{"id":22646,"date":"2015-05-27T15:48:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T05:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=22646"},"modified":"2017-02-10T10:28:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:28:52","slug":"tanase-peckham-winterstern-working-with-stefan-wolff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2015\/05\/tanase-peckham-winterstern-working-with-stefan-wolff\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanase Peckham & Winterstern – Working with Stefan Wolff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IntroMaybe\"<\/a>Story by Chris Hector & Photos by Roz Neave<\/h3>\n

Our latest series with the German dressage trainer, Stefan Wolff started with a Grand Prix horse, then a Prix St Georges horse, and now we finish our working session with a Medium level horse, Tanase Peckham\u2019s five-year-old Winterstern.<\/p>\n

Tanase has had him all the way through: \u201cI\u2019ve had him since he was broken in. He is by Fourwinds Wilderness out of a Salute mare, actually a Salute \/ Connemara mare \u2013 there\u2019s not much Connemara in there, but that\u2019s why I think he\u2019s so level headed. He\u2019s got a few brothers at home, so they\u2019ll be interesting coming up. Personality wise, he\u2019s very very opinionated as you could probably tell in the lesson. We\u2019d travelled two hours to get here, and I could feel him saying, \u2018come on, what is happening\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Tanase is establishing an equestrian centre in the Hunter Valley: \u201cHalf an hour past Newcastle. I\u2019m trying to work full-time with the horses. I\u2019m also working in a restaurant at the moment until we can get our business going. We\u2019ve got 160 acres and we are trying to get that set up \u2013 breeding and training. I\u2019m 24 years old. It\u2019s a good opportunity with Mum and Dad having the property. I\u2019m travelling back overseas later in the year. Previously I was in Europe for eight months with Rick Klaassen, I was with him for four months, he trained with Georg Theodorescu. Then I was at the same barn as Deiter Laugks who was the trainer for Fiona Bigwood at the time. I also trained with Matthais Vatter who trained with Klaus Balkenhol and Marion Wilimzig, who trained with Reiner Klimke. With Rick I managed to travel around to competitions and have a look at how everything worked over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

