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I owe much of my current success with my new horse, May Star, to my participation in the Advanced Young Rider Clinic in April with Conrad Schumacher. I was the fortunate recipient of a scholarship from Dressage4Kids, Inc., which made it possible for me to travel from college to ride in the clinic in New York for three days. Having just bought my horse in January of this year, we were still in the “getting to know you” stages. I do not have many opportunities to take lessons while I am in college and so I was really looking forward to riding with Mr. Schumacher in order to establish a good plan for our training, especially looking ahead to a busy qualifying season for the North American Young Riders Championship.

This was my third time riding with Mr. Schumacher. All of my lessons in the past have been very helpful because of the unique exercises that he uses, his energy and commitment to accomplishing goals in the lesson, and his ability to target my problem areas, and those of my horse, in a matter of minutes. What also amazes me is his ability to remember riders and their horses, especially considering the number of students that he teaches in a year. I walked into the arena and was immediately able to discuss May Star with him in relation to my previous horse, Babette, because he remembered my lessons on her with him last spring. May Star is powerful, sensitive, has a long body and neck, and is laterally supple like a slinky. All of these are qualities that fall on the opposite side of the spectrum from Babette and so riding May Star is a little like learning how to ride all over again.

Having me ride May Star in a slow tempo because going forward is very easy and natural for us, Mr. Schumacher began to emphasize the importance of riding him with a “falling down neck.” This literally feels like the neck is falling down as the horse reaches for the bit and the neck comes slightly longer and deeper and without resistance. I began to feel relaxation in May Star that I had not yet been able to accomplish on my own. We did serpentines at the trot with walk transitions over the centerline and Mr. Schumacher insisted that I give my hands forward immediately after my upward transition to encourage May Star to be on my seat and independent of my hands. It was especially interesting when we began doing trot to halt to rein back and I was able to give my hands forward throughout the rein back so that he brought his hind-end underneath him and took large, clear steps back. Mr. Schumacher focused on getting May Star to stretch down to the ground to “look for mushrooms,” as he called it. At lunch we discussed the importance of this, especially as it relates to developing a good balance in the horse, so that later in piaffe and passage, for example, all steps are even on both sides.

On the second day of the clinic, Mr. Schumacher gave me a warm-up exercise that I now use every day in my training. We began the lesson with about 20 minutes of walk work, doing half-passes in both directions. Within the half-pass I did transitions to halt in order to keep May Star listening to my seat. From there we did a walk half-pass to a walk-pirouette and then continued in the half-pass. After only a few of these, I was able to come out of the pirouette and just “point” May Star across the arena in the half-pass. He developed a much better feeling over his back and he was “back on my seat” so that I was able to follow with my hands much more easily. When we went to trot I again rode him slow with a low neck because his tendency is to be quick and higher in his neck carriage. We did some very slow half-passes to make sure that he was waiting for me in every stride and then we went to a strong working trot that was immediately better than the trot that I had at home.

My canter work on this day provided the beginning to what is still a process of learning how to collect and do movements within a carriage that has a soft and long neck. Any time May Star rushed or was resistant, after a flying change or enthusiastic canter depart, for example, I would do a volte. The other option that Mr. Schumacher provided was to ride him in shoulder-fore, which has also become a part of my daily work. We worked on tempi-changes, collecting after canter-extensions, and pirouettes, all with a “falling down neck.” It was incredibly exciting to feel canter-pirouettes at the end of my lesson that were on my seat and back, in which I could supple his neck and give my hands forward without losing the ability to canter almost in place.

The third and last day of the clinic is always an interesting one because Mr. Schumacher ties together all of what we have worked on for the duration of our time together. We again focused on using voltes whenever I got into trouble, especially in the canter. He had me methodically do a flying change and then a volte and then a flying change and then a volte until May Star relaxed into a canter that was suitable for the rest of our work. We did serpentines with flying changes as we crossed the centerline and I learned how important it was to go into each change with a half-halt and then determination as I asked for the change. Mr. Schumacher has helped to instill a sense of “I will” in me as I approach each movement.

One unique part of the Advanced Young Rider Clinics is the opportunity to spend time outside of the lessons with Mr. Schumacher both in lunchtime lectures and at dinners with the other riders, their trainers, and parents. I had a chance to discuss my lessons with him and ask questions that I had thought of after my session with him had finished. It was also inspiring to listen to the many stories that he has about competitions that many of us dream about competing in and about riders that we hear about on a regular basis.

With the scholarship that I received from Dressage4Kids, I was able to ride with a very successful trainer from Europe who was able to communicate a training approach that I have found incredibly useful for both my horse and me. I left the clinic re-inspired and much more confident in my ability to tackle the competitions ahead and the next few months of learning with my horse. Thank you so much for making this valuable experience a reality!