![\"NathalieHEADER\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/NathalieHEADER.jpg\")
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I have to admit, I am a little nervous meeting Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, but I shouldn\u2019t have worried. \u201cHi, I\u2019m Nathalie!\u201d the tall blonde dressed casually in down jacket, jeans and boots steps forward and a welcoming hand is extended coupled with a warm smile. It is a delight to work with the Princess, and as expected, she is as professional a dressage rider and coach as she is with interviews.<\/p>\n
Nathalie is back at Jesmond Dene Equestrian Centre for her popular dressage clinics at which THM has been a regular guest. In the past we have featured on lessons with Gitte Donvig, Jason James, Maree Tomkinson and most recently Lilah Nieuwland. This time, to mix things up a little, we have invited four-star eventer Seumas Marwood with his 12-year-old mare Wild Oats by Contango II.<\/p>\n
The lesson is split over two consecutive days. Seumas has only just returned from a national squad clinic in Sydney the day before where he received dressage training with Gareth Hughes. Again I am worried that lessons by two different coaches in the same week may confuse both horse and rider, but my concerns are unwarranted. Nathalie\u2019s training philosophy goes hand in hand with Gareth Hughes\u2019. And this is not because the two have a secret agreement; it is because it is the classical basic dressage training of inside leg to outside rein. \u201cIsn\u2019t it coincidental, you successful dressage riders have the same thoughts,\u201d Seumas remarks light-heartedly.<\/p>\n But first things first\u2026 Seumas is warming up with a little leg yield. He has warned us that on the first day in a new environment Wild Oats is always very tense and that she will be much better on the second day. He is happy to work on Wild Oats\u2019 frame and the basics of her paces on the first day. He would like to see her more compressed, but points out that this is quite hard for eventing horses who have a different schedule and muscle memory, \u201cOn the next day, she is galloping, and she has to be more stretched out again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe does very good changes, she does a nice half pass, but unless we got that basic pace as good as it can be, we can only score as well as that basic pace is.\u201d<\/p>\n Seumas admits that often the mare is not in front of his leg. He is not carrying a whip in today\u2019s lesson and explains that, because in eventing dressage they are not allowed to have one, he never uses a whip in training.<\/p>\n Nathalie is advising him to warm her up like he normally does.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want her neck in front of you, keep the contact on the outside so that you can give and take on the inside rein. Try and do those little half-halts on the outside rein, good, but keep the bending flexion to the inside. You want to have the feeling, that when you come with the inside leg, she picks her stomach up between your legs. You can also once in a while flex her a little to the outside. Pretend you are going right hand but you are actually staying on the left hand.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not so much bending, but just a light flexion to the outside.<\/p>\n Seumas is riding on a large circle around Nathalie, keeping a forward rising trot. The mare is indeed looking a little tense and missing that last bit of suppleness and elasticity in the neck and poll. She is not strong on Seumas\u2019 hand, but rather hides away.<\/p>\n Nathalie instructs, \u201cShow her the way with your inside hand. When you come with your leg, you have to get a reaction, make sure she steps away and forward from your inside leg. Keep pushing her into your outside rein, even when you make that half halt on the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n She recommends doing a lot of trot-canter-trot transitions to ride the horse to the outside rein and comments on Seumas\u2019 positioning of the hands, his head and body: \u201cNot that you pull on the inside rein. Give and take, don\u2019t just hold it there. Play with your inside rein, move your fingers as if you have a sponge in your hand and you are squeezing out the water. Your elbows stay by the sides of your body, otherwise you don\u2019t have enough feeling. Don\u2019t look down, when you drop your head and shoulders your weight is not on your seat bones. Shoulder blades back and straighten up, that gets the weight down into the saddle.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair begins to canter and the same approach applies. \u201cIn canter flex her a little to the outside, play with the bit in her mouth. She has to loosen up in the poll. Have a little flex to the outside so you can move the inside rein.\u201d<\/p>\n Wild Oats is still not quite round enough and not in front of Seumas\u2019 leg. Nathalie tells us that just thinking of getting your horse rounder will help to make it happen, because you automatically give the aid. Think bigger canter stride, you want your horse to anticipate a rounder canter stride. \u201cYou will get a bigger jump in the canter, when you get her rounder. As soon as you think a bit quicker in the canter, it already happens.\u201d<\/p>\n She also wants the mare to drop her head and stretch down. \u201cIn training don\u2019t worry so much about getting her in front of the vertical, you want to get her rounder.