With the help from sponsor, the QLD Festival of Dressage, the Dressage QLD Judges sub-committee undertook to bring the FEI Official International Judge General, Stephen Clarke, to QLD – and bring him they did. Stephen was quite simply – pure brilliance. I came away totally inspired to train and strive towards improvement in this ever challenging sport. A huge thankyou to the DQJSC, the QLD Festival of Dressage and to the event supporters, Riders xoxo, Stacey Alexander Equestrian Style, and Equistore, for making Stephen’s visit and this amazing opportunity possible. After watching 3 days of lessons and the Symposium, below gives an impression of what Stephen Clarke is all about: On Dressage
What we’re interested in, is that each horse has a future in the sport
Train the horses to do the job for themselves
The dressage horse needs to be active enough that you don’t need your leg; and balanced enough that you don’t need your rein
The rider must never let an exercise sacrifice the essential question about forward thinking
Some Stephen Clarke Quotes
‘He knows what he is doing – so don’t let him pretend he doesn’t’
We should always be ready to be surprised
They have to earn their living
Let the family history GO
Horses are better at training riders than riders are at training horses
You can ONLY collect a horse that is in front of you
This horse has made too many choices in life already…
On Young Horses
The basic paces must be correct, in good balance and going forward of own accord
Sow the seeds for the future
The purity of paces must be maintained and enhanced
No limits in the frame
We don’t care if it’s a young horse or a GP horse, they must always be in front of the leg
On the Warm UP
Deeper, rounder, looser – stretch the topline longer
In the warm up, the rider has to check if there are any limits on how deep, how round, how loose they can put their horse. If the horse puts a limit on, it is the rider’s job to work beyond these limits. Push the limits away. There has to be NO limits.
Lateral submission through every turn and corner
The warm up is essential to make them sensitive
On the ‘Up’ Frame
Be ‘up’ or ‘down’ – never in the middle
Be Black or White – no grey
On ‘Behind the Leg’
Don’t ride it faster because they are behind the leg – it’s all about reaction
Make him sharp and forward
BE the tiger – and then Be as quiet as a church mouse
You need energy in order to collect it
If you feel them behind, give little surprises - a lot
If he back peddles (thinks backward or backs off) in the downward transition – flat out gallop in response
Don’t put up with half-reactions
Give yourself a lecture about what you’re NOT going to do: no compromises with leg reaction… when you touch them with the leg, there will be a bloody (not literally!) reaction
On Resistence
When a horse offers resistence, we can make the mistake of taking it personally – and we mustn’t do this
Some horses LIKE to argue and if they succeed – they win
Don’t get sucked into the fight
Use a combination of exercises to develop what you want… this is quite a good game to get him into – shoulder in, to a more forward gear, to travers and then a 20 metre circle deep, round and loose again
If he sets himself against you – ride one side in leg yielding – don’t join in with what he’s doing
Give him a break and then we’ll change the ball game a little bit
When he runs away – stick to your plan – shoulder-in a little bit
He just HAS to do it – perfection can come later
Don’t get sidetracked – stick to the plan - horses like this are good at changing the subject
Horses are good at training riders! We want to be better at training horses, than they are at training us to accept what they are prepared to offer
The important thing is your constant message – I won’t get sucked into your resistence – it’s a psychological game
He would like to be long and on the shoulders – try not to go there – do shoulder fore 15 metre circle and upper body back – stay on the hindleg with a forward hand. He’ll have no choice but to come to the hindleg
He’d love for you to hold on to him where he wants to be – but we’re not going there, refuse to support him
Ride a smaller circle with leg on, rather than pulling him back to the hindleg
With Spookiness
Don’t take him on with the rein in the spook, but be clear about submission to the bend
He needs to be more worried about your inside leg than what he wants to look at!
With Horses with a ‘Slow Hind Leg’
By nature – he pushes away to evade engagement – goes passagy
Make sure the tempo is quick enough to be a REAL trot tempo
GO more fast forward than he would like
Onto canter, and again too slow… quicker, quicker; you need a real crisp jump to each canter stride
Even though he is an FEI horse, you need to always train him like a good 4 year old
There must be no blocks anywhere – deeper, rounder, looser
No matter how advanced the horse – pay attention to the quality of the warm up
NO ‘hover’ – the hind leg must go under – end of story
Keep hands in front of your body – always into a more forward contact
Train him into a fast forward button
When you bring him back with the rein – you compound the problem – he blocks in the back and goes slower behind. Instead bring him back with a forward contact and think shorter/quicker
Ask for quick, sharp and handy reactions - and then a quick thankyou on the neck
The rider has to build ‘come back quick’ into the work – and if any back peddling – GALLOP
Watch he doesn’t slow down in the hindleg when you alter his balance more to the hindquarters
He has to learn to come back by stepping under – rather than coming back on your rein
With more Phlegmatic (ie: lazy) Horses
She is a bit of a diesel motor
Bit deeper – just so you know there are no limits. If you suspect a limit, push it away, don’t accept it
Be one step ahead of her
Trot – make lots of gear changes, even in the lateral work
Left to her own devices, she would be happy to just coast along – but it’s time to ask bigger questions
It’s all about producing honest reactions that you can reward her for, and not that you ask for something – and she thinks about it
Can you make gear changes in shoulder in? surprise her! Just as she starts humming to herself – surprise the hell out of her!