You are ambitious?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I\u2019ll get to the Olympics one day, I just need the horse to get on a squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you worked with Stefan before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had one clinic with him before. I get a lot out of working with him \u2013 it opens your eyes up though! It makes you realise what you are doing wrong and what you need to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the horse\u2019s first visit to the Dierks\u2019 establishment, and Tanase had a little difficulty getting his mind on the job, but once again, the message was the same \u2013 it\u2019s all about honest, athletic contact. The visiting German trainer, was in the centre of the arena, helping the rider gymnasticize her horse\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBend him into the rein and off the hand. Make it more comfortable and easy but be a little stricter from behind. Make him more obedient to your leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yes, forward is still the message: \u201cMake him rounder, more through the neck \u2013 he needs to be oriented more forward. Round, round, make sure you don\u2019t block. To bring a horse back, you collect the movement, not block the movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to show Tanase how to work through the problem, Stefan had her riding shoulder-in trot to shoulder-in walk: \u201cHe\u2019s pushing himself off the bit, you must get him more thinking forward and to the bit. Don\u2019t put your hand up, the giving is towards the mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMake sure you are not hiding problems in training. We want to find problems to work them out. Be more demanding. Insist from behind \u2013 low hands, don\u2019t pull at the same time. Make sure when you have more impulsion it doesn\u2019t make him uncomfortable in the mouth. Get him softer in the neck so you are not carrying the balance in your hands. He has to carry the balance himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever upwards with the hands, low hands. Every single muscle fibre in the horse\u2019s neck has to be supple. Keep playing, soft, active hands. He\u2019s hanging on your hands, so keep your hands working. Walk, then trot, to work it out. You need to find a way. Don\u2019t be scared that he is a little strong; we will work out a way to keep the expression, but also have him soften. That\u2019s the result we are working for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough that the horse is in the right position. The horse shows you the problem. Your hand is just following him, not asking more and getting him more through from behind. You\u2019re not at a show, work through the problem, don\u2019t hide it. You need to have the power to change him \u2013 not a stiff neck against the rein. Only bring him back when he softens the neck. Bring him back, then lighten, keep him orientated to the bit. Be playful; be clever with your hands. It\u2019s the next phase in your training.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cNow do you feel the difference between through the neck and against the rein? Make sure your hand is not too hard, that it is always clever, and the elbow stays on your body\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefan felt that Tanase needed to demand more of her horse\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a nice little horse, and a talented rider with a nice seat. Very good basics. I think she has to make her way now to be a little more demanding. I think her horse offers a lot, it is quite easy for the rider, which is nice. I think they are now at a stage where the rider has to ask more, get more impulsion, and then later on, start with collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an interesting exercise you were doing with her: trot shoulder-in, hold the shoulder-in and transition to walk\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse is behind the bit, which is not very obvious. Some horses don\u2019t show that they are behind the bit, but they are, and it is hard to have an honest tendency from impulsion behind, over the back, through the neck to the bit. The horse shows a nice rhythm and seems to be nice, but as soon as you want to do a half halt or transition, it had little interruptions in the flow of the movement. For this problem, trot \/ walk transitions are an easy and effective way to first of all show the rider the problem, and then also to work that problem out. I think after doing those walk \/ trot transitions, first on the straight line, later as a more advanced exercise in shoulder in, we see that the horse would more and more, accept the half halt and work more through the body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ShoulderIn2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we worked him the first day, more from behind, in order to get more impulsion and expression in the movement, it appeared that he got stronger. The problem was that the horse is not properly working through the neck, the problem was always there, but now it shows up. The rider is a very talented rider who can hide things, so it wasn\u2019t so obvious. But it showed up that the horse was not as well through the neck as it seemed to be. I think it was a problem that the rider was not aware of, so I wanted to spend time working on the suppleness of the neck. So that we have the impulsion we wanted, the better rhythm, plus a nice comfortable contact.”<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI used the half pass to show the rider the problem. It is not enough if I know the problem and tell the rider what to do. What is important is that the rider understands the problems and we can solve it together, so the rider knows after the clinic what she did, and why she did it. I wanted to show her how the horse was crooked to one side, not in a bad way, but still stronger on one side than on the other, and that in order to straighten the horse, that she should not use the stronger rein, the rein on the stronger side of the horse only, but also to keep the horse stable on his hollow side. When it is stable, the hand of the strong side has the possibility to work through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanase was thinking hard after her training session on keeping the forwardness…<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, he has a tendency to question \u2013 I think that\u2019s the best word \u2013 everything I do. Every time we come back in transitions he has a tendency to suck back and try not to use himself properly, so that\u2019s what we were trying to do, get him through, and not to question so much, just to do it nice and soft and calmly. That\u2019s what Stefan keeps saying, the horse has to be using himself properly before you can start work, but it makes sense, a runner can\u2019t run properly if he is not using his muscles properly. Training at home on my own for a while, then coming here, it does really open your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

What level is your horse competing at?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s having his first start at Medium, he\u2019s only five.”<\/p>\n

Who are you going over to work with this time when you go overseas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCoby van Baalen, that should be good. I\u2019m aiming to go for three months, I\u2019ve got so many horses at home that I can\u2019t leave them for too long. I\u2019m trying to plan to go back every year, three months every year will keep me going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEight months last time was great. I considered staying there longer but finding somewhere to move on to was a bit of a problem. So I came back and got stuck into the babies. That\u2019s the worst part, you go for too long and you come back and there are so many babies that need work!\u201d<\/p>\n

And Tanase is not the only one on the move, Stefan has recently moved to America… different?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYep. Of course it is very different from Germany \u2013 there are not many places on earth where density of the whole sport of riding is as dense as it is in Germany. When you start somewhere new, you start at the very bottom, you have new clients, new horses, it takes a little time.\u201d<\/p>\n

We in Australia don\u2019t have that same attitude of discipline in our riding and training that you find in Germany \u2013 is it like that in America?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have found both. I haven\u2019t been there so long but I have very very focussed riders there, but maybe the mentality in Germany is more serious than most of the other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Are you finding nice horses to work with in America?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have nice horses, very nice horses. They are all imported, but I know that breeding in America is also developing and going pretty well. They have a lot of good breeding programs, and I think in a couple of years, it will also be interesting for the Americans to buy in their own country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The standard of the competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am in southern California and we are pretty lucky. We have a lot of shows up to Grand Prix in Burbank, Del Mar \u2013 and there are more shows in northern California. Of course unless it is a CDI, the number of starters, is a lot smaller than Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you enjoying it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are, it\u2019s a great experience to live in another country and just get a wider horizon \u2013 of course you make contacts too. So far we are just having a lot of fun and enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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