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Half way through his masterclass at Equitana, Olympic dressage gold medalist and all-round nice guy Carl Hester remarked, \u201cI never thought a Brit would be able to help the Australians. I\u2019m quite enjoying it actually!\u201d And help us he most certainly did, with the flair and good humour he\u2019s become famous for.<\/p>\n
Carl, with the help of some impressive Aussie riders and horses, took the audience on an express trip through the dressage levels, beginning with what to look for in a dressage horse through to Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
First off the blocks was Kate Taylor-Wheat and her super cute Flowervale Florenz. Although not so eager to enter the spooky atmosphere to begin with, the chestnut gelding enjoyed a positive learning experience.<\/p>\n As Kate settled Florenz, Carl explained what he looks for when looking at a prospect, \u201cFirst thing I look at when I buy a horse is paces rather than breeding. Beautiful parents don\u2019t always produce beautiful children. I\u2019m not looking for the flashiest paces, but also the trainablility and rideability. How are you going to keep a big, flamboyant mover sound into Grand Prix? You want an easy mover. This horse has the first thing on the scale of training: rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate had to keep her horse quite together and forward at the start. \u201cKate is quite rightly thinking of safety first. But now we want to look at where he puts his head and neck as he relaxes and becomes more rideable. Always work for relaxation. Then with more stretch his hind leg will be good. Does he look happy? I think he\u2019s looking quite jolly. Kate, show me a rising trot and lengthen the rein,\u201d requested Carl.<\/p>\n It was important that all the horses in the clinic were very easy in their stretching and Carl emphasized how important the warmup is. His horses do about half an hour of hacking and stretching before either he or Charlotte get in the saddle. When Florenz wasn’t stretching, Carl explained further, \u201cHe\u2019s curling over away from your hand at the moment. He needs to stretch more. Look behind the saddle at what the tail\u2019s doing. The tail will come up and swing side to side and the back will lift up. Your hand has to come more forward towards his ear, not down, and his neck has to come more out. I want him to unlock himself. I don\u2019t want the flashy movement at this stage. But he shouldn\u2019t curl over and disappear, the body should lengthen and you shouldn\u2019t \u00a0try to hold the whole thing together.\u201d<\/p>\n Next came leg yielding, and Carl wanted it done in rising trot: more from Carl follows<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNow he stretches better because he works up on the bit. Such a different stretch than in the beginning. You don\u2019t do one round and stop thinking oh I\u2019ve made it. Look how the muscles are now moving in his neck and back. This is a good place to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte and Barolo demonstrate what Carl is talking about for us…<\/em><\/p>\n Linda Foster\u2019s elementary level Neversfelde Samiro impressed Carl from the start with his super trot, \u201cThis is a beautiful horse. Do you know what I like? I like that I can\u2019t hear it on the floor. The hind legs are active and under him\u201d.<\/p>\n Linda then tried the canter, \u201cAt the moment he\u2019s a bit up and down with the shoulders in the canter. He needs more reach. Although the trot is good, he\u2019s on the forehand in the canter. Sorry, Linda, no more trot! He needs to be in a more uphill frame. Make the canter small enough so you\u2019re thinking pirouette so he starts sitting. Look low down to the inside hind leg. He should sink here in the fetlock. Look there and not so much the front of the horse. He needs to let down in that fetlock much more.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte and Valegro show uphill canter<\/em><\/p>\n Carl suggested that 70-80% of Linda\u2019s training with this horse should be at the canter as the trot was not getting him stronger.<\/p>\n The next focus was on lightness. \u201cIs that your giving?\u201d enquired the Englishman, \u201cIn England we say that\u2019s a Scottish give, \u2018cause we all know what the Scottish are like! You\u2019re elegant with a good position, but the horse should be more on your seat and less on your hand. Don\u2019t give everything away when you ride forward. Keep him uphill. At this point you must not override. I\u2019d rather see the horse do a mistake. If you\u2019re working this hard now, there\u2019s going to be a hell of a lot of sweat at Grand Prix!\u201d<\/p>\n An exercise to help the horse engage and sit better was leg yield at the canter. Still Carl wanted more sitting, \u201cIt was obedient, but not sitting. If you want scores of 70% and above, you need both.