{"id":39804,"date":"2021-06-15T09:14:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T23:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=39804"},"modified":"2021-06-15T10:20:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T00:20:31","slug":"stefan-wolff-the-golden-thread-of-klaus-balkenhol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2021\/06\/stefan-wolff-the-golden-thread-of-klaus-balkenhol\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefan Wolff – the Golden Thread of Klaus Balkenhol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story \u2013 Chris Hector \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Photos \u2013 Roz Neave<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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When Klaus and Judith Balkenhol asked if I could arrange for a clinic in Australia for their bereiter, Stefan Wolff, I said of course!<\/p>\n

I was sure that the young man would be steeped in the German Principles and that he would be a very good rider and an excellent trainer. What I could not predict was that he is also an amazingly gifted teacher \u2013 even in a language that is not his first.<\/p>\n

Stefan has that rare ability to \u2018read\u2019 both horse and rider, focussing on a major theme for each lesson, and never over-loading the rider with information. He was invariably quiet, encouraging and positive \u2013 even with riders who were not superstars on less experienced horses, he taught to the max. AND you could actually see the difference in each and every horses Stefan worked with. Brilliant.<\/p>\n

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The first rider I saw work with Stefan in the gracious surrounds of Clemens and Judy Dierks\u2019 Training Stables, was one of Judy\u2019s pupils, 23-year-old Emma Weinert on her 8-year-old gelding, Northern Darius, the pair are just about to take the plunge into FEI classes\u2026<\/p>\n

Before the lesson, Emma felt that her major problem was that the horse tended to get a little heavy in her hands.<\/p>\n

The minute Emma started riding, Stefan was into one of the main themes of his clinic \u2013 more forward.<\/p>\n

more follows<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThink more of working canter, don\u2019t let the movement get slow and unnatural, make it a little more dynamic \u2013 there,\u00a0<\/strong>let go.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a refrain we were to return to \u2013 even in passage, Stefan would be asking for something more like a working rhythm\u2026<\/p>\n

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Like all the serious German trainers, Stefan is a stickler for rider position: \u201cShoulders back a little, lean back a little, no tension in your body \u2013 don\u2019t use muscles to stay on \u2013 balance. Think of your spine as a little wooden stick that has to balance on the saddle. Relax and sit straight \u2013 now ask for more from behind. Just follow him and allow him to move \u2013 that\u2019s a totally different trot\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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And indeed it was. Forward, free, regular, nice.<\/p>\n

Later I remarked to Stefan how amazing it was that he should seem so comfortable teaching in English, is that something you learn working at Mr Balkenhol\u2019s training centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do teach here and there in English, but of course we talk a lot in English with the clients. We have all year round American clients, and most of them don\u2019t talk German \u2013 so you are talking all the time in English and you get pretty well used to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Then we came to the heart of the lesson, for indeed the session turned out to be an extended riff on the second (first according to Dr Klimke\u2019s version of the scale) of the German principles \u2013 Losgelassenheit. This German word does not comfortably translate into English \u2013 often it is rendered as \u2018submission\u2019 but it is not really that. It is more that the horse relaxes its body and allows the rider\u2019s aids to flow through and positively influence the way the horse is going.<\/p>\n

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And that is just what Stefan was trying to get Emma to do\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when you are warming up in a long frame, think about him coming behind the vertical. Always be working on self-carriage. If he is getting too strong in the hand, soften him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must get him supple through the neck. Bend him, but don\u2019t try to do everything at once. Start with the mouth, get each little bit of his body soft and move on. Don\u2019t force yourself to pull the horse, just feel where he is stiff, search for the tension in his neck and work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

