I had a very enjoyable and educational weekend auditing a clinic with Lilo Fore (FEI "I'" Judge). Saturday we made it a 'girls outing' (four women piled in a -for the occasion nicely cleaned- truck), armed with horse blankets, chairs, chocolate, and anything else 'frau' needs to sit a day in a cold arena. Today the others went to church and I, well, I went back for more dressage instruction.
BTW, Lilo was the judge I was warming up for this summer when Remy decided "I'm outta here" and I subsequently ended up in the fence. I have always enjoyed her comments on the score sheets, and found her scores to be 'right on'. But judging and teaching are 'zwei verschiedene paar Schuhe' (two different pairs of shoes), so I was very interested in auditing the clinic, also of course because Judy was riding BeBe.
Well, the woman not only has a wealth of knowledge, her somewhat dry (actually very German) sense of humor makes it fun. However, you better follow her instructions, otherwise -again, very German- the intensity increases a notch or two, and the voice becomes quite stern. Ah, who does that remind me of?? Nah, not me! :-)
Here are my notes on some of Lilo's points:
- "The aids are your horse's friends" (Remy says, yes, but these friends are sometimes rather annoying)
- "The horse needs to be quick off the leg." Lilo stressed that she is very adamant about it (Ugh, Remy says, exactly what Judy insists on even though I would rather take my sweet time.)
- No potty breaks for the horse: "You could lose a gold medal at the Olympics!". Case in point, Valegro's untimely bathroom break that could have cost him the gold medal if he wouldn't have had such a large lead on the other competitors (Remy says, I'll give up a gold medal for my potty break, and I would prefer to read the paper while I'm at it.)
- "Reins are too long" - It seems that is a recurrent theme everywhere. Too long reins make it difficult to communicate effectively (Remy says, keep the long reins, it gives me an excuse to pretend I don't know what you want.)
- "He needs to work to develop the right muscling, not just trot around looking pretty" (Remy says, I like looking pretty and not having to work much!)
- "The horse should not move like a crocodile, flat and close to the ground. He needs to be up and looking proud" (Remy says, give me something interesting to look at and up I'll be, not a problem, lady!)
- Half pass: Look straight and move straight, if the rider thinks of turning it's often too much
- Canter: Volume and lift in the canter stride "Airtime is the volume of the stride". "Land, but come back up"
- "Always go back to balance"
- "You cannot collect what you don't have, he has to go there first (having impulsion), and he has to go to the bit"
- "Horses must learn to flex the poll laterally left and right"
- "You need to sit on the seat bones, not your pockets. The seat bones are between the thighs"
- "Legs go on and off, not front and back"
- "Separate upper body from hips, stretch up"
- "Haunches are the support system for the horses shoulders"
- "Most flexible part of the horse is the shoulders"
So, now that I have audited I can say I would really like to ride with her. My rule about riding with clinicians I haven't seen teach before is clear: Watch first, decide if it is a teaching style that works for me and Remy, and only then write the fat check. Remy says, uh, thanks, but I'm good, no need to shell out the big bucks - I'd rather play with Chambord anyway!
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