\u201d<\/p>\n A sitting pirouette<\/em><\/p>\n The risk of mistakes was not a problem and Carl acknowledged how long it can take to get to Grand Prix and the difficulties one can encounter on the way, \u201cIf you\u2019re a one horse owner, you know how frustrating it can be if things don\u2019t go well. It can ruin your life, ruin your marriage. But you have to know it\u2019s not always easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Like most of the horses Carl worked with, things started to improve. The horse came lighter on the bit. However, there was still more work for Linda and it was time to tackle control in the corners as Carl explained a helpful exercise:<\/p>\n \u201cTrot up to a corner and halt before it. You have to ride the corners not just free wheel around. This is a good waiting exercise. He has to let you in and let you ride him. This is rideability. Now see if you can ride him around your leg in the corner and it doesn\u2019t feel like the wall of death. You should be looking for his inside eye, but not over flexing.\u201d<\/p>\n Like the previous horse this combination finished with a long, stretching trot. \u201cThis is your basic stuff. You should be able to stretch him without him running forward.”<\/p>\n next, Lisa Martin and First Famous<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Next was Lisa Martin and First Famous. Carl was taken with the stunning mare\u2019s athleticism; regular, engaged with a super shoulder movement, but warned that Grand Prix was a long way off. He also sympathised with us Aussies being so far away, \u201cIt\u2019s very promising here at the moment in the lower levels. It must be very difficult living down here. You really do have to go away and train and see \u2018out there\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Lisa and First Famous out competing<\/em><\/p>\n It was straight into the movements with Carl reminding that each movement should have; preparation, then maintaining the movement and then riding out of it and around the corner.<\/p>\n When the mare showed a difference on each rein in the shoulder in, Lisa was asked to ride up the centre line, \u201cYou need to get control of the right side of the horse. You drifted about a metre to the left. Not too drunk, but a bit! You need to ride shoulder in with no bend because you\u2019re worrying too much about the bend and it\u2019s causing the neck to tip and twist. On the other rein, the horse is more naturally in her curve.\u201d<\/p>\n When it came to travers, Lisa needed to create the angle more with her leg. The exercises, when executed correctly, improved the suppleness of the horse and hence the expression. There was then a warning about neck reining so as not to tilt the mare\u2019s head and instead the rider was encouraged to stand up and step down through her inside stirrup more.<\/p>\n Here was another horse who wanted to run in the stretching trot. Carl was quick to correct and suggested having eyes on the ground as much as possible, \u201cYou have to remember every day to do these corrections and not slip back into habits.\u201d<\/p>\n There was just enough time to give the flying changes a go. The horse had only tried them a few times before so Carl went into detail about how hard it is for young horses, and how it probably wouldn\u2019t happen, \u201cThe mare is not good at it yet because she\u2019s young. Yesterday one was flying without change, one was a bit of a buck. There were a few variations, but I want Lisa to show you what\u2019s happening in the training right now.\u201d<\/p>\n But with the horse\u2019s superior balance and willing temperament, she offered two perfect changes. \u201cAh well there you go. She proved me wrong,\u201d Carl conceded with a grin.<\/p>\n The first of the FEI horses was Rombali Razzamatazz with Robbie Soster in the saddle. Carl explained what the main problem was in the warm-up session, \u201cRobbie and the horse are a little bit nervous about taking the contact. She goes shoulder in everywhere, but she needs to be straight so the horse can move forward. I can honestly say, hand-on-heart that straightness is the hardest thing. At least she\u2019s consistently crooked! The horse is in travers left all the time so she rides shoulder in left all the time. If he\u2019s not straight, he can\u2019t carry himself forward and push forward properly.\u201d<\/p>\n Carl was worried about the horse\u2019s slow passage. \u201cThis horse is good at sitting but not so good at pushing. At Grand Prix, you need both. Some horses are usually better at one than the other.”