to win no races.\u201d<\/p>\n And in truth, dear old Heathmont Echo was well in charge of the situation, but he did finally decide to go forward a little more energetically.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is your working canter. You\u2019ve been stuck at snail pace, never out of first gear. Now you have a much nicer canter with more suspension, but it will take months to learn, KICK and GO!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMake him go forwards and back, and no he mustn\u2019t take over and over collect, as soon as you feel him behind your leg, ride him straight out. YEE HA is about having the horse in front of you. He\u2019s laughing at you, you haven\u2019t got a whip so I don\u2019t have to do it. He\u2019s very cheeky. You\u2019ve got to learn to use your legs, and to relax your leg in between, don\u2019t leave your legs on\u2026 and don\u2019t try and whip with the reins, it\u2019s not a good look.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKeep doing transitions because then he is thinking, \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019, rather than round and round, that\u2019s boring for him and boring for me. If you take your legs off and he stops, give him a jolly good poke and say, \u2018stay in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n Time for Edwina to ride a few changes, and immediately Charlotte spotted a problem: \u201cThe left to right change is much straighter. I would put the changes on the wall, so that when he goes to swing his bottom out, it is into the wall. We do all our changes on the wall until a week before we go to a competition and then when you do them on the diagonal, they are straight and forward.\u201d<\/p>\n When Edwina tries to make a walk trot transition, the gelding starts a sort of shuffle piaffe: \u201cHe\u2019s thinking piaffe, there\u2019s nothing worse than when you pick up the reins and they come back at you and try and piaffe \u2013 especially when you know you have to do collected walk. You\u2019ve got to go home and work on walk \/ canter, not thinking piaffe. Be strict with yourself\u2026 you are not allowed to walk like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur horses go out hacking and they learn to walk, they have to march to keep up with the older horses, and hacking out, also they get used to different surfaces.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis horse is lazy, don\u2019t go to sitting trot until he is in front of your leg. When he is forward, his mouth will be closed. He\u2019s lazy, that\u2019s why his mouth is open. You mustn\u2019t pull back with hands like you are carrying handbags, when you turn your hand over like that, then you lock your wrist, your thumbs must be on top \u2013 not on the side. When your thumbs are on top, then you can move your arm…\u201d<\/p>\n The next rider into the arena was Queenslander, Nicole Tough riding Borsato, a Dutch dressage horse that was imported to Australia in October last year. Charlotte confiscates the whip: \u201cI want t see the true Nicole, I won\u2019t let her cheat. Nicole said she\u2019d like to work on her pirouettes, so that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow canter, shorten the reins, don\u2019t rock \u2013 belly button forward. Start with travers, and ask yourself, is he on my leg? Is he round and supple?\u201d<\/p>\n Once again, Charlotte was quick to correct the rider\u2019s position. Nicole was hanging to the outside on the movement: \u201cThe rider must have her weight in the direction she is going not hanging out behind. Ask for more bend but don\u2019t cross your hand over the horse\u2019s shoulder to get that bend. Go forward and back in travers, keep the horse\u2019s shoulders to the wall. Now do a leg yield all the way over the arena, leg yield rather than half pass, leg yield gets them more sideways and looser in your hand. Now travers on a ten metre circle, the horse\u2019s front legs should be on a ten metre circle, the hind legs on an eight metre circle.\u201d<\/p>\n The horse decides to make the circle even tighter\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cHe took over. Keep him out with your inside leg, canter bigger and faster.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a problem, horses taking over. Valegro has been doing Grand Prix for four years, he knows where every movement goes, so how to stop him taking over? Don\u2019t ride those movements at home, only at the show, and then he never learns to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n Time to try the pirouette on the centre line:<\/p>\n \u201cCome down the centre line, a tiny bit shoulder fore, now turn, six steps \u2013 okay, not too bad, a little big. The first two strides have to be short, now think bigger and ride out. So many riders look down, and they don\u2019t finish the pirouette, look up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow trot and he needs to be rounder and looser in your hand, really get him forward \u2013 ROAD RUNNER \u2013 be brave. He has to push, you\u2019ve got to learn to ride forward and not ride so slowly. This horse looks so much more expressive when he\u2019s forward, much bigger lift and reach. You can get that power and expression by being brave and riding forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The next combination was 14 year old Tayla Desmet riding 14 year old Rodrigo, Maree Tomkinson\u2019s Grand Prix horse. As Charlotte goes in search of her helmet, Judy Harvey critique\u2019s Tayla\u2019s warmup. \u201cIt\u2019s so depressing for the horses when the rider just pulls their head in. You can see Tayla trying to ride from the front to the back. Perhaps she hasn\u2019t got the core strength yet to ride from the back to the front.