\u201d Seumas is working a little too hard on getting his mare moving forward and Nathalie is quick to point out, \u201cSit still, you can\u2019t push her with your seat, she has to come from your leg. Be careful that you don\u2019t push and push and nothing happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Things begin to fall into place, suddenly Wild Oats\u2019 hindlegs are more engaged and she is starting to let her neck drop. But Nathalie does not let them off, \u201cMake sure she is really stepping into the outside rein when you bend her, don\u2019t just bend her neck to the inside. When you go back into trot, you have a little outside flexion, just so that you can see her eye a little bit on the inside. Your left hand controls her left shoulder, your right hand controls her right shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n The next transition to trot is much better; the mare stays round and is accepting the contact and Seumas\u2019 outside rein. Time for a little break. Nathalie is telling Seumas to ensure that he has a connection before moving up into trot again.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you kick you want a reaction in the forehand. You push the forehand away from you. Then she will come up in front without pushing her neck up. You want to feel her wither coming up. Keep your leg up at the girth, that\u2019s where you get the forehand to move up.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathalie calls Seumas over and moves his leg in the right position, closer to the girth. Seumas has a tendency to keep the lower leg too far back. He says it comes from riding many younger horses. Nathalie wants him to give the mare a kick just behind the girth, \u201cI know she\u2019s short, but kick her here, then you can push the forehand out of the rein. The moment you take your lower leg further back, you move away from the saddle. Then you feel you have to lean backward to get her in front of your leg. You want to tuck your seat bone, your bum underneath you.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, Wild Oats is moving much better from the start, she\u2019s willing to listen and looks more supple and round. Seumas likes the concept of pushing the forehand out, and it sticks in his riding. Although he admits that it feels a bit \u2018weird\u2019. Nathalie responds, \u201cShe has to learn when you come with your leg, she has to move the forehand out of the way. You want to get to a point so that in the end you can give less and less intensive aids.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the best things about having a lesson with the Danish team rider is, that she often gets very visual to demonstrate what she means. She moves up and down the arena and uses hands, legs and facial expression to get the message across. \u201cYou want to get her a bit more sensitive to your aids, you don\u2019t want to nag, nag, nag and come with your leg this six, seven times. If she doesn\u2019t react straight away at the first time, make her react the second time. Zak zak, zak \u2013 don\u2019t wait until the fifth time!\u201d<\/p>\n The mare responds to the aid but at the same time loses the contact. \u201cMake sure she stays round, when you let go of the rein. The whole time you are in control of how much you can give on the inside rein.\u201d<\/p>\n When the connection is re-established Seumas is moving on to a few of the movements required in eventing dressage, shoulder in, half pass and flying changes.<\/p>\n Nathalie comments on the half pass, \u201cKeep your shoulder blades back, more bending, get the bending more through the corner, inside leg on.\u201d Seumas and Wild Oats show an extended canter down the long side and Nathalie is happy, \u201cGood, good, good!!\u201d<\/p>\n In the extended trot however, the mare comes up too high in the neck. \u201cIn the extension she has to stay rounder. She has to learn to not just take the head up and run.\u201d Nathalie\u2019s recommendation is to start with shorter distances, instead of using the entire diagonal. Seumas is to ride only a few metres of extended trot or trying an extension on a circle. Extend and come back, extend and come back. Moreover, she wants him to stay in sitting trot. \u201cWhen you are sitting, it is easier to use your stomach as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathalie is impressed by Wild Oats\u2019 flying changes, asking Seumas what marks he usually receives in a test and has no hesitation to say that she would give the mare a score of 7 or 8, \u201cThe one to the right is really good, for me it\u2019s an 8!\u201d<\/p>\n She advises in future training to emphasize the throughness, as the movements are not a problem for the mare. \u201cThe more supple she gets, the easier the movements will get. That\u2019s what we dressage riders do. We go back, do our homework, get them supple in the canter and the trot.\u201d<\/p>\n Seumas comments how mere mortals like him have to have these basics drilled into them. Nathalie somewhat disagrees, \u201cI think when you once feel how it feels when it\u2019s right, \u201c Nathalie snaps her fingers, \u201cthat is something you have on your memory. Then you know what you are after. Say if you would get on one of Ingrid\u2019s (Klimke) horses, then you would feel immediately how it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Germans have a tradition for dressage, the Australians have a tradition for cross country,\u201d Nathalie adds. Let\u2019s see if a lesson with the Danish Grand Prix star cannot change that\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"SeumasPORT\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/SeumasPORT.jpg\")
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