Always come back into more activity
She has to work for her living
And if she does come quicker – a quick thankyou from the rein
With Horses that Tends to Lean
She’s looking for too much support in the rein
Try lots of simple transitions – refuse to support her – Say instead, I expect you to carry yourself
Just make her good enough that you can let go
Absolutely forward contact – Don’t hang on – now you’re training her to do it for herself.
Take the ‘water wings’ (aka: floaties) off.
Canter – shoulder fore/up to the bridle/in balance – don’t hold her
Organise her when you have to – and let go when you can
Don’t support them
Forward contact
Keep hands in front of your body
Teach them to self-carry
Upper body away from your hands/let go of your inside rein
Rely and trust your half-halt
It always MUST be possible to LET GO. If you can’t, DO something about it
On Transitions
Play the transition game with no compromises
Forward contact when you go forward to the upward transitions and ride forward to the downward transitions
Lighten up the split second you have them
Nothing backward in the point of contact
You can lift your hands momentarily to lift the poll, but don’t support him up there
When you make a downward transition within the pace, his tendency is to get on the shoulders… try to ride him in shoulder-in so he can’t get onto the forehand
Downward transitions are the chance for the rider to change the horse’s body weight to the hindleg
The half halt is a re-balancing aid and/or a warning signal
The rider should be able to Switch on and switch off the horse ie: have an energy trot and a sleeping trot
On Lateral Work
Leg yielding comes first because we need to make sure the rider has control of no bend, before they try controlling bend
Shoulder-in is uniform bend away from the direction of movement; travers is the same uniform bend, with a more 4 track angle, but looking in the direction of movement
No real difference between travers and half-pass – just the steeper the line, the more bend is required
The inside rein looks after the direction, the inside leg looks after the bend and activity and the outside aids control the movement
Any lateral exercise is only as good as the preparation…. So if you don’t have them in the preparation – don’t ask for the exercise
Aim shoulders always in direction of movement
Temptation for the riders to create bend with inside rein – this is a rider mistake – it is the inside leg’s job
Inside leg at the girth for shoulder-in
On Extended Trot
At the risk of an accident, make a dramatic transition – take a risk!
Make the drama happen in the first few steps
On the Flying Changes
There must be submission to the new positioning ie: the new side
The energy and quality in the canter before the change must be good
He needs you to be confident because he’s not that sure of himself – have very positive aids
The changes are better than the canter – they gave the game away! If they can change like that – they can canter like that!
If they come croup high and behind leg – the exercise is go on a bit, and then back a bit – and then a few one’s; on a bit back a bit – then a few one’s; they need to think forward
On Pirouettes
It’s the subtle ways they make us compromise, that we need to be aware of.
Try a 4 loop serpentine with half pirouettes over centre line and ride out really forward. Make the decision before you do it – have a destination and GO there
All you need for a good pirouette is to have him 100% in front of you with invisible shoulder fore
Make a decision – if it’s feeling small – make it big; If it’s feeling big – make it small
With her pirouettes – you must make the decisions – ‘Don’t let her hold you to ransom in the pirouettes’ – Try this - Ride a square, do a quarter pirouette in each corner and gallop in between – she must think forward – Once she goes into that labored slow motion canter, you’re lost
Piaffe Tips
The difference between piaffe and passage is the moment of suspension
Exercise 1 -stay in collected walk and stay in this gear and ask for a few short steps
Exercsie 2 – from collected trot, into short steps in collected walk gear
Reaction is EVERYTHING – must be electric
As soon as they are behind the leg – GALLOP!
For me personally, I took home...
Be prepared to react like a tiger, then sit as quiet as a church mouse
Be as effective as you need to be to get the job done
100% respect of the half halt and the accelerator
Whenever you lose the uphill going (and he loses balance) don’t continue in the movement – gallop – get him in front of the leg and eager again – then continue
A good exercise – half pass on diagonal – straight on diagonal in medium trot – and back into half pass on diagonal
My thanks to sponsors, Horseland – Gold Coast and Proteq Equine Bedding, for their endless support. With their help, I can produce the horses in the best of tack, equipment and condition. Also thanks to Borsato’s owner, Traci Bolt, for every day I get to work with Borsato.
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