<\/p>\n Charlotte is in the saddle:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not always the easiest to ride a trained horse, you have to learn someone else\u2019s aids. A horse like this has a few habits, they like to take over. He knows \u2013 she doesn\u2019t\u2026 but he\u2019s got me in the saddle now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a bit slow off my leg aid, he has to be hotter off my leg\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte tries some two times and is not happy, \u201che curled to the left and got down. Dressage has changed. Seven or eight is not good enough, you have to ride for a nine or a ten. I used to dream about getting 70s, now I need high 80s to stay on top. I have to take as much risk as I can without making mistakes. At Caen, I had a really good Grand Prix. In the Special he felt so good warming up that I went for more, and made three big mistakes. I\u2019d gone for too much, luckily it didn\u2019t cost me a medal, but I did less in the Freestyle\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Back to dear Rodrigo:<\/p>\n \u201cThis piaffe is just jogging on the spot. At home I never train piaffe like I ride it in the test. Train it forward at home. So many horses get stuck in piaffe, they take over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow I put a little passage in the trot and he looks like a Grand Prix horse, and I am not doing it with my reins, I am literally doing it with my seat, my legs hang loose and I let him do the work. If I lose it, then I do another transition, that way I stay in control.\u201d<\/p>\n The next horse into the ring, Ambassi with Shanon McKimmie was a breath of fresh air, the big gelding was actually on the aids and in front of the rider\u2019s leg. Shanon has been working for a long time for Mary Hanna \u2013 it shows.<\/p>\n Shanon wants to work on the zig zag, and that\u2019s what they do. \u201cWhen I am working on the zig zag, I always do it on the wall, then I can see how far I come over, and how far back. I do it in leg yield because it is easier to go sideways. This movement is scored times two in our test.\u201d<\/p>\n Shanon sets off down the wall and only just squeezes the movement in (it is a very big horse): \u201cBecause you let it get longer, you can\u2019t fit it in, keep the canter collected, keep it bouncy, and you have got to look up where you are going.\u201d<\/p>\n This time the zig zag fits.<\/p>\n \u201cNow do it in half pass. Make it bigger in the half pass, get expression, not speed \u2013 there, that\u2019s lovely expression.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair finish with some lovely ones, and some very very nice twos. It is so nice to see a young horse that has been so honestly trained, but just because you have finished, that doesn\u2019t mean you can relax: \u201cThat was a bad canter \/ walk transition. That was not good. I\u2019m watching, I\u2019m watching\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n![\"1Canter\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/1Canter.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat was a really bad transition from you. Now it\u2019s a case of pat the horse, slap the rider. Her job is to educate the horse, and she just rode it like an Advanced horse. If we see this horse in the future with bad transitions, blame Lilah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a showjumping transition, rising trot to canter, that\u2019s cheating!\u201d And the transition down: \u201cAnother sloppy transition, not making the horse more round, not making it more forward, just pull on the rein. Round and forward to trot, that\u2019s a transition. No more sloppy disgusting transitions, don\u2019t be a lazy rider.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhat did you think of that transition?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDid you do anything? No. You must be strict and ride every transition. Make the transition forward to walk, don\u2019t fall in a heap, don\u2019t shorten the reins you cheat!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhen I touch him with my leg \u2013 FORWARD \u2013 straight away. See how much quicker he is now after three times. If you leave your leg on them all the time, they get more and more dead and lazy. Touch and forward. They have to react from the smallest aid, when you get to Grand Prix, you just want to steer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n