next Stefan talks about bending and how to use it<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cTake your time to get the bending \u2013 it\u2019s a big muscle you are working with. Feel where he is stiff and try to get that part soft.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, of course, the art is to keep that suppleness AND actually ask the horse to do something and even a walk to trot transition can see all that suppleness disappear\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget everything in the transition, if he starts to pull on the reins, don\u2019t trot, get him soft, get him supple, then ask for the trot. Allow him to go, but keep him supple in the neck. It should not be good luck that he gives in the transition, you must be confident that he stays relaxed every time. And it is the same in the transition to walk, get him supple, then the transition to walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cTry to get the biggest, ground covering trot you can, without losing the suppleness \u2013 if he starts to go against you, get the suppleness back, then just ask as much as you can without losing the suppleness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake him a little lower in the neck. Hold until he gives, then give. Try to get a quicker result \u2013 otherwise he goes round and round and he gets tired and it is harder to make the muscles soft. If you do everything right, the horse will follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And sure enough, Emma confesses: \u201cI lock against him, and he locks against me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, there is no magic solution:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems a little boring. Trot \/ walk but this is one of the most useful exercises. You have to get it perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to keep softening down, up again. We\u2019re working on the quality of the suppleness. Through impulsion, rhythm, ground covering \u2013 then you get suppleness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s shying or fresh, take him lower so you\u2019re safer with the aids and he concentrates on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t pat him right now or you\u2019ll lose him, he\u2019s soft that\u2019s his reward. I would like to pat him too \u2013 but don\u2019t do it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Just as when Emma went to move from walk to trot, Darius put the locks on, the same reaction occurs when the canter transition enters the picture, and the solution is still the same:<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst get him soft. Start with the mouth and work up THEN shorten the reins but if he starts to rush off when you do that, bring him back. Make him wait for you. Keep bringing him back in the walk until he gets more supple and relaxed, then when you get a nice moment, canter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Emma produces a super canter depart. But Stefan is not happy with the quality of the canter:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you touch his body with your leg, you must have a response. Every jump of the canter, touch his body and ask for a little more. It is a little conversation between your leg and his body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guess what? It\u2019s the same formula for the downwards transition: \u201cBend him a little to the outside. Prepare, get the suppleness, don\u2019t slow down, just make him supple \u2013 and just walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou just have to work it through. You\u2019ve got the right ideas, just work it through until you get the result. Don\u2019t touch the horse and not get a result, and if you touch him with the whip, and the switches his tail, that\u2019s not a proper response. Bend him to the inside, wait there until you can really feel where he is strong, and make him give.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma: \u201cThat feels better, much better\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, when it feels better then you ask for more behind. When you feel that good supple feeling, then ask for a bit more ground covering. Make sure that the contact is light with just the weight of the reins in his mouth, not that he carries your arms. As soon as you feel him run off, half halt, bend him with a light hand, with the lightest contact you can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the horse gets too slow, make him take bigger steps, and the whole body gets softer. Get him deeper, give him the time to relax through the whole neck, to relax the top line muscles, and keep that softness and suppleness through everything you do\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Again, later I remark to Stefan that: Almost all the horses you have worked with, and all the riders, you\u2019ve wanted them a little longer in the neck, a little more out in the nose, and always the contact \u2013 lighter, lighter, lighter?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a problem you can see everywhere because it is one of the hardest problems: to collect a horse and get it more together, better on the aids, but not force them together, pulling on the reins and pushing from behind, so you get a tense back. That\u2019s the problem you see very often. What we want to see is that the horses close themselves with a swinging back, so that the top line is carrying but staying loose and relaxed. So that the horse stays on your seat, by himself, and you can give the rein, and the horse stays there \u2013 that makes the ride comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is very much part of the way Mr Balkenhol trains?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely. I think he is known as a trainer who always tries to make it the most comfortable way for the horse and the rider to work. He doesn\u2019t accept any tension. There is a way that makes it possible to get everything you want in dressage \u2013 even the highest collection \u2013 without tension or holding the rein. That is what he is teaching and I think that\u2019s what his name stands for: that you can ride a horse and do all the movements without pushing the horse too much and without torturing the horse with too much pressure. It all works because you get the horse\u2019s body in a form, and you train the body and all the movements are a result of the gymnastics on the body.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It had been a wonderful lesson, as Emma\u2019s horse stretched and accepted the aids, as he became more supple and expansive, the quality of the paces was transformed. It was one happy rider who finished her lesson in the time honoured way:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow rising trot, long and deep, longer and deeper, really stretch, allow, allow\u2026 enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you Stefan.<\/p>\n

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Next we meet Emma<\/em><\/p>\n

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Emma Weinert<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the lesson was all about throughness and suppleness and lightness \u2013 because I lock against him and he locks against me\u2026\u201d
\nBut Stefan\u2019s solutions are breath-takingly simple\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes, super simple, just repetitive, stay with it, stay with the aids. And it worked \u2013 it was great.\u201d
\nDid it feel very different – certainly your horse looked very different even at the end of the first session?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot different, a lot more forward than I usually take him. I usually end up bringing him up and back, Stefan was sending me forward, and suppling him inside\u2026 but waiting. I tend to throw it away \u2013 I take him and I let it go too soon. Whereas Stefan had me waiting for him to supple. It was pretty much the opposite to what I do at home. I bring him back and up to try and get a bit of lightness, but then I\u2019ve got nothing in the rein \u2013 but Stefan is all the time trying to get that perfect contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was interesting, every time Stefan would ask for a new exercise, you\u2019d think, \u2018make it happen\u2019 and the horse would stiffen and you\u2019d lose it again\u2026
\n<\/em>\u201cI worry too much, I get stiff, and my whole body gets stiff, and I lock against him. I have to relax and flow with him. As soon as Stefan says it, I can do it, it\u2019s just a mental thing. I go, what am I doing now, and I lock up. Stefan gets you to take a deep breath, relax and just flow in with him \u2013 then it is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a nice concept, the concept of your back being a stick balanced on the saddle?
\n<\/em>\u201cYeah, it really helped to centre me. I do get forward on the horse, I get a bit tentative and lean forward, whereas, when I sit up and let him take me, he just softened up so much under me. He helped so much in the canter, getting him faster and more dynamic\u2026 it was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Update on Emma – she’s on her way home to Australia:<\/h2>\n

