{"id":22483,"date":"2015-05-15T14:43:45","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T04:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22483"},"modified":"2018-03-08T16:13:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T05:13:05","slug":"stefan-wolff-the-art-of-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/05\/stefan-wolff-the-art-of-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefan Wolff \u2013 The Art of Dressage Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Story by Chris Hector and photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

Stefan Wolff has been visiting Australia for many years, our riders and trainers are fortunate to be able to share his skills both as a trainer and as a teacher.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Stefan Wolff is the complete professional, and even at the end of a 12 hour teaching stint, he was still focussed, still ready to produce a startlingly good lesson. But, he suggested, that had something to do with the quality of his pupils \u2013 Nick Fyffe and Ferrero Rocher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can get a bit hard teaching such a long day, but it was good at the end, I had a very good rider \u2013 who knew what I wanted and easily put it into their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick of course, tuned into the German training system during time in Germany spent with Martina Hann\u00f6ver and Holga Finken. Then again it didn\u2019t hurt that he was riding a German horse, the eight year old, the Florestan \/ Weltmeyer stallion, Ferrero Rocher.<\/p>\n

Do you have a special problem? Stefan asked Nick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get him more even on both sides. He is not so easy to get loose on the right side, and I feel it in the half pass and in the pirouette\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And guess what Stefan\u2019s opening advice to Nick was as he circled in walk?<\/p>\n

\u201cGive. Give so that he offers, so every touch of your leg goes through the whole body of the horse and doesn\u2019t get stuck. Make him carry himself, then after the half halt, you can give again. He has huge movement, but you have to keep the natural dynamic of the movement. Give and follow the bit so that he stays in front of your leg\u2026 Give more than you think you can, give more than you are used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is easier for horses to relax their muscles when there is no hand in their mouth\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you drive him with your legs, always give the rein. The same amount you give is the same amount as you close behind, so the relation between hands and leg stays the same \u2013 you don\u2019t give the rein and he falls apart. Give and follow and now he has space, and you can work him and get him in front of your leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And of course, when they went to trot Ferrero Rocher wanted to show off his extravagant way of going. No.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn trot, not too much expression. In working trot, give and make the trot quicker \u2013 quicker, not more expressive. Work so that you give and follow, rather than holding and closing from behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cNot quicker so he rushes, just a bit more electric. Make sure he knows that when you give, he follows \u2013 and give him time and space to react. Lighter \u2013 don\u2019t touch the bit, you don\u2019t need it. You have him so nicely on your seat, the next step is to have him lighter in the hand. Always try to make it easier, always the tendency to give and to follow. Don\u2019t try to prevent him from running away by holding \u2013 if he runs away, give him a proper half halt, then give and ask him to be quicker behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can push a horse forward with your leg aid, but you can also make the horse quicker. You have to touch the horse\u2019s body before he touches the ground with his feet because then he can still bend more, then he will be quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easiest way for the horse to relax his muscles is to give the rein. Send a little wave of relaxation through the horse, start at the poll, through the body to the croup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For<\/p>\n

More information on how Protexin can help your horse \u2013\u00a0www.iahp.com.au\/australia\/protexin<\/u>\u00a0or call 1800 801 201 (AUS) or 0800 424999 (NZ)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhisper to him, don\u2019t show everybody \u2013 light contact, but keep it, with a breathing leg. Touch his mouth but don\u2019t bring him back \u2013 touch just to relax the whole top line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you ride passage with him?\u201d Stefan asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped doing passage because the trot was becoming a bit passagey\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t do so big passage \u2013 then trot out of it \u2013 so you get him going in the frame of passage but not too big. Not too expressive, flat easy passage, and don\u2019t get stuck in passage \u2013 out in trot. And pat him and make him confident \u2013 there you are, tell him it is not torture for him. Especially in the higher collected movements, like canter pirouette or piaffe, give the rein and pat him and make him confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

