| Axel Steiner Clinic Notes |
|
|
|
| Written by Heather | |
| Sunday, 31 August 2008 | |
|
Recently, I had the opportunity to audit a clinic taught by Axel Steiner. The clinic was hosted by Joe Sandven and Helen Wiest at their beautiful Tantalus Farm in Fletcher, NC. Joe and Helen generously provided lunch for riders and auditors alike both days of the two-day clinic. In addition, NCDCTA sponsored the clinic which meant that members got to audit for free. NCDCTA also provided a dinner on Saturday for everyone in attendance. The gorgeous setting and serene training environment, very friendly group of riders and auditors, and opportunity to watch and learn from Axel Steiner, a world-renown dressage expert, made it a perfect day. On top of everything else, the weather was gorgeous – blue skies and lots of sunshine – making the entire experience hard to beat. Click on the picture to launch the slideshow.
I wrote a summary of the clinic for the NCDCTA newsletter where I tried to capture the big teaching and learning themes of the clinic. In this blog article, I’d like to share my impressions from the day as an amateur rider. This year I have tried to expand my dressage knowledge by auditing more clinics, subscribing to a couple of online training sites with videos, and reading more. Auditing clinics, although time-consuming, is really one of the most fun ways to learn more and, although the online training videos are very good, there’s nothing like watching live riding. My first observation about the clinic was that it reaffirmed my belief that NC has a lot of very talented dressage professionals and therefore is a great place for amateur riders to find a good trainer and teacher. The riding was really quite inspiring to watch. Unfortunately I missed Joe’s Saturday ride on his Grand Prix horse, Rachmaninoff, who is currently ranked in the top 20 Grand Prix horses in the country. I did get to see him ride Helen Wiest’s mare, Ronatella S, on Sunday. Ronatella S was imported a couple of years ago by Helen and is currently ranked as the number one 5 year old in the country. Joe competes her in the FEI 5 year old division. Ronatella S was (to my untrained eye!) very elastic and athletic and absolutely gorgeous. Rebecca Blikslager, NCDCTA Dressage Chairperson, rode her handsome Dutch gelding Liberty. I didn’t get a chance to watch their schooling of the piaffe and passage on Saturday. On Sunday, however, they schooled half-pass and canter pirouettes and ended their lesson by riding through the PSG test. Rebecca looked like she was having a lot of fun and her horse did too. I thought their test looked great and Axel was complimentary of their work. Jeannie Karver rode her beautiful mare Welle at PSG. Welle was the High Score champion mare at her inspection. On Sunday, they worked on lateral work and the mare really seemed just to float through the air. They were an elegant and harmonious pair and Jeannie made it seem easy. Elizabeth Moore rode Mondschatten, an Anglo-Trakehner gelding. This was a really fun ride to watch because Axel encouraged Elizabeth to go ahead and “play around” with some of the Grand Prix movements. As I mentioned in the NCDCTA article, Axel hummed along to lighten the mood and keep everything playful. For any rider who has worried about moving up to the next level, this was a great lesson to watch. The pair was obviously prepared for this step up and Axel’s explanation helped me understand how to conceptualize the move up a level (even though I’m much farther down the levels!). By having the pair play around at different exercises and allowing the horse to find his way through the exercise, it stayed fun and light. Axel reminded us that the learning process was just that, a process. So, it’s ok if everything isn’t perfect the first time it’s introduced to the horse. Elizabeth made it look very easy and it will be fun to watch for her in the future. Go Elizabeth! I thoroughly enjoyed watching these professionals ride with Mr. Steiner. Watching them ride and train leads to my second observation which is that the pros, just like the amateurs, continually work to improve their riding and follow a learning progression. They define and follow plans to develop their horses and to improve their own riding too. I overheard someone earlier this summer who described an article about Michael Phelps where Phelps remarked that he had been studying tapes of his turns and needed to improve his head position. It is pretty hard to relate to the level at which Phelps performs, but fairly easy to relate to working to improve the small things to improve the overall picture. Certainly the opportunity to engage in continual learning is one of the draws of dressage for many riders. In addition to the pros riding in the clinic, three very talented amateur riders participated. Laurie Bauchman rode her KWPN gelding William E who finished second nationally for KWPN at training level last year. Laurie and William E train with Rebecca Blikslager and are competing at first level and the FEI 5 year olds. Axel was very complimentary of the pair’s harmony and lightness and praised Laurie’s tactful riding. Debbi Shelton rode her 8 year old Oldenburg gelding, Waldorf’s Granit, a.k.a. “Cowboy,” and worked on lateral work at the walk and trot. Debbi started Cowboy herself and has competed him through first level. Debbi and Cowboy made really fantastic progress with the exercises that Axel. Their lesson was a good example of using clear “language” with the horse and staying patient while the horse figures out what is being asked. It was also a real treat to watch Catherine Weiner, a young rider who trains with Elizabeth Moore, ride Jonson, her 17 year old Irish Sporthorse gelding. Catherine recently earned her Bronze medal and has also competed Jonson in the children’s jumper division. Axel helped Catherine tweak her position a little, having her sit up tall, and he helped her prepare for the FEI junior division test. The clinic was a valuable learning opportunity for the auditors as well as the riders. Axel addressed the auditors numerous times and discussed with us the exercises he was suggesting to riders. He also shared his ideas and knowledge with the auditors between rides, often engaging us by asking questions of us. Although auditing clinics does require a time commitment, it is a very valuable way to learn. There is a lot of learning theory devoted to learning by participating in a community of practice, just what we do when we audit and observe training. Auditing clinics is a great way for amateurs to learn by watching a variety of riders and horses, something many of us may not be able to do in our regular training routine. Hopefully I’ll be able to audit more clinics this winter and will share my notes with everyone!
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 65 Comments (1)
  written by heather, September 13, 2008
I just read in DressageDaily.com that Joe and Ronatella won the preliminary test for five-year olds in the 2008 Markel/USEF National Young Horse Dressage Championships! There is more online here: http://www.dressagedaily.com/2...-usef.html
report abuse
vote down
vote up
Votes: +0
Write comment
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