this is from Emma’s facebook page<\/p>\n

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In January 2008, my great friend Natalie<\/span> and I somehow persuaded our idol Steffen Peters to fly to Australia to do a masterclass for a 24 and 29 year old pair of girls that had no clinic experience, let alone event experience!<\/div>\n
We didn\u2019t think he would ever say yes – but he did!<\/div>\n
A lot of excitement and panic ensued and off we went on our little way…<\/div>\n
The Masterclass was a great success but I didn\u2019t realize that the week before it would change my life forever.<\/div>\n
Riding with Steffen and learning this way of riding put me at a serious crossroads ~ I would either quit riding or I would move across the globe to learn this way.<\/div>\n
June 2008 I acquired 2 wonderful horses, March 2009 I flew to San Diego to train for 1 month before flying one of the horses home, July 2009 I moved to the US for what was to be 1-2 years, and now 12 years on I am still here.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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12 amazing and life changing years…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Emma riding in her first Grand Prix in the States, on Velvet WD
\nPhoto – Kenneth Braddick dressage-news<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n
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Both horses went onto become Grand Prix horses, they placed in the top 5 of the majority of CDI\u2019s entered over 6 years, Velvet won a CDI Grand Prix Special and we heard the Australian Anthem playing for us, was invited to represent Australia on multilple Nations Cup teams & CHIO Aachen, I became a trainer at Steffen and Shannon Peters\u2019 barn ~ Arroyo Del Mar, became a sponsored rider for companies and brands that I thought I would only ever dream about, and flew all over the US to teach clinics every month (\/weekend \"\ud83d\ude33\"<\/span>).<\/div>\n
I also met and married my person Seany, and made more lifelong friends along the way than I thought could be possible.<\/div>\n
I owe this place everything and am indebted forever \"\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Shannon Peters ~ you gave me an education, mentorship, a wonderful example of dedication and discipline, an amazing friendship and so much more \"\ud83d\udc9e\"<\/span><\/div>\n
Words can\u2019t express how grateful I am for all of the lessons that you have taught me – and there were a LOT!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This place gave me so much…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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She was never to be a forever though and sadly this chapter is almost written.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The two amazing horses that gave me a career and gave me they\u2019re all ~ well it is now my turn to return the favor to them. Sean, Wonton, the horses and I will all be making our journeys across the great pacific, back to the place that we call home \"\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\"<\/span><\/div>\n
As hard as it is to leave this place, it is time to be with our family who we miss more than words could ever describe.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I am excited for what the future holds and building up my own team of horses again and putting down our roots \"\ud83c\udf33\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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California will always be our second home and I\u2019m excited to continue my clinics here in the US with my amazing group of riders\/friends.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Thank you to everyone who shared my journey with me here and helped me so much along the way…<\/div>\n
I arrived to the US with 2 suitcases, a massive phobia of flying, no idea of how anything worked, (how to pump gas or order Starbucks proved to be extra difficult) ~ no idea about much of anything to be honest! \"\ud83d\ude02\"<\/span> and now I\u2019m leaving having flown all over the world with horses and because of horses (yes I still hate it but I do it), far more than 2 suitcases \"\ud83d\ude33\"<\/span>, over a whole decade of amazing experiences and learning amongst some of the finest horsemen and worlds best horses, and a whole boatload of amazing memories ~ some of which will actually be boating across the Pacific \"\ud83d\udea2\"<\/span>\"\ud83d\udce6\"<\/span>\"\ud83c\udf0a\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I am forever grateful \"\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Steffen & Shannon Peters ~ thank you so much for everything \"\u2665\ufe0f\"<\/span>\"\ud83d\udc95\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My wonderful clients and friends ~ I will miss you immensely, thank you for ALL being so wonderful \"\ud83e\udd7a\"<\/span>\"\u2728\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mum, Dad, Sean, Adam & Dale & the whole fam, Thank You for endlessly supporting my dreams this whole time ~ it has not been easy for you.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Now it\u2019s time to make new dreams come true! \"\u2728\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Want to breed to the Young Horse Champion, Zucchero Gold? Contact<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>www.ihb.com.au<\/a>, but be quick, supplies are limited and the stallion has died…<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

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This article first appeared in our December 2006 magazine. Since then, Emma has spent most of her time training with another Stefan, Steffen Peters in the United States, you can catch up with Emma by clicking below…<\/h1>\n

How I learned to saddle-up with my nerves and become a better competitor<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n