And sure enough two very nice things happened \u2013 the passage was truer, and the trot was not at all passagey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you work the passage like this, you get a better trot. If you work the passage too big, he comes back against your leg, and then the trot gets worse. If the impulsion is not interrupted by too much bounce, then it is really straight forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow let him out, three or four times every lesson, let him go long and deep until he is really relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NickCanter\"<\/a>Time to work on the half passes, but first a little preparation in shoulder in. Once again, the emphasis is on keeping the natural forward dynamic of the movement: \u201cIn the shoulder in, keep him flowing forward, not slower. Give and forward, if he tries to come back, notice it earlier and fix it when he tends to come behind the leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, we want that half pass flow: \u201cMake him a little lower in the neck so he has relaxed back muscles. Make sure you don\u2019t get stuck, stay loose in your seat. In the preparation get him lower in the neck, then you can work him up a little in the half pass. Give and go, more giving after the half halt. Don\u2019t be too conservative, really there should be nothing else but the weight of the rein in his mouth \u2013 if he then starts to get strong, half halt.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Nick gives, and stays in that giving feeling, and the horse really looks so different…<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I try to hold him together too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that he moves himself, that you don\u2019t have to keep pushing. And always the lightest contact, only the weight of the reins in the mouth. Now bend him a little but don\u2019t take any weight, even if you take rein, he should stay light. Now take him up to passage but keep the rhythm, keep him lower in the neck so he can relax the back muscles, then just bring him back. Even if he gets a little forwards \/ backwards, you sit in the middle and let him look to you for balance. Now let him trot out and give and follow\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you touch his mouth, think of sending relaxation through the body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBack to passage but relax your body. Only concentrate on the rhythm of passage, keep thinking of all the work you do in trot to make him supple and gymnastic also in the passage work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NickHP\"<\/a>\u201cIf you feel you get stuck, do some easy, walk \/ trot transitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was time for some canter work, and we were giving and following yet again:<\/p>\n

\u201cGive and follow, but get him soft before you bring him back. Soft, then follow. Collect the canter a little but be careful he doesn\u2019t block because when you take away the fluid movement you have problems when you want to go forward again. Only bring him back as much as you can without him getting stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"S1StefanHands\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"S2NickWalk\"<\/a>\"S3NickPiaffeWalk\"<\/a>\"S4NickPiaffe4\"<\/a>\"S5NickPassage3\"<\/a>\u201cBring him back, but soften him in the poll \u2013 THERE \u2013 and out. Sit a little more back in the saddle, bring him back and stay loose in your legs. Make sure that he constantly follows his neck, and goes forward as much as you allow: loosen, supple, more supple,\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefan\u2019s session working with Nick on piaffe was truly amazing \u2013 can you believe, relaxed piaffe?<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe want the piaffe to come out of walk. Walk on the spot and just develop it. No tension. Don\u2019t chase him away with your leg, give the rein, give the rein. Yes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he is nicely staying at your seat. Take him a little higher, but put no weight in his mouth. Halt \/ walk \/ halt \/ walk. Cool him down in his mind, make the contact a little softer. At the Cadre Noir they work the horses like this in hand for days \u2013 halt \/ walk \/ halt \/ walk. When it is perfect, they start to work on piaffe. Get rid of the tension here, otherwise you will have so much trouble when you start to work on piaffe because you still have tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful, now he doesn\u2019t do the work by himself, it is a little bit \u2018I do it because you want it\u2026\u2019 He must do it himself. Just make it easy so he doesn\u2019t get stressed or have a bad experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you Stefan for another wonderful lesson. Come back to Australia soon.<\/p>\n

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Nick Fyffe – Working with Stefan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI had lessons with Stefan the first time he came out \u2013 and I realised in the first lesson of this clinic, that I\u2019d let slide what I\u2019d learnt last time. It\u2019s never anything new that you hear. It\u2019s unfortunate that it takes a really expensive lesson and European accent before it filters in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me a good few minutes into the lesson to get the feeling we were both after, but when I got it, I could appreciate and understand the direction we were taking.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of it was about engagement and forward? And letting it really flow through?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, it\u2019s a very good horse and a lot of people think that makes it easier but it also means that I have to let the horse work more on his own. I want to work him too much, when I need to let him do the work more because he can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"nick4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stefan was suggesting that with a horse with as much movement as that, it is very easy for the horse to lose what he called the \u2018natural dynamics\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, the natural dynamics. Because he is such an exciting horse to ride you want to push him a little and you can lose the basic quality of the pace trying to get too fancy. I don\u2019t need to make the movement any bigger than it is \u2013 it\u2019s hard not to try though on a horse like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was interesting his concept of getting the passage flatter and more trot-like\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost the opposite of what you would think that you would want to do \u2013 but when I went for that feeling I could control and ride the passage, and then I thought I could manipulate it more. That\u2019s not what I thought I should be after, and it\u2019s not what I\u2019ve been doing, but when I tried it, it definitely made the passage more rideable.\u201d<\/p>\n

With every horse I\u2019ve seen him teach, the frame has come longer and freer?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd easier, they are carrying their necks on their own now. I\u2019m not sweating as much as I would normally be, and the horse isn\u2019t sweating so much either even though he worked really hard \u2013 that has to be good. We are all desperate to be good and I think we try to do it too physically and we just have to be a bit more mental in our approach to riding, feel the problems and make the adjustments without trying to muscle it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Interested in breeding dressage horses? Interested in the famous ‘F’ line? The current star performer and producer, Foundation, is available in Australia through International Horse Breeders:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> www.ihb.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

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Wolff, Stefan<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n