<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get him trotting behind first and try a quicker passage. It\u2019s a different passage, not a Grand Prix passage, but it makes the horse think that it\u2019s got to go forward and move its hind legs more. He has to be on the bit and not like a banana in his back. He must lift his back, but at the moment he\u2019s not on the bit. Instead of sitting there like a fairy on a tree, do something about it, don\u2019t just keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n Robbie had to get the horse relaxed at the higher tempo, then regular passage could be developed. If she just rode the slow passage all the time, problems were sure to develop. Then Robbie was asked to develop the collected trot without losing the suspension she was beginning to create. The horse had to work harder, and Robbie less, \u201cDon\u2019t work so hard! You shouldn\u2019t get off your horse and need to be stretchered away\u201d.<\/p>\n It was a similar message with the one tempi changes. It wasn\u2019t just about getting the movement, but also quality in the movement. \u201cDoes he need to learn how to do one-times changes? No, he needs to learn to be straight and jump forward with the hind legs. Let the wall do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n This was a positive change from the previous day Carl told us, \u201cYesterday she was doing the fastest, highest one-time changes I\u2019d ever seen in my life. I take my hat off to her because she was determined to get them, but now she has to work on the quality. Do this and you\u2019ll be a Grand Prix winner.\u201d<\/p>\n next Carl rides<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was then Carl\u2019s turn to throw a leg over a horse and his mount was Susan Duddy\u2019s DP Weltmieser, Brett Parbery’s Grand Prix ride. Carl was perhaps a bit nervous at the task ahead, \u201cThe fact that he\u2019s hot is making me hot! I haven\u2019t ridden and talked for years.\u201d<\/p>\n He began the gelding with a lot of walk\/ halt transitions, often halting after one stride of walk, just to feel the control and then it was straight into canter, \u201cChrist, he is hot!\u201d.<\/p>\n Then Carl tried some leg yield in the trot, \u201cThis is actually good because it\u2019s making me put my leg on. When they\u2019re hot, you tend not to put the leg on.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t too long before the horse was rewarded with a walk, \u201cIf I keep going with these hot horses, then the body gets tired but the brain keeps buzzing so you\u2019re always working a little bit against them.\u201d<\/p>\n Back into the canter again and Carl gave us a lesson in knowing your strides. \u201cHow many of you actually know how many strides you ride on the short side? Most of my horses would do between 9-11 steps. I know in a test situation when I\u2019m showing more quality, I\u2019ll go for nine strides. For example, when I canter onto the short side and know I have to do a flying change at A, I know to do the change on the fourth stride. I can make it a positive aid then and not be wondering where the letters are.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though he was hot, he was wanting to back off. In the halt where the gelding wanted to drop the contact, so the problem was addressed quickly so as not to become a habit.<\/p>\n Carl finished on a positive note, \u201cThis is actually the kind of horse I like to ride. That\u2019s enough. I have to ride again tonight. Now I have a nice relaxed feeling. I don\u2019t need to go on and show off.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last horse into the arena was Lauries As and Tor Van Den Berge. Carl liked the horse\u2019s presence, but warned of \u2018stallion issues\u2019, \u201cBreeding stallions need concentration. You know what they\u2019re really thinking about! The other thing is that sometimes they can get sore backs. You have to really think about working the horse soft in his back.\u201d<\/p>\n Tor van den Berge and Lauries As<\/em><\/p>\n The focus for this combination was the canter zig zag, and Carl had some interesting exercises. Next the exercise was repeated, but in half pass. Then the difficulty was increased, \u201cNow four lots of six, but only four of the strides are sideways.\u201d<\/p>\n When Tor gave it a go, he missed it because he lost control. \u201cThe horse moves more easily to the left so he goes further to the left than the right,\u201d so back to leg yield.<\/p>\n![\"Pic1Carl\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Pic1Carl.jpg\")
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\n\u201cLet him feel like he doesn\u2019t have to carry the rider and<\/em> do the movement. If his quarters lead, he loses his balance. He fell out because you didn\u2019t control it and let him run sideways. This is why dressage riders love mirrors. The little details and changes make a big difference. You don\u2019t teach the horse to move off your leg by moving its head. You teach it from your leg. You did that well. Kate can feel when it\u2019s right or wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cLeg yield in canter is for the hotter horse. It\u2019s more relaxing. We do this instead of half passes or zig zag half passes at home. So Tor I want you to canter on the right lead, leg yield, think shoulder in and then flying change. These sorts of exercises stop the anticipation.\u201d